Behavior Modification

A few years ago, Karen Oswald and colleagues reported the results of an investigation of the use of positive behavior supports (PBS) on middle-school students’ behavior in hallways during the passing time between the last morning class and the lunch period. They worked with a team of school personnel and developed a school-wide plan based on the work of Geoff Colvin and his colleague’s Project PREPARE, which was an exemplary effort to create safe and positive learning environments developed and tested during the early 1990s. The study showed that the program the school PBS team implemented produced substantial (effect size ≈ 0.49) improvements in hallway behavior, with overall frequency of a combination of problem behaviors (running, jumping, kicking, screaming, cursing, and pushing) reduced as much as 50%.

Effective management of disruptive behaviors in schools is a national concern. While substantial resources are often allocated toward individual students who exhibit challenging behavior, less emphasis is placed on preventative interventions in common areas such as hallways, cafeterias and playgrounds. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a multi-component Positive Behavior Support (PBS) intervention consisting of positive practice, pre-correction, verbal praise, reinforcement, correction of inappropriate behavior, active supervision, discussion of behavior with students and on-time dismissal could improve middle school students’ problematic hallway behaviors. The 5-week intervention phase resulted in a very large reduction between baseline and treatment phases of 42.36% across 950 students. This study provides evidence that readily available and cost-effective techniques can be used to make school common areas safer and more orderly. Implications for the use of school-based PBS practices are discussed.

Oswald, K., Safran, S., & Johanson, G. (2005). Preventing trouble: Making schools safer places using positive behavior supports. Education & Treatment of Children, 28, 265-278.

The article even includes a multi-step plan for teaching appropriate hallway behaviors. For those who want to learn more about how to use PBS procedures, there are many resources available on the Internet. The Springfield (OR, US) Public Schools system devotes a subsection of its Web site to the topic. The US state of Missouri has an entire Web site devoted to the topic. And, of course, there is a US-government-sponsored Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports site.

To be sure, this study is encouraging, but it’s not strong enough to qualify as a ringing endorsement of PBS. However, there are other studies and there are randomized comparisons (see the PBIS site linked in the previous paragraph for more research).

If you’re from a school that uses PBS, please add a comment about how it’s going for you.