How to leverage PBIS points to improve student behavior and motivation on your campus.
When my school was dealing with a large number of behavior incidents, the administrators decided to implement PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports), a behavior management model that focuses on positive reinforcement.
It didn’t work.
The reason it didn’t work had nothing to do with PBIS and everything to do with poor implementation. As with anything, the way that you implement it will determine your outcome.
My school gave verbal praise and sporadic rewards, so students did not feel consistently motivated to exhibit the desired behaviors. When we started using PBIS points a few months later, everything changed.
The number of behavior incidents dropped, academic performance improved, and the teachers’ stress levels greatly decreased.
PBIS involves promoting behaviors using positive reinforcement. PBIS points are a commonly used type of reinforcement. Schools usually rename their PBIS targets to align with something related to the school using their behavior rubric.
For example, a school with an owl mascot might call their PBIS points Owl Bucks. When students exhibit positive behaviors, they receive points that they can later redeem for rewards.
Opponents of PBIS points believe that points can decrease students’ internal motivation. This may be the case for some students, but using points models the real world that we are trying to prepare students for.
When adults exhibit the desired behaviors at work, they receive a paycheck. Without the promise of a paycheck, many adults would also lose their internal motivation to go to work every day.
Aside from the connection to the real world, PBIS points show students that you support, notice, and appreciate them.
One of the great benefits of PBIS points is that you can tailor them to fit any grade level. The benefits of PBIS points are consistent regardless of the size of your school or the age of your student population. PBIS points can:
PBIS focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative ones. They assist in creating a positive, supportive learning environment because everyone in the school has shared expectations that are known and posted throughout the school.
Students are incentivized to behave well, which encourages them to pay attention in class, be on time, complete assignments, and avoid distracting other students.
Students often save up their points to redeem them for high-ticket items, like a sweatshirt, so they do not want to risk losing points and losing their chance at getting rewards.
When these positive behaviors are compounded throughout the school, this results in higher academic performance and a school environment where students feel safe and supported.
As an administrator, it’s impossible for you to be everywhere at once. Unfortunately, you’ve probably dealt with situations where teachers showed biases towards or against certain students.
Or you’ve had students who felt like they were being treated unfairly when it came to rewards or negative consequences.
PBIS points, especially when used with a behavior management platform like LiveSchool, provide data that gives you a fuller picture of what’s going on and serves as a tool to hold teachers and students accountable.
Since PBIS points are based on pre-determined behaviors, there’s not much room for subjectivity. When schools use LiveSchool, students, parents, and staff can see the desired behaviors and the points associated with them by using the app or logging into the website.
To get a bit more insight on setting up your PBIS points system with LiveSchool, check out the video below.👇
LiveSchool shows student behavior trends and patterns and can give insight into teacher usage and patterns as well.
When you use a behavior management platform like LiveSchool to record and track PBIS points, parents can easily keep up with their student's behavior.
Some parents only hear from the school when their child is in trouble, but systems like this can ensure that parents are in the loop every day with frequent updates on their child’s positive and negative behaviors.
When parents, teachers, and students are on the same page, the student can thrive. To learn how LiveSchool helps keep parents “in the know” check out LiveSchool Recaps.
PBIS points give you school wide data that can help you pinpoint problem behaviors. You can identify if there are specific grade levels or classes where certain behaviors happen more often, which will allow you to address the problems before they grow.
On the other hand, if there are certain behaviors that are widespread regardless of the grade or class, this can be an indicator that there is an issue with the school culture that needs to be assessed.
For example, let’s say your school has a lot of bullying incidents. Upon further investigation, you notice that students rarely receive points for respect, kindness, and empathy. This can indicate that the school as a whole would benefit from frequent SEL lessons.
To learn more about using PBIS point data to improve behavior check out “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
There are 3 main ways to use PBIS points in your school:
Grade-level House Point systems build community within the grade level because all of the students are working together to earn more points than the other grade levels.
This type of House system encourages students to get to know each other and hold each other accountable for their behavior. Grade-level Houses can make it easier to distribute group rewards because the students are in the same age bracket.
Multi-grade-level Houses build community by allowing students to work with students in other grades.
For younger students, this can encourage them to behave well, so they don’t look like “babies” in front of the older kids. Older students can feel special because they are in a position to mentor younger students.
With both types of House systems, the students are competing to earn the most points and win a group reward.
If you don’t have teacher buy-in or don’t want to use a House system, you can still implement PBIS points in the classroom.
The teachers (sometimes in collaboration with the students) identify the desired behaviors and assign points for each behavior. There’s usually not a competitive aspect to PBIS points on a class level because the student’s points don’t impact each other and there is no group reward.
