Informed Parents and Educators at BCS

Thank you Emma! Well done

2010-05-20T13:53:17.532-04:00

Thank you Emma! Well done

Bravo Emma. Well said.

2010-05-20T07:48:17.610-04:00

Bravo Emma. Well said.

Funny, I just did a related post on my blog. It s...

2010-05-16T20:47:21.091-04:00

Funny, I just did a related post on my blog. It saddens me to see a young child work so hard for a sticker - better to teach children to "behave" so that they will make/keep life long friends and will feel a sense of self-worth and pride. Harder, takes longer, well worth it.

Great post from an admin on incentives: http://geo...

2010-05-16T19:44:12.637-04:00

Great post from an admin on incentives:
http://georgecouros.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/taking-apart-the-system-we-created-a-new-look-at-rewards/#comment-253

It was a very astute observation that the class wi...

2010-05-14T07:31:40.818-04:00

It was a very astute observation that the class with the least discipline problems was led by a teacher that showed he/she cared about the students.

It is too bad the school board chose to ignore your daughter.

This might interest you regarding PBIS and Respons...

2010-05-07T12:20:32.462-04:00

This might interest you regarding PBIS and Responsive Classroom. It's from Responsiveclassroom.org: http://www.originsonline.org/includes/files/RC_PBIS_flyer.pdf

You might want to inquire about how much training ...

2010-04-27T16:43:37.620-04:00

You might want to inquire about how much training the teachers will eventually have to attend as part of PBIS. Our school instituted PBIS this year, and for a while it seemed like each one of my three kids had a substitute, instead of their regular teacher, about once a week. Not all of those absences were due to PBIS training, but many of them were. None of us knew enough in advance to ask how many teacher absences would occur as a result of PBIS.

Two days of training this week for PBIS at BCS...r...

2010-04-27T11:47:57.185-04:00

Two days of training this week for PBIS at BCS...really? Where are we in the 'design' stages of how the program will be implemented? What decisions have already been made? Whose voices have been heard? Teachers? Students? Parents? What options have been explored? This is happening and we need to speak up.

Our little school here in Iowa City has been using...

2010-04-22T11:58:21.675-04:00

Our little school here in Iowa City has been using PBIS since this past August. Though a few other parents and I made a fuss about it, the principal made it clear that the decision had already been made by the superintendent and that the program would go forward regardless of how parents felt about it.

My youngest two daughters (ages 5 and 7) are unbothered by the program and seem to enjoy the prize drawings, etc. I am very concerned about what it's teaching them and what effects it will have on them (you've already linked to my reasons), but even I wouldn't argue that it is making them unhappy on a day-to-day basis.

My oldest daughter (now 10), though, said from the beginning that she "hated" the program and thought it was "terrible." This was partly because her best friend, a perfectly well-behaved kid, was getting very few tickets (i.e., rewards) and was feeling hurt by it. (I think it was also partly because she was old enough to feel vaguely insulted at the idea that she needed to be bribed to be "good," but maybe I'm projecting.)

My suggestion was: just say "No, thank you" when you're offered a ticket. She liked the idea but was afraid she would "get in trouble." So I wrote the principal to ask whether a student could politely decline a ticket when it is offered. After some back and forth, the principal agreed that students could politely decline.

My daughter has been saying "No, thanks" to tickets all year now. At first she got some funny looks, but of course no teacher is going to force a reward on an unwilling recipient.

Not a boycott, exactly. And I wouldn't even have suggested it if she hadn't been upset about the program to begin with. (My younger two daughters continue to happily accept the tickets, and don't quite know what to make of their big sister.) But I do see it as a kind of minor triumph over the program, and especially over its assumption that kids don't have minds of their own and will automatically value whatever nonsense the adults start dishing out.

By the way, your site is terrific -- I've been reading it every day.

I have been meaning to write for a few days but wa...

2010-04-13T18:31:25.944-04:00

I have been meaning to write for a few days but wanted to get my thoughts together. I agree with you about the concerns re:PBIS. At my school we have been using PBIS for several years and it really has not done much to promote kids making positive choices. If anything, they stand around and wait for someone with a ticket before they pick up trash or do something that merits that ticket. One of the other huge issues is the data collection piece. My principal boasts of our office referral stats but does not acknowledge that the data is skewed because there are no consequences for poor choices. If anything, teachers who send kids to the office are shown the PBIS form and flowchart and are encouraged to handle issues on their own most of the time. It's fine for teachers to do so, but there must be more teaching of "how to be at school" and how to get along with others. I think the places where PBIS works are where there is another program that actually addresses social-emotional learning. I know this is a ramble so feel free to cut it short. I am passionately behind you and hope you get the resolution you desire.

I'm flattered! I don't know whether my ra...

2010-04-13T00:55:30.776-04:00

I'm flattered! I don't know whether my rants will change any minds, but at least people who are like-minded will see that they have some company.

After I had a letter on PBIS in the local paper here, I was surprised by the number of people -- including several teachers -- who let me know that they agreed with me. I can't say we're a majority -- I suspect the wide majority of parents here probably have no opinion one way or the other about it. But what was striking was the strangely fatalistic attitude of the people I spoke to. People seemed to act as if PBIS was inflicted on us by a higher power outside our control, like bad weather or an earthquake.

And they were arguably right. At our school, PBIS was presented as a fait accompli that would be instituted regardless of what the parents thought about it. This strange powerlessness of parents over educational policy is one of the topics that prompted me to start blogging -- if only to vent -- and I hope to explore it more in the future. Meanwhile, though, I'm counting on you to disprove my thesis!

This is Chris at ABlogAboutSchool. I noticed that...

2010-04-11T01:38:07.131-04:00

This is Chris at ABlogAboutSchool. I noticed that you had linked to my blog, where I discuss my own experience trying to challenge the use of PBIS in my kids' school -- you are probably my only reader! -- and I am now following your story with great interest.

One thing I realized as I went through this process is that it's impossible to understand the push for PBIS without reference to No Child Left Behind and the increased use of high-stakes standardized testing to evaluate schools and school staff. School administrators, principals, and teachers are under tremendous pressure to raise the test scores of their students -- their jobs are on the line. To increase the teachers' "on-task time" -- that is, to squeeze every last testing point out of the kids -- they have to resort to more and more regimentation and discipline, and to be less and less tolerant of kids behaving like, well, kids.

Of course, I don't know the circumstances of your particular school. But I would recommend casting a skeptical eye on a school's assertions that behavior problems are worsening. When behavior is falling increasingly short of expectations, it may well be because the expectations are changing. Given the pressures the schools face under NCLB, it would be a miracle if they *weren't* ratcheting up expectations. But at some point, of course, when that many kids are falling short of expectations, one has to start asking whether those expectations are age-appropriate, and whether they are serving the best interests of the kids.

For obvious reasons, a school is likely to present PBIS to the parents as a solution to growing behavioral problems, rather than as a solution to the pressure they are experiencing to boost test scores. School personnel may not even be entirely conscious of the effect that that pressure has on their expectations of the kids. But programs like PBIS thrive precisely by addressing the concern with raising test scores, and are marketed to school districts on that basis. Kids aren't that different than they've ever been, but the legal context in which schools operate has changed greatly, and it's those changes -- not any rise in bad behavior -- that have generated the "need" for programs like PBIS.

I came to the conclusion that the NCLB regime holds much more power over the people who teach our kids than we, as parents, do, and embodies a very different set of priorities, and a very different attitude toward kids, than many of us have. I think that's a symptom of something deeply wrong with our educational system. But still, every situation is different, and you may be able to avoid some of the worst aspects of PBIS by making yourselves heard early on. I wish you the best!

I was also at the meeting and can clarify the % th...

2010-04-10T19:22:43.226-04:00

I was also at the meeting and can clarify the % that was described by Mrs. Federico. What I understood her to say was that 80% of the children are behaving in an expected manner (in class) and the other % (I would say 20%) behavior in the class have to be improved. What she was saying is that the problem arises when students out of the 80% are in the caf, recess, hallway, bathroom etc and they engage in unacceptable behavior. Then you have the 20% you already know need support to act in an appropriate manner and whatever % from the well behaved students decide to participate.....and yikes!
I have a unique perspective on this as a para working in reg ed and special ed and a parent of a BCS graduate and a current student. I would have strongly disagreed until an experience with a student on a behavior modification plan. The change was remarkable! I see pros and cons to the program and agree that further examination is prudent. The major pro for me as an employee is the tracking method....that is very important. Teachers are with their students most of the day but most of this behavior that concerns us occurs when the teacher is not present. This info has to get back to the teachers so everyone on the "team" is discussing the same issues.

Thanks for the recap of a meeting I could not atte...

2010-04-10T17:06:10.063-04:00

Thanks for the recap of a meeting I could not attend. Sadly it does not surprise me that this change is far along, nor that parental involvement is not encouraged. I plan to attend the 5/4 meeting and appreciate your efforts to keep the parents informed. While it seems to me that adminstration and employees of BCS must feel at the end of their collective rope dealing with behavioral issues, I feel strongly that our children should not be externally rewarded for just doing the right thing. Thanks again!