How to Assess a School-Wide Behavior Management Plan

Many alternative schools have behavior management systems to help create and maintain structure for their students. Conducting an assessment of a behavior management system can help determine what works and does not work. This can be helpful when implementing a new behavior management plan or revise the one currently in use at your facility.

Instructions

Data Collection

• 1

  Before you can effectively assess a behavior management system (BMS), design a tool to collect data. Since the BMS affects two groups of people, designing one for adults (teachers, principal, aides, etc.) and one for the students will allow you to ask specific questions of each group.

  Keep in mind when designing questionnaires, it is best to use a rating scale (such as 1-5, 1=rarely/never and 5=most of the time). This will help you compile the data much faster.

• 2

  For adults, it will be important to ask questions to determine whether the BMS helps teachers maintain a positive learning environment. For example, does the program hold students responsible for disruptive behavior? Is it easy to implement on a daily basis?

  Limit the number of questions to the most important and focus on asking questions related to the efficacy of the program.

• 3

  Give the students a questionnaire of their own. Not only will this provide valuable information, but it will also include them in the process of making their school a better place. Most of the time, children are honest when asked for their opinions.

  Changing what type of questions you ask is important, as a child will not know whether the system effectively keeps the peace. However, they will be able to answer whether they feel the program is fair in how it treats them and their peers. Focus on questions related to whether the program works, not whether the students like it.

• 4

  Once you have your questionnaires drafted, distribute them throughout the school at the same time. Keep the questionnaires anonymous, but collect some identifying data such as age and gender. This is important because you may find male students see the program differently than their female peers.

• 5

  Once all the questionnaires have been completed, begin compiling your data. By using rating scales, you can simply tally the number of responses given for each question.

Present your Findings

• 6

  Once you have your data, schedule a meeting with school employees and present your findings. Go over the results for adults, students, and subgroups such as gender or age.

• 7

  Once you have presented your findings, you will then be able to hold an open discussion with other employees as to whether your behavior management program is working as it should.

  For example, if teachers consistently respond that they program does not allow for flexibility in consequences for poor behavior, the group may want to see if there is any way this can be changed.

• 8

  If these discussions reveal changes that need to be made, immediately begin making modifications or changes to improve the behavior management plan.

• 9

  When making changes, include the students in setting up a "test run." Have everyone start with the new modifications on the same day so everyone is learning the changes together.

• 10

  After your test run, you can then get all the employees back together and discuss whether the changes have had a positive impact. You can also redistribute your questionnaire to compare results with the data collected prior to any changes being made.