An Educator's Guide to Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Inteventions and Supports. Jason E. Harlacher

high-frequency acknowledgment is a small, inexpensive item such as a ticket, token, sticker, or signature that is given to students contingent on displaying the schoolwide expectations (George et al., 2009). The acknowledgments serve a clear functional purpose: they strengthen the learning of the expectations and provide immediate, tangible feedback to students. Additionally, they can serve as visual prompts for staff to regularly provide acknowledgment for engaging in desired behaviors. All staff give high-frequency acknowledgments, including custodial, playground, bus, and cafeteria staff on a daily, regular basis. They provide a steady dose of feedback to students to teach and strengthen the use of the schoolwide expectations.

      The type of high-frequency acknowledgments used in schools varies considerably. Many schools use paper tickets, referred to as PBIS tickets. See figure 2.1 for examples. Typically, the ticket has a space for the student’s name, the location, and the specific expectation the student displayed that earned the ticket (George et al., 2009).

Figure 2.1: High-frequency acknowledgment tickets.

      Paper tickets require money for printing, so other schools have opted to use signatures as a cost-saving measure. In this example, all students carry a daily planner with a cover page that lists the expectations and spaces for signatures (see figure 6.5 in chapter 6, page 168). When staff see a student displaying the expectation, they sign the student’s cover page (J. Ancina, personal communication, August 20, 2015). Other high-frequency acknowledgments include stamps, stickers, or recognition posted on a class- or schoolwide board (that is, each classroom posts a symbol or checkmark by students’ names to indicate they earned a high-frequency acknowledgment).

      There should be clear procedures and policies regarding how to provide high-frequency acknowledgments to students. Time should also be devoted to teaching the staff how to provide behavior-specific praise, as it may be a new skill for some staff. To make the high-frequency acknowledgments most effective, follow these guidelines (George, 2009):

      ▴ Flood students with acknowledgments initially in order to establish buy-in and trust with the system among students.

      ▴ Provide a high ratio of positive acknowledgments to corrections (five praise statements for every one redirect or negative interaction; Flora, 2000; Kern, White, & Gresham, 2007; Reinke, Herman, & Stormont, 2013).

      ▴ Name the expectation that is being acknowledged, and pair it with behavior-specific praise (Smith & Rivera, 1993; Walker, 1979).

      ▴ Focus more on the interaction with the student and the specific behavior acknowledged, and less on the high-frequency acknowledgment. Over time, you’ll fade out the high-frequency acknowledgment and use a Behavioral Support Plan (BSP) to acknowledge student behavior. This links the new behavior to intrinsic motivation and natural reinforcement (Akin-Little, Eckert, Lovett, & Little, 2004).

      ▴ Make the acknowledgment unpredictable and variable.

      ▴ Provide acknowledgment on a consistent basis and throughout the day and week.

      Provide parameters on how often to pass out the high-frequency acknowledgments to avoid staff burnout (for instance, pass out twenty PBIS tickets to ten random teachers each week in their mailboxes; only those teachers pass out their twenty tickets that week, and each week, ten new teachers will receive tickets).

      What you pay attention to is what you get, so spend more time promoting responsible behavior than responding to irresponsible behavior (Beaman & Wheldall, 2000; Brophy & Good, 1986; Thomas, Becker, & Armstrong, 1968; Walker, Ramsey, & Gresham, 2004). If you see misbehavior, be sure to also find appropriate behavior to acknowledge immediately. For example, if you notice a student off-task during independent seat work, find a student who is on task and offer acknowledgment paired with specific feedback for being on task. If the student who was off task gets back on task, acknowledge the on-task behavior.

      When providing praise and acknowledgement to students, the staff should strive for a five-to-one ratio of praise to redirects. Teachers who spend more time promoting appropriate behavior than responding to irresponsible behavior are more effective in their teaching and classroom functioning (Beaman & Wheldall, 2000; Brophy & Good, 1986; Thomas et al., 1968; Walker et al., 2004). Specific praise statements have been shown to increase the intrinsic motivation of students (Cameron & Pierce, 1994) and may help the learner develop a feeling of competence (Brophy, 1981; Gottfried, 1983; Swann & Pittman, 1977). Additionally, increases in teacher praise have positive effects on reading achievement (Gable & Shores, 1980) and mathematics achievement (Luiselli & Downing, 1980).

      A school can also incentivize the use of high-frequency acknowledgments by providing raffles or rewards for teachers who pass out a certain number of them. At one elementary school, to ensure that the five-to-one ratio of praise to redirect statements was maintained, each teacher was given a packet of PBIS tickets that included five minor behavior slips and twenty-five PBIS tickets. Teachers weren’t allowed to obtain more minor behavior slips until all twenty-five of their PBIS tickets were passed out (J. Daily, personal communication, June 14, 2016). Schools can also provide high-frequency acknowledgments for teachers to give each other. For example, a principal might cover a teacher’s recess duty once he or she passed out one hundred high-frequency acknowledgments tickets. Another school we worked with rewarded teachers for certain aspects of SWPBIS with movie tickets donated from a local theater.

      “As a result of PBIS, staff and students are committed to working together to create an environment that focuses on positive supports and celebrating student success, and this is energizing for all of us.”

      —Marietta VanEkereen, special education teacher, Maple Elementary, Springfield Public Schools, Springfield, Oregon (personal communication, April 5, 2016)

       Long-Term Acknowledgment

      As part of the reinforcement system, students can earn long-term acknowledgments. These are larger prizes or celebrations that students earn for displaying the expectations over a longer period of time or by redeeming a certain number of high-frequency acknowledgments (thus, the long-term acknowledgment is often connected to the high-frequency acknowledgment). A common example is the school store, where students use their high-frequency acknowledgments to buy products such as school supplies, school shirts, magazines, entries in a raffle, and other items of interest (George et al., 2009; Taylor-Greene et al., 1997). The prizes do not always have to be items that cost money. Instead, schools may sell passes, such as a “first in line” lunch pass, permission to listen to music at an appropriate time, or a free or late homework excuse pass in their stores (George et al., 2009; PBIS Maryland, n.d.). Passes can also include a “bring a buddy” option that allows students to bring a friend along to share the pass.

      Long-term acknowledgments are also tied to public display of high-frequency acknowledgments. As one example, the Principal’s 200 Club is a schoolwide board that uses group contingencies (Jenson, Evans, Morgan, and Rhode, 2006). The school creates a matrix with two hundred numbered squares. When students earn a PBIS ticket, they draw a number and place their name within that square. Over time the board fills up, and when there is a bingo (a consecutive line of tickets in any direction), those students in the line earn an additional group reward. All the names are then taken down and the process starts over. This reward combines high-frequency acknowledgments, long-term acknowledgements, and a group contingency.

      Long-term acknowledgments can also take the form of social rewards, such as reading a list of names of students who have earned a certain number of high-frequency acknowledgments over the school’s public announcement system or providing time with a staff member. Some schools give students personalized self-manager badges, which signal that they display the expectations consistently. The self-manager badge can then be tied to other privileges, such as lining up first, choosing certain activities, or even having access to a parking space or lot for the day or week (Harlacher, 2011). Students can also earn phone calls or positive referrals home to indicate to parents that