The best way to reap all the benefits of PBIS points is to couple House systems with individual rewards. When you do this, students have a personal incentive to earn points and benefit from the group accountability and camaraderie that comes with House systems.
The success of PBIS points relies on its implementation and consistency. As an administrator, you can set your school up for success by ensuring PBIS points align with objective rules and expectations.
If you want students to get on board (which is an absolute must!), they have to know that PBIS points will be distributed fairly. For teachers to buy in, PBIS points need to be easy to give, track, and redeem points.
By leveraging tools like LiveSchool, teachers can quickly manage points without feeling like it’s another item on their to-do list.
When my school was dealing with a large number of behavior incidents, the administrators decided to implement PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports), a behavior management model that focuses on positive reinforcement.
It didn’t work.
The reason it didn’t work had nothing to do with PBIS and everything to do with poor implementation. As with anything, the way that you implement it will determine your outcome.
My school gave verbal praise and sporadic rewards, so students did not feel consistently motivated to exhibit the desired behaviors. When we started using PBIS points a few months later, everything changed.
The number of behavior incidents dropped, academic performance improved, and the teachers’ stress levels greatly decreased.
PBIS involves promoting behaviors using positive reinforcement. PBIS points are a commonly used type of reinforcement. Schools usually rename their PBIS targets to align with something related to the school using their behavior rubric.
For example, a school with an owl mascot might call their PBIS points Owl Bucks. When students exhibit positive behaviors, they receive points that they can later redeem for rewards.
Opponents of PBIS points believe that points can decrease students’ internal motivation. This may be the case for some students, but using points models the real world that we are trying to prepare students for.
When adults exhibit the desired behaviors at work, they receive a paycheck. Without the promise of a paycheck, many adults would also lose their internal motivation to go to work every day.
Aside from the connection to the real world, PBIS points show students that you support, notice, and appreciate them.
One of the great benefits of PBIS points is that you can tailor them to fit any grade level. The benefits of PBIS points are consistent regardless of the size of your school or the age of your student population. PBIS points can:
PBIS focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative ones. They assist in creating a positive, supportive learning environment because everyone in the school has shared expectations that are known and posted throughout the school.
Students are incentivized to behave well, which encourages them to pay attention in class, be on time, complete assignments, and avoid distracting other students.
Students often save up their points to redeem them for high-ticket items, like a sweatshirt, so they do not want to risk losing points and losing their chance at getting rewards.
When these positive behaviors are compounded throughout the school, this results in higher academic performance and a school environment where students feel safe and supported.
As an administrator, it’s impossible for you to be everywhere at once. Unfortunately, you’ve probably dealt with situations where teachers showed biases towards or against certain students.
Or you’ve had students who felt like they were being treated unfairly when it came to rewards or negative consequences.
PBIS points, especially when used with a behavior management platform like LiveSchool, provide data that gives you a fuller picture of what’s going on and serves as a tool to hold teachers and students accountable.
Since PBIS points are based on pre-determined behaviors, there’s not much room for subjectivity. When schools use LiveSchool, students, parents, and staff can see the desired behaviors and the points associated with them by using the app or logging into the website.
To get a bit more insight on setting up your PBIS points system with LiveSchool, check out the video below.👇
LiveSchool shows student behavior trends and patterns and can give insight into teacher usage and patterns as well.
When you use a behavior management platform like LiveSchool to record and track PBIS points, parents can easily keep up with their student's behavior.
Some parents only hear from the school when their child is in trouble, but systems like this can ensure that parents are in the loop every day with frequent updates on their child’s positive and negative behaviors.
When parents, teachers, and students are on the same page, the student can thrive. To learn how LiveSchool helps keep parents “in the know” check out LiveSchool Recaps.
PBIS points give you school wide data that can help you pinpoint problem behaviors. You can identify if there are specific grade levels or classes where certain behaviors happen more often, which will allow you to address the problems before they grow.
On the other hand, if there are certain behaviors that are widespread regardless of the grade or class, this can be an indicator that there is an issue with the school culture that needs to be assessed.
For example, let’s say your school has a lot of bullying incidents. Upon further investigation, you notice that students rarely receive points for respect, kindness, and empathy. This can indicate that the school as a whole would benefit from frequent SEL lessons.
To learn more about using PBIS point data to improve behavior check out “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
There are 3 main ways to use PBIS points in your school:
Grade-level House Point systems build community within the grade level because all of the students are working together to earn more points than the other grade levels.
This type of House system encourages students to get to know each other and hold each other accountable for their behavior. Grade-level Houses can make it easier to distribute group rewards because the students are in the same age bracket.
