Affecting achievement results

At the beginning, the elementary students seemed out of control. Many were fighting, stealing and bullying. The number of students being sent to the office seemed to be growing and growing. Many students were referred for just being downright disrespectful.

I had a basic understanding of the Sugai research (www.pbis.org) and it seemed so practical that I suggested we try it. The question was, how could I facilitate this new approach with staff? I knew that collecting data about behaviour incidents would be a challenge.

The first year we formed a committee that met weekly. Our first focus was to come up with monthly themes by combining the effective behaviour approach with character education. The first theme was respect. We aligned all of the co-curricular activities for the year with effective behaviour supports. This helped staff realize that they didn’t have to do more work. They just had to work differently.

At the beginning of the second year, we realized we were trying to do too much at one time, so we scaled down our efforts. Staff then concentrated on fewer goals and continued the focus on respect. In September, when we looked at the Provincial Achievement Test scores for year one, we saw that our results were up. With this tangible evidence, staff commitment really went up. Any last naysayers now came on board. By the end of the second year, students were taking ownership of their own behaviour and talking about how this approach was making their school a better place.

During the third year, students stopped the negative behaviour before it happened. We were thrilled to see how much time that was previously needed to deal with discipline issues was now freed up for learning. It meant an increase in instructional time in the classroom and contributed to 100 percent of our students passing the Provincial Achievement Tests. This all happened within the first two years of implementation. The results of our school survey also showed 100 percent of respondents felt our school was safe and caring!

We asked the staff about the magic secret of our success and they responded, “Effective behaviour supports.” That was the first time we realized how an effective discipline system increases time for teaching and for students’ on-task behaviour. We regained a lot of instructional time because the students were no longer in the office or suspended; they were in classrooms learning.

– Principal, rural elementary/junior high school