Group items tagged

ree or reduced price meals

poverty and mobility, coupled with the lack of teacher stability, necessary instructional control, and effective behavior management put essentially the entire student population at risk for developing emotional or behavioral disorders.

replacing the principal, other building administrators, and about 80% of the teachers

student- and family-centered support services were aligned and located in the school.

two years

students worked collaboratively in classrooms

fun and rigorous learning environment where respect for all is evident everywhere.

common language of respect

learn social skills along with academic content. The day begins with the Morning Meeting during which the children sit in a circle to hear a message about the day’s events or topics of study and they hold an informal conversation in which everyone participates. A set of rules for behavior is posted in every room and hallway along with the systematic and universal steps for regaining self-control and turning around problem behavior.

everity from “take a break,” to “fix it” plans, to dismissal from school. The consistency with which the system is implemented by every adult in the school is remarkable. It has produced demonstrable changes in student behavior and conduct, with students taking responsibility for their behavior, and dismissal from school a rarity. The model also involves “buddy classrooms.”

Teachers work together to assess and reflect on their performance and provide each other with constructive feedback regarding their interactions with students

identify alternative strategies for interacting with the student and monitor progress in terms of reducing conflict and strengthening the relationship between the teacher and student.

emotional/behavioral disorder (EBD)

“Collaboration is key to our teachers finding creative ways to grow at their craft and help our students exceed the standards”

The common policies and procedures used across regular and special education classrooms promote academic and behavioral success for all students.

The importance of social skills instruction is equal to that of academic success for all students. The academic success that regular and special education students at Dayton’s Bluff experience is largely a product of the individualized instruction all students receive. Individualized assessments are conducted with each student to determine the specific instructional needs of each across the content areas. Instruction in reading, writing, and math is conducted in “workshop” style that involves a “mini-lesson” of approximately 5-10 minutes followed by a period of time during which students receive guided practice and feedback on applications of the mini-lesson. Data are regularly collected and analyzed

score

All students experience the same consequences for misbehavior, including those students who have a history of significant behavioral problems in school, and all students are provided multiple opportunities to correct their own behavior within the systematized program.

chance to see fairness in how everyone is treated alike, that they will not be condemned for making a mistake, and will be encouraged to succeed by everyone.

he high level of consistency with which the staff members implement the program builds trusting relationships between students and adults in the building. It is much more common for students to be sent to the principal’s office to read something they’ve written or share an accomplishment in math than to face disciplinary action

he staff members approach the problem as a partner with the student to understand and solve the problem rather than as heavy-handed, controlling, punitive authority figures. This approach promotes mutual respect, responsibility, and pride, and reduces the incidence of learned helplessness.

intensive training as well as ongoing “booster” sessions tailored to their individual needs. Th

academic success

every reason to believe that these students will stand alongside their regular education peers in leading productive, successful lives.

investment in “people-power” that prioritizes small class sizes and strong professional development programs over cutting-edge technology has resulted in successful primary and secondary prevention that supports the tertiary prevention resources provided by the district for students identified with EBD

Jennifer McComas is associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota. She may be reached at 612/624-5854 or jmccomas@ umn.edu. The article was authored in collaboration with Von Sheppard, principal at Dayton’s Bluff Elementary School, St. Paul, Minnesota. He may be reached at 651/293-8915 or von.sheppard@spps.org.

When the researchers checked in again eight years later, things had gotten even worse for the young adults who had attended a preschool with a heavy dose of skills instruction and positive reinforcement.  They didn’t differ from their peers in the other programs with respect to their literacy skills, total amount of schooling, income, or employment status.  But they were far more likely to have been arrested for a felony at some point and also to have been identified as “emotionally impaired or disturbed.” 

he children who had been taught with the skills-based approach were “more hostile and aggressive, anxious and fearful, and hyperactive and distractible” than children who had attended more developmentally appropriate kindergarten classrooms – and they remained so a full year later. 

The skills kids had lower expectations of themselves, worried more about school, were more dependent on adults, and preferred easier tasks.[16]

Those from the child-initiated preschools “actually mastered more basic skills by initiating their own learning experiences” and continued to do well as the years went by.  The middle-of-the-roaders fell behind their peers.  As for those from the academically directed group, their “social development declined along with mastery of first-grade reading and math objectives. . . . By fourth and fifth grades, children from academic pre-K programs were developmentally behind their peers and displayed notably higher levels of maladaptive behavior” – particularly in the case of boys.[17]

a tightly structured, traditionally academic model for young children provides virtually no lasting benefits and proves to be potentially harmful in many respects.