Multi-grade-level Houses build community by allowing students to work with students in other grades.
For younger students, this can encourage them to behave well, so they don’t look like “babies” in front of the older kids. Older students can feel special because they are in a position to mentor younger students.
With both types of House systems, the students are competing to earn the most points and win a group reward.
If you don’t have teacher buy-in or don’t want to use a House system, you can still implement PBIS points in the classroom.
The teachers (sometimes in collaboration with the students) identify the desired behaviors and assign points for each behavior. There’s usually not a competitive aspect to PBIS points on a class level because the student’s points don’t impact each other and there is no group reward.
The best way to reap all the benefits of PBIS points is to couple House systems with individual rewards. When you do this, students have a personal incentive to earn points and benefit from the group accountability and camaraderie that comes with House systems.
The success of PBIS points relies on its implementation and consistency. As an administrator, you can set your school up for success by ensuring PBIS points align with objective rules and expectations.
If you want students to get on board (which is an absolute must!), they have to know that PBIS points will be distributed fairly. For teachers to buy in, PBIS points need to be easy to give, track, and redeem points.
By leveraging tools like LiveSchool, teachers can quickly manage points without feeling like it’s another item on their to-do list.
When my school was dealing with a large number of behavior incidents, the administrators decided to implement PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports), a behavior management model that focuses on positive reinforcement.
It didn’t work.
The reason it didn’t work had nothing to do with PBIS and everything to do with poor implementation. As with anything, the way that you implement it will determine your outcome.
My school gave verbal praise and sporadic rewards, so students did not feel consistently motivated to exhibit the desired behaviors. When we started using PBIS points a few months later, everything changed.
The number of behavior incidents dropped, academic performance improved, and the teachers’ stress levels greatly decreased.
PBIS involves promoting behaviors using positive reinforcement. PBIS points are a commonly used type of reinforcement. Schools usually rename their PBIS targets to align with something related to the school using their behavior rubric.
For example, a school with an owl mascot might call their PBIS points Owl Bucks. When students exhibit positive behaviors, they receive points that they can later redeem for rewards.
Opponents of PBIS points believe that points can decrease students’ internal motivation. This may be the case for some students, but using points models the real world that we are trying to prepare students for.
When adults exhibit the desired behaviors at work, they receive a paycheck. Without the promise of a paycheck, many adults would also lose their internal motivation to go to work every day.
Aside from the connection to the real world, PBIS points show students that you support, notice, and appreciate them.
One of the great benefits of PBIS points is that you can tailor them to fit any grade level. The benefits of PBIS points are consistent regardless of the size of your school or the age of your student population. PBIS points can:
PBIS focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative ones. They assist in creating a positive, supportive learning environment because everyone in the school has shared expectations that are known and posted throughout the school.
Students are incentivized to behave well, which encourages them to pay attention in class, be on time, complete assignments, and avoid distracting other students.
Students often save up their points to redeem them for high-ticket items, like a sweatshirt, so they do not want to risk losing points and losing their chance at getting rewards.
When these positive behaviors are compounded throughout the school, this results in higher academic performance and a school environment where students feel safe and supported.
As an administrator, it’s impossible for you to be everywhere at once. Unfortunately, you’ve probably dealt with situations where teachers showed biases towards or against certain students.
Or you’ve had students who felt like they were being treated unfairly when it came to rewards or negative consequences.
PBIS points, especially when used with a behavior management platform like LiveSchool, provide data that gives you a fuller picture of what’s going on and serves as a tool to hold teachers and students accountable.
Since PBIS points are based on pre-determined behaviors, there’s not much room for subjectivity. When schools use LiveSchool, students, parents, and staff can see the desired behaviors and the points associated with them by using the app or logging into the website.
To get a bit more insight on setting up your PBIS points system with LiveSchool, check out the video below.👇
LiveSchool shows student behavior trends and patterns and can give insight into teacher usage and patterns as well.
When you use a behavior management platform like LiveSchool to record and track PBIS points, parents can easily keep up with their student's behavior.
Some parents only hear from the school when their child is in trouble, but systems like this can ensure that parents are in the loop every day with frequent updates on their child’s positive and negative behaviors.
When parents, teachers, and students are on the same page, the student can thrive. To learn how LiveSchool helps keep parents “in the know” check out LiveSchool Recaps.
PBIS points give you school wide data that can help you pinpoint problem behaviors. You can identify if there are specific grade levels or classes where certain behaviors happen more often, which will allow you to address the problems before they grow.
On the other hand, if there are certain behaviors that are widespread regardless of the grade or class, this can be an indicator that there is an issue with the school culture that needs to be assessed.
