Developing School‐wide Programs to Prevent and Manage Problem Behaviors: A Step‐by‐Step Approach

Most teachers enter the classroom focused on well‐planned instruction, hoping to inspire students to love learning. Unfortunately, these teachers find managing problem behaviors of students one of the most difficult aspects of their day, particularly when a school has a culture of low expectations for academics or when disrespect, bullying or violence is prevalent.

Developing School‐wide Programs to Prevent and Manage Problem Behaviors: A Step‐by‐Step Approach succinctly throws a lifeline to school administrators, counselors and teachers to prevent or change the misbehavior and maladaptive behaviors of the students through reasonable use of individual behavior intervention skills scaled up to address the entire student body. In seven chapters, authors (Lane et al., 2009) lay a research foundation for the techniques in their book and then proceed to build a program addressing the 80 percent of students in a school who typically would not be caught up in anti‐social behavior but who, if immersed in a violent or out‐of‐control environment might turn to antisocial behaviors themselves. The authors address poor academic performance throughout their book as a potential precursor to maladaptive behavior – students who are not succeeding academically may communicate their frustration through behaviors that are not acceptable to the school community. Students need to feel that they are in a safe, healthy, supportive environment. A total school program addressing behaviors and setting a unified culture and approach (including all staff – many of whom would have traditionally been ignored in developing any plan related to students but who are in key positions to support or damage the effectiveness of any implementation) to acceptable behaviors goes a long way to providing a school environment that provides feelings of safety not only for students but also for faculty and staff too.

Chapter 1 lays out the thesis and focus of the book. Based on a three‐tiered model of a school‐wide behavior supports, the three tiers are based on the severity of individual student behavior. The first tier is for the vast majority of a school community in which inappropriate behavior is not a recurring issue – this is a preventative tier. All students are monitored for academic and behavior difficulties. This tier addresses about 80 percent of the student body. Secondary prevention