If teachers only had to concern themselves with finding engaging ways to present curriculum content and to vary it to address different learning styles, their daily activities in the classroom would be relatively straightforward. But in today’s schools, teachers increasingly must navigate children’s challenging behaviors and mental health concerns if they have any chance of imparting academic skills and knowledge.
Students, educators, and the school environment are all negatively impacted when challenging behaviors are not effectively managed. These effects include lost instructional time, poorer academic outcomes for both disruptive students and their non-disruptive peers, a decreased sense of safety and school connection, and teacher stress and burnout. And, unfortunately, in some cases physical aggression and violence erupt and cause physical harm and/or property destruction.
What are Behavioral Interventions for K-12 Schools?
Over the years school districts have adopted a range of systems to address problematic student behavior to optimize academic outcomes and to foster an environment in which students can grow both socially and emotionally. Some schools have implemented a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) that provides varying levels of educational, behavioral, and mental health support for each student depending on individually identified needs and challenges. Other districts have adopted a PBIS framework, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, that also involves a multi-tiered system of supports across multiple areas of functioning. Both systems rely on evidence-based practices (EBPs) to support students at each of three levels. Tier 1, often called the universal or preventive tier, includes screening and services for all students. Tier 2 services are more intensive and are focused on a small group of students who appear to be at risk due to academic, behavioral, or emotional struggles. Tier 3 services are the most intensive of all and are reserved for the most fragile students who are potentially at risk of requiring an out-of-district placement.
As described in Bradshaw, et. al, an outcome study published in the journal Pediatrics, “SWPBIS is a noncurricular universal prevention strategy that aims to alter the school’s organizational context to implement enhanced procedures and systems to guide data-based decisions related to student behavior problems and academics. It applies behavioral, social learning, and organizational principles to an entire student body consistently across all school contexts. Schools establish a set of positively stated, school-wide expectations for student behavior, which are taught to all students and staff”. According to a 2023 article by Walker, et. al, this 3-tiered prevention framework has been implemented in over 25,000 schools in the United States.
MTSS and SWPBIS are the most comprehensive prevention-oriented systems that school teams have applied to support students, but there are also other evidence-based practices that belong on the list of effective school-based behavioral interventions. These include ABA Therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) interventions, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Curricula, Trauma-informed practices, and the adoption of de-escalation and restorative justice techniques.
The Benefits of Positive Behavior Interventions in Schools
Disruptive and other negative behaviors do not just affect the classroom environment and interfere with learning. To the extent that they become a youngster’s go-to method for solving problems and getting needs met, these behaviors can damage relationships with family, peers, and teachers and can preclude the development of adaptive communication and self-regulation skills and contribute to low self-esteem. The combination of these factors creates a perfect storm that if not interrupted can cause a further decline in academic achievement, substance use problems, antisocial behavior, legal involvement, and the risk of dropping out of school.
School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS), however, are designed to address the early-onset of behavior problems and promote positive adjustment, before symptoms worsen and become entrenched. Bradshaw, et. al found that that SWPBIS had significant effects “on children’s behavior problems, concentration problems, social-emotional functioning, and prosocial behavior. Children in SWPBIS schools also were 33% less likely to receive an office discipline referral than those in the comparison schools. The effects tended to be strongest among children who were first exposed to SWPBIS in kindergarten.” At the same time, based on their comprehensive review of the literature, Walker et al. have suggested that further studies are needed to determine whether SWPBIS services are consistently available to ESN (extensive support needs) students as research surprisingly has not consistently addressed their inclusion in these tiered services.
6 Effective School-Based Behavior Intervention Strategies
The hallmark of SWPBIS programming is that it is a proactive, preventive approach to foster school safety and positive student behaviors. It emphasizes a clear statement of behavioral expectations for the entire student body combined with multiple opportunities for practice and feedback from teachers and other school personnel. It prioritizes prevention and the reinforcement of positive behaviors over punishment and has been shown to significantly improve student behavior and academic performance, and to decrease detentions and suspensions.
SWPBIS focuses on the entire community of students, most of whom will not need individualized plans. However, it encompasses some core strategies that child study teams have used extensively when developing Individualized Education Plans (IEP) such as Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP) and Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA).
The examples of Behavior Intervention Techniques described below all flow from what are known as the 4-R’s of behavior intervention:
- Reduce refers to the active management of the classroom environment in an attempt to eliminate or reduce triggers that contribute to dysregulation and disorder. This includes factors such as noise levels, harsh lighting, seating arrangements (e.g. placing students with attentional issues closer to the teacher), clearing walkways, reducing clutter, creating standard patterns of entering and exiting the classroom, etc.).
- Replace involves direct instruction about alternative behaviors that are more acceptable than those that have been identified as problematic. This might include teaching students to raise their hands before shouting out a question, stretching or moving in place beside their desks when feeling anxious or fidgety, using a “talking stick” to take turns speaking, etc.
- Reinforce refers to the active and consistent acknowledgement of desired behaviors, both verbally and with (at times) tangible rewards.
- Respond involves the commitment by school professionals and parents to consistently address and redirect target behaviors while enthusiastically providing positive reinforcement when students meet behavioral expectations.
The following list offers six suggestions for effective behavior intervention strategies that can be adopted on a school-wide basis to directly teach and then foster the maintenance of healthy, adaptive behaviors:
Precorrection
Precorrection involves the active manipulation of the classroom environment so that it is more likely to elicit appropriate rather than disruptive or problematic behaviors. Direct observation of classroom “trouble spots” will yield information about what these interventions might look like in any given classroom. For example, entering and exiting the classroom in an orderly fashion is often an issue for younger students and can give rise to dysregulation and physical altercations. Offering very clear instruction and reminders (e.g., posters on the wall) about the travel route in and out, about keeping proper distance from and hands off other students, about immediately taking their seats while waiting for others to file in, etc., can help minimize the impact of this particular trouble spot. Setting a timer that offers students a 2-minute warning before each transition is another example of proactively managing a trouble spot, namely transitions from one activity or place to another.
Strategic Check-in/Check-out (CICO) Systems
A frequently used evidence-based method involves a student’s discussion of individualized behavioral goals with a teacher or other school-based mentor at the beginning and end of each day. Goal setting in and of itself is a powerful strength-based behavioral strategy. By articulating a specific goal and then monitoring progress at the end of each school day with a trusted adult a student learns to self-monitor, to take accountability, and to adjust strategies as needed. It also offers the opportunity for fostering student-teacher bonds and for receiving positive reinforcement about desirable behavior changes, both from others and from oneself.
Token Economy and Positive Reinforcement Systems
Token economies and other positive reward systems are well-documented in school, clinical, and parent training environments as effective methods for shaping and maintaining positive behaviors. They are based on the well-researched principle of positive reinforcement as the key to understanding how so much of human behavior is learned, maintained, and changed. Token economies involve the use of points or some other representative item (e.g., stars) that can be exchanged for a reward or one’s choosing once a certain amount has been accrued. This method recognizes that not all individuals respond to the same reinforcers. Rewards can be tangible items, privileges, or desirable activities. It is important for educators to remember that verbal reinforcement is also quite powerful and should be specific and focused on the student’s actions and effort (consistent with a growth mindset) to be maximally useful.
Setting and Maintaining Routines
While it is true that humans often orient their attention to new or novel stimuli, it is also true that routines and structure make the world go round, for adults as well as children. Establishing and following daily routines help with self-regulation, goal-attainment, relationship stability, and physical health (think sleeping and eating patterns and circadian rhythms). Classroom- based and school-wide routines offer students predictability and a blueprint for what is expected of them in the school environment, and in times of stress (e.g., in the wake of a community crisis) offer a sense of safety.
Rest and Reset
In a world increasingly dominated by constant input from screens and other devices it is more important than ever for students, teachers, and parents to create specific rituals for rest and reset. The transition from one activity to another in an elementary classroom, or from one classroom to another in high school, or when getting ready for dismissal, or upon return from lunch, etc. are all examples of points during the day when a rest and reset activity can help minimize disruption and challenging behaviors. Teachers can conduct a class-wide reset activity (mindful breathing, a stretching exercise, singing a song, playing catch with a bean bag, etc.) and/or students can select from a supplied menu what might work for them at that moment (any of above or placing head on desk, coloring, flipping through a favorite book, listening to a song through headphones, writing in a journal, etc.). The planful use of reset activities can help everyone re-regulate and re-focus attention.
Proximity Control
It is human nature to try to move away from trouble, but a teacher actively using proximity control deliberately moves closer to students who are showing early signs of frustration, agitation, inattention, etc. Standing close and smiling at the student, a gentle hand on a shoulder, a whispered offer of help or suggestion to take a deep breath, a finger pointing to the section of a chapter being discussed, etc. might be enough to calm and/or redirect the student without verbally correcting or calling attention to a problem behavior.
Data-Driven Behavior Monitoring and Assessment of Student Behavior
As with many district initiatives, the implementation of a SWPBIS requires considerable time, effort, and resources. It is the collection of data about outcomes that will ultimately determine the value of these efforts and whether corrective actions are necessary to achieve the desired results.
Schools typically track disciplinary referrals and with some minor tweaks to the paper or online forms being used school teams can uncover a wealth of information about patterns of disruptive behavior, both for individual students and for the student body as a whole. A referral form ideally should include:
- The student’s name and grade level
- The referring staff member
- The date and time of incident
- The location of the incident
- A brief description of the incident and the behaviors being manifested
- The social or other skills that were missing
The regular review and analysis of these data by a designated team can offer important insights into the who, what, where, and when of school behavior problems and point toward reasonable interventions. Does a particular part of the building at a particular time of day require more teacher supervision? Are early dismissal days particularly problematic because of late bus arrivals? Are some students more likely to be disruptive after a gym class thus suggesting the need for both a physical and a mental cool-down at the end of class? An individual student’s patterns can also reveal vulnerabilities and lead to problem-solving discussions with the student, teachers, and parents.
The Keys to Success: Staff Buy In and Expert Help
Change is never easy. Most initiatives aimed at transforming the school culture or altering staff practices require staff buy-in and at times the help of outside consultants. Teachers need to know the scope of the problem at their school (the data!), the research evidence that supports the system being proposed, the exact skills and steps required of them to successfully implement the new system, and how the new system can ultimately make their jobs easier. They also need to be part of the planning process, weighing in on the nature of the problem(s), the causes, the potential solutions, and on what resources they will need to carry out their roles. And communication about program successes and challenges must be ongoing – it cannot be a one-and-done exchange between teachers and school leadership.
ESS has helped many districts implement MTSS tiers of service and has offered valuable consultation about effective school-wide PBIS programs. Feel free to contact us to learn more about how we might partner with your district.
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FAQs About Behavioral Intervention Strategies
What are behavioral intervention strategies?
There are many behavioral intervention strategies to choose from when designing a district’s SWPBIS. These strategies are intended to help students learn and practice positive behaviors while suppressing and providing alternatives to problematic ones. These include the six described in this article (precorrection, check in-check out systems, positive reinforcement, setting and maintaining routines, rest and re-set techniques, and proximity control) plus strategies such as using silent signals, assigning tasks, communicating clear expectations, self-monitoring, busy hands, use of a feeling thermometer, and goal setting.
What are the 4 R’s of behavior intervention?
The 4 R’s of behavior intervention are the underpinning of all SWPBIS strategies. The 4 R’s are reduce, replace, reinforce, and respond.
What are 5 examples of intervention strategies?
“Behavioral intervention strategies” is one category under the larger umbrella of “intervention” strategies that can be used to support individuals with educational, emotional, or behavioral challenges. These can be used in numerous settings – educational, mental health, parent training – and include individualized instruction, remediation, behavioral interventions, group counseling, and peer tutoring.
How to design a behavioral intervention?
There are numerous steps involved in the design of a behavioral intervention program, and all involve the collection and analysis of data. The key steps are problem definition; identification of target behaviors, when and where they tend to occur, and with which students; the development of hypotheses about what gives rise to these behaviors; the selection of behavior change techniques that appear most suited to the target behaviors identified; intervention development; pilot testing with a small group of students and selected educators who are willing to “champion” the program; program evaluation; and program revision based on evaluation findings.
Resources:
IRIS | Page 1: Strategies to Address Challenging Behaviors
Top 10 Used Behavioral Strategies in 2020
9 Examples of Positive Behavior Supports & Interventions | PowerSchool
https://www.edutopia.org/article/tracking-student-behavior-data/