For example, let’s say your school has a lot of bullying incidents. Upon further investigation, you notice that students rarely receive points for respect, kindness, and empathy. This can indicate that the school as a whole would benefit from frequent SEL lessons.
To learn more about using PBIS point data to improve behavior check out “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
There are 3 main ways to use PBIS points in your school:
Grade-level House Point systems build community within the grade level because all of the students are working together to earn more points than the other grade levels.
This type of House system encourages students to get to know each other and hold each other accountable for their behavior. Grade-level Houses can make it easier to distribute group rewards because the students are in the same age bracket.
Multi-grade-level Houses build community by allowing students to work with students in other grades.
For younger students, this can encourage them to behave well, so they don’t look like “babies” in front of the older kids. Older students can feel special because they are in a position to mentor younger students.
With both types of House systems, the students are competing to earn the most points and win a group reward.
If you don’t have teacher buy-in or don’t want to use a House system, you can still implement PBIS points in the classroom.
The teachers (sometimes in collaboration with the students) identify the desired behaviors and assign points for each behavior. There’s usually not a competitive aspect to PBIS points on a class level because the student’s points don’t impact each other and there is no group reward.
The best way to reap all the benefits of PBIS points is to couple House systems with individual rewards. When you do this, students have a personal incentive to earn points and benefit from the group accountability and camaraderie that comes with House systems.
The success of PBIS points relies on its implementation and consistency. As an administrator, you can set your school up for success by ensuring PBIS points align with objective rules and expectations.
If you want students to get on board (which is an absolute must!), they have to know that PBIS points will be distributed fairly. For teachers to buy in, PBIS points need to be easy to give, track, and redeem points.
By leveraging tools like LiveSchool, teachers can quickly manage points without feeling like it’s another item on their to-do list.
Deiera Bennett is a freelance EdTech copywriter with a background in marketing and 6 years of experience as an educator. When she’s not writing, you can find her binge-watching The Office for the 5th time, spending time with family, or looking up recipes on Pinterest.
When my school was dealing with a large number of behavior incidents, the administrators decided to implement PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports), a behavior management model that focuses on positive reinforcement.
It didn’t work.
The reason it didn’t work had nothing to do with PBIS and everything to do with poor implementation. As with anything, the way that you implement it will determine your outcome.
My school gave verbal praise and sporadic rewards, so students did not feel consistently motivated to exhibit the desired behaviors. When we started using PBIS points a few months later, everything changed.
The number of behavior incidents dropped, academic performance improved, and the teachers’ stress levels greatly decreased.
PBIS involves promoting behaviors using positive reinforcement. PBIS points are a commonly used type of reinforcement. Schools usually rename their PBIS targets to align with something related to the school using their behavior rubric.
For example, a school with an owl mascot might call their PBIS points Owl Bucks. When students exhibit positive behaviors, they receive points that they can later redeem for rewards.
Opponents of PBIS points believe that points can decrease students’ internal motivation. This may be the case for some students, but using points models the real world that we are trying to prepare students for.
When adults exhibit the desired behaviors at work, they receive a paycheck. Without the promise of a paycheck, many adults would also lose their internal motivation to go to work every day.
Aside from the connection to the real world, PBIS points show students that you support, notice, and appreciate them.
One of the great benefits of PBIS points is that you can tailor them to fit any grade level. The benefits of PBIS points are consistent regardless of the size of your school or the age of your student population. PBIS points can:
PBIS focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative ones. They assist in creating a positive, supportive learning environment because everyone in the school has shared expectations that are known and posted throughout the school.
Students are incentivized to behave well, which encourages them to pay attention in class, be on time, complete assignments, and avoid distracting other students.
Students often save up their points to redeem them for high-ticket items, like a sweatshirt, so they do not want to risk losing points and losing their chance at getting rewards.
When these positive behaviors are compounded throughout the school, this results in higher academic performance and a school environment where students feel safe and supported.
As an administrator, it’s impossible for you to be everywhere at once. Unfortunately, you’ve probably dealt with situations where teachers showed biases towards or against certain students.
Or you’ve had students who felt like they were being treated unfairly when it came to rewards or negative consequences.
PBIS points, especially when used with a behavior management platform like LiveSchool, provide data that gives you a fuller picture of what’s going on and serves as a tool to hold teachers and students accountable.
Since PBIS points are based on pre-determined behaviors, there’s not much room for subjectivity. When schools use LiveSchool, students, parents, and staff can see the desired behaviors and the points associated with them by using the app or logging into the website.
To get a bit more insight on setting up your PBIS points system with LiveSchool, check out the video below.👇
LiveSchool shows student behavior trends and patterns and can give insight into teacher usage and patterns as well.
When you use a behavior management platform like LiveSchool to record and track PBIS points, parents can easily keep up with their student's behavior.
Some parents only hear from the school when their child is in trouble, but systems like this can ensure that parents are in the loop every day with frequent updates on their child’s positive and negative behaviors.
When parents, teachers, and students are on the same page, the student can thrive. To learn how LiveSchool helps keep parents “in the know” check out LiveSchool Recaps.
PBIS points give you school wide data that can help you pinpoint problem behaviors. You can identify if there are specific grade levels or classes where certain behaviors happen more often, which will allow you to address the problems before they grow.
On the other hand, if there are certain behaviors that are widespread regardless of the grade or class, this can be an indicator that there is an issue with the school culture that needs to be assessed.
For example, let’s say your school has a lot of bullying incidents. Upon further investigation, you notice that students rarely receive points for respect, kindness, and empathy. This can indicate that the school as a whole would benefit from frequent SEL lessons.
To learn more about using PBIS point data to improve behavior check out “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
There are 3 main ways to use PBIS points in your school:
Grade-level House Point systems build community within the grade level because all of the students are working together to earn more points than the other grade levels.
This type of House system encourages students to get to know each other and hold each other accountable for their behavior. Grade-level Houses can make it easier to distribute group rewards because the students are in the same age bracket.
Multi-grade-level Houses build community by allowing students to work with students in other grades.
For younger students, this can encourage them to behave well, so they don’t look like “babies” in front of the older kids. Older students can feel special because they are in a position to mentor younger students.
With both types of House systems, the students are competing to earn the most points and win a group reward.
If you don’t have teacher buy-in or don’t want to use a House system, you can still implement PBIS points in the classroom.
The teachers (sometimes in collaboration with the students) identify the desired behaviors and assign points for each behavior. There’s usually not a competitive aspect to PBIS points on a class level because the student’s points don’t impact each other and there is no group reward.
The best way to reap all the benefits of PBIS points is to couple House systems with individual rewards. When you do this, students have a personal incentive to earn points and benefit from the group accountability and camaraderie that comes with House systems.
The success of PBIS points relies on its implementation and consistency. As an administrator, you can set your school up for success by ensuring PBIS points align with objective rules and expectations.
If you want students to get on board (which is an absolute must!), they have to know that PBIS points will be distributed fairly. For teachers to buy in, PBIS points need to be easy to give, track, and redeem points.
By leveraging tools like LiveSchool, teachers can quickly manage points without feeling like it’s another item on their to-do list.
When my school was dealing with a large number of behavior incidents, the administrators decided to implement PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports), a behavior management model that focuses on positive reinforcement.
It didn’t work.
The reason it didn’t work had nothing to do with PBIS and everything to do with poor implementation. As with anything, the way that you implement it will determine your outcome.
My school gave verbal praise and sporadic rewards, so students did not feel consistently motivated to exhibit the desired behaviors. When we started using PBIS points a few months later, everything changed.
The number of behavior incidents dropped, academic performance improved, and the teachers’ stress levels greatly decreased.
PBIS involves promoting behaviors using positive reinforcement. PBIS points are a commonly used type of reinforcement. Schools usually rename their PBIS targets to align with something related to the school using their behavior rubric.
For example, a school with an owl mascot might call their PBIS points Owl Bucks. When students exhibit positive behaviors, they receive points that they can later redeem for rewards.
Opponents of PBIS points believe that points can decrease students’ internal motivation. This may be the case for some students, but using points models the real world that we are trying to prepare students for.
When adults exhibit the desired behaviors at work, they receive a paycheck. Without the promise of a paycheck, many adults would also lose their internal motivation to go to work every day.
Aside from the connection to the real world, PBIS points show students that you support, notice, and appreciate them.
One of the great benefits of PBIS points is that you can tailor them to fit any grade level. The benefits of PBIS points are consistent regardless of the size of your school or the age of your student population. PBIS points can:
PBIS focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative ones. They assist in creating a positive, supportive learning environment because everyone in the school has shared expectations that are known and posted throughout the school.
Students are incentivized to behave well, which encourages them to pay attention in class, be on time, complete assignments, and avoid distracting other students.
Students often save up their points to redeem them for high-ticket items, like a sweatshirt, so they do not want to risk losing points and losing their chance at getting rewards.
When these positive behaviors are compounded throughout the school, this results in higher academic performance and a school environment where students feel safe and supported.
As an administrator, it’s impossible for you to be everywhere at once. Unfortunately, you’ve probably dealt with situations where teachers showed biases towards or against certain students.
Or you’ve had students who felt like they were being treated unfairly when it came to rewards or negative consequences.
PBIS points, especially when used with a behavior management platform like LiveSchool, provide data that gives you a fuller picture of what’s going on and serves as a tool to hold teachers and students accountable.
Since PBIS points are based on pre-determined behaviors, there’s not much room for subjectivity. When schools use LiveSchool, students, parents, and staff can see the desired behaviors and the points associated with them by using the app or logging into the website.
To get a bit more insight on setting up your PBIS points system with LiveSchool, check out the video below.👇
LiveSchool shows student behavior trends and patterns and can give insight into teacher usage and patterns as well.
When you use a behavior management platform like LiveSchool to record and track PBIS points, parents can easily keep up with their student's behavior.
Some parents only hear from the school when their child is in trouble, but systems like this can ensure that parents are in the loop every day with frequent updates on their child’s positive and negative behaviors.
When parents, teachers, and students are on the same page, the student can thrive. To learn how LiveSchool helps keep parents “in the know” check out LiveSchool Recaps.
PBIS points give you school wide data that can help you pinpoint problem behaviors. You can identify if there are specific grade levels or classes where certain behaviors happen more often, which will allow you to address the problems before they grow.
On the other hand, if there are certain behaviors that are widespread regardless of the grade or class, this can be an indicator that there is an issue with the school culture that needs to be assessed.
For example, let’s say your school has a lot of bullying incidents. Upon further investigation, you notice that students rarely receive points for respect, kindness, and empathy. This can indicate that the school as a whole would benefit from frequent SEL lessons.
To learn more about using PBIS point data to improve behavior check out “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
There are 3 main ways to use PBIS points in your school:
Grade-level House Point systems build community within the grade level because all of the students are working together to earn more points than the other grade levels.
This type of House system encourages students to get to know each other and hold each other accountable for their behavior. Grade-level Houses can make it easier to distribute group rewards because the students are in the same age bracket.
Multi-grade-level Houses build community by allowing students to work with students in other grades.
For younger students, this can encourage them to behave well, so they don’t look like “babies” in front of the older kids. Older students can feel special because they are in a position to mentor younger students.
With both types of House systems, the students are competing to earn the most points and win a group reward.
If you don’t have teacher buy-in or don’t want to use a House system, you can still implement PBIS points in the classroom.
The teachers (sometimes in collaboration with the students) identify the desired behaviors and assign points for each behavior. There’s usually not a competitive aspect to PBIS points on a class level because the student’s points don’t impact each other and there is no group reward.
The best way to reap all the benefits of PBIS points is to couple House systems with individual rewards. When you do this, students have a personal incentive to earn points and benefit from the group accountability and camaraderie that comes with House systems.
The success of PBIS points relies on its implementation and consistency. As an administrator, you can set your school up for success by ensuring PBIS points align with objective rules and expectations.
If you want students to get on board (which is an absolute must!), they have to know that PBIS points will be distributed fairly. For teachers to buy in, PBIS points need to be easy to give, track, and redeem points.
By leveraging tools like LiveSchool, teachers can quickly manage points without feeling like it’s another item on their to-do list.
Behavior problems. Every school has them, but not every school knows how to handle them effectively.
When my school was dealing with a large number of behavior incidents, the administrators decided to implement PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports), a behavior management model that focuses on positive reinforcement.
It didn’t work.
The reason it didn’t work had nothing to do with PBIS and everything to do with poor implementation. As with anything, the way that you implement it will determine your outcome.
My school gave verbal praise and sporadic rewards, so students did not feel consistently motivated to exhibit the desired behaviors. When we started using PBIS points a few months later, everything changed.
The number of behavior incidents dropped, academic performance improved, and the teachers’ stress levels greatly decreased.
PBIS involves promoting behaviors using positive reinforcement. PBIS points are a commonly used type of reinforcement. Schools usually rename their PBIS targets to align with something related to the school using their behavior rubric.
For example, a school with an owl mascot might call their PBIS points Owl Bucks. When students exhibit positive behaviors, they receive points that they can later redeem for rewards.
Opponents of PBIS points believe that points can decrease students’ internal motivation. This may be the case for some students, but using points models the real world that we are trying to prepare students for.
When adults exhibit the desired behaviors at work, they receive a paycheck. Without the promise of a paycheck, many adults would also lose their internal motivation to go to work every day.
Aside from the connection to the real world, PBIS points show students that you support, notice, and appreciate them.
One of the great benefits of PBIS points is that you can tailor them to fit any grade level. The benefits of PBIS points are consistent regardless of the size of your school or the age of your student population. PBIS points can:
PBIS focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative ones. They assist in creating a positive, supportive learning environment because everyone in the school has shared expectations that are known and posted throughout the school.
Students are incentivized to behave well, which encourages them to pay attention in class, be on time, complete assignments, and avoid distracting other students.
Students often save up their points to redeem them for high-ticket items, like a sweatshirt, so they do not want to risk losing points and losing their chance at getting rewards.
When these positive behaviors are compounded throughout the school, this results in higher academic performance and a school environment where students feel safe and supported.
As an administrator, it’s impossible for you to be everywhere at once. Unfortunately, you’ve probably dealt with situations where teachers showed biases towards or against certain students.
Or you’ve had students who felt like they were being treated unfairly when it came to rewards or negative consequences.
PBIS points, especially when used with a behavior management platform like LiveSchool, provide data that gives you a fuller picture of what’s going on and serves as a tool to hold teachers and students accountable.
Since PBIS points are based on pre-determined behaviors, there’s not much room for subjectivity. When schools use LiveSchool, students, parents, and staff can see the desired behaviors and the points associated with them by using the app or logging into the website.
To get a bit more insight on setting up your PBIS points system with LiveSchool, check out the video below.👇
LiveSchool shows student behavior trends and patterns and can give insight into teacher usage and patterns as well.
When you use a behavior management platform like LiveSchool to record and track PBIS points, parents can easily keep up with their student's behavior.
Some parents only hear from the school when their child is in trouble, but systems like this can ensure that parents are in the loop every day with frequent updates on their child’s positive and negative behaviors.
When parents, teachers, and students are on the same page, the student can thrive. To learn how LiveSchool helps keep parents “in the know” check out LiveSchool Recaps.
PBIS points give you school wide data that can help you pinpoint problem behaviors. You can identify if there are specific grade levels or classes where certain behaviors happen more often, which will allow you to address the problems before they grow.
On the other hand, if there are certain behaviors that are widespread regardless of the grade or class, this can be an indicator that there is an issue with the school culture that needs to be assessed.
For example, let’s say your school has a lot of bullying incidents. Upon further investigation, you notice that students rarely receive points for respect, kindness, and empathy. This can indicate that the school as a whole would benefit from frequent SEL lessons.
To learn more about using PBIS point data to improve behavior check out “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
There are 3 main ways to use PBIS points in your school:
Grade-level House Point systems build community within the grade level because all of the students are working together to earn more points than the other grade levels.
This type of House system encourages students to get to know each other and hold each other accountable for their behavior. Grade-level Houses can make it easier to distribute group rewards because the students are in the same age bracket.
Multi-grade-level Houses build community by allowing students to work with students in other grades.
For younger students, this can encourage them to behave well, so they don’t look like “babies” in front of the older kids. Older students can feel special because they are in a position to mentor younger students.
With both types of House systems, the students are competing to earn the most points and win a group reward.
If you don’t have teacher buy-in or don’t want to use a House system, you can still implement PBIS points in the classroom.
The teachers (sometimes in collaboration with the students) identify the desired behaviors and assign points for each behavior. There’s usually not a competitive aspect to PBIS points on a class level because the student’s points don’t impact each other and there is no group reward.
The best way to reap all the benefits of PBIS points is to couple House systems with individual rewards. When you do this, students have a personal incentive to earn points and benefit from the group accountability and camaraderie that comes with House systems.
The success of PBIS points relies on its implementation and consistency. As an administrator, you can set your school up for success by ensuring PBIS points align with objective rules and expectations.
If you want students to get on board (which is an absolute must!), they have to know that PBIS points will be distributed fairly. For teachers to buy in, PBIS points need to be easy to give, track, and redeem points.
By leveraging tools like LiveSchool, teachers can quickly manage points without feeling like it’s another item on their to-do list.
Behavior problems. Every school has them, but not every school knows how to handle them effectively.
When my school was dealing with a large number of behavior incidents, the administrators decided to implement PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports), a behavior management model that focuses on positive reinforcement.
It didn’t work.
The reason it didn’t work had nothing to do with PBIS and everything to do with poor implementation. As with anything, the way that you implement it will determine your outcome.
My school gave verbal praise and sporadic rewards, so students did not feel consistently motivated to exhibit the desired behaviors. When we started using PBIS points a few months later, everything changed.
The number of behavior incidents dropped, academic performance improved, and the teachers’ stress levels greatly decreased.
PBIS involves promoting behaviors using positive reinforcement. PBIS points are a commonly used type of reinforcement. Schools usually rename their PBIS targets to align with something related to the school using their behavior rubric.
For example, a school with an owl mascot might call their PBIS points Owl Bucks. When students exhibit positive behaviors, they receive points that they can later redeem for rewards.
Opponents of PBIS points believe that points can decrease students’ internal motivation. This may be the case for some students, but using points models the real world that we are trying to prepare students for.
When adults exhibit the desired behaviors at work, they receive a paycheck. Without the promise of a paycheck, many adults would also lose their internal motivation to go to work every day.
Aside from the connection to the real world, PBIS points show students that you support, notice, and appreciate them.
One of the great benefits of PBIS points is that you can tailor them to fit any grade level. The benefits of PBIS points are consistent regardless of the size of your school or the age of your student population. PBIS points can:
PBIS focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative ones. They assist in creating a positive, supportive learning environment because everyone in the school has shared expectations that are known and posted throughout the school.
Students are incentivized to behave well, which encourages them to pay attention in class, be on time, complete assignments, and avoid distracting other students.
Students often save up their points to redeem them for high-ticket items, like a sweatshirt, so they do not want to risk losing points and losing their chance at getting rewards.
When these positive behaviors are compounded throughout the school, this results in higher academic performance and a school environment where students feel safe and supported.
As an administrator, it’s impossible for you to be everywhere at once. Unfortunately, you’ve probably dealt with situations where teachers showed biases towards or against certain students.
Or you’ve had students who felt like they were being treated unfairly when it came to rewards or negative consequences.
PBIS points, especially when used with a behavior management platform like LiveSchool, provide data that gives you a fuller picture of what’s going on and serves as a tool to hold teachers and students accountable.
Since PBIS points are based on pre-determined behaviors, there’s not much room for subjectivity. When schools use LiveSchool, students, parents, and staff can see the desired behaviors and the points associated with them by using the app or logging into the website.
To get a bit more insight on setting up your PBIS points system with LiveSchool, check out the video below.👇
LiveSchool shows student behavior trends and patterns and can give insight into teacher usage and patterns as well.
When you use a behavior management platform like LiveSchool to record and track PBIS points, parents can easily keep up with their student's behavior.
Some parents only hear from the school when their child is in trouble, but systems like this can ensure that parents are in the loop every day with frequent updates on their child’s positive and negative behaviors.
When parents, teachers, and students are on the same page, the student can thrive. To learn how LiveSchool helps keep parents “in the know” check out LiveSchool Recaps.
PBIS points give you school wide data that can help you pinpoint problem behaviors. You can identify if there are specific grade levels or classes where certain behaviors happen more often, which will allow you to address the problems before they grow.
On the other hand, if there are certain behaviors that are widespread regardless of the grade or class, this can be an indicator that there is an issue with the school culture that needs to be assessed.
For example, let’s say your school has a lot of bullying incidents. Upon further investigation, you notice that students rarely receive points for respect, kindness, and empathy. This can indicate that the school as a whole would benefit from frequent SEL lessons.
To learn more about using PBIS point data to improve behavior check out “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
There are 3 main ways to use PBIS points in your school:
Grade-level House Point systems build community within the grade level because all of the students are working together to earn more points than the other grade levels.
This type of House system encourages students to get to know each other and hold each other accountable for their behavior. Grade-level Houses can make it easier to distribute group rewards because the students are in the same age bracket.
Multi-grade-level Houses build community by allowing students to work with students in other grades.
For younger students, this can encourage them to behave well, so they don’t look like “babies” in front of the older kids. Older students can feel special because they are in a position to mentor younger students.
With both types of House systems, the students are competing to earn the most points and win a group reward.
If you don’t have teacher buy-in or don’t want to use a House system, you can still implement PBIS points in the classroom.
The teachers (sometimes in collaboration with the students) identify the desired behaviors and assign points for each behavior. There’s usually not a competitive aspect to PBIS points on a class level because the student’s points don’t impact each other and there is no group reward.
The best way to reap all the benefits of PBIS points is to couple House systems with individual rewards. When you do this, students have a personal incentive to earn points and benefit from the group accountability and camaraderie that comes with House systems.
The success of PBIS points relies on its implementation and consistency. As an administrator, you can set your school up for success by ensuring PBIS points align with objective rules and expectations.
If you want students to get on board (which is an absolute must!), they have to know that PBIS points will be distributed fairly. For teachers to buy in, PBIS points need to be easy to give, track, and redeem points.
By leveraging tools like LiveSchool, teachers can quickly manage points without feeling like it’s another item on their to-do list.
Every day, the LiveSchool Vision becomes reality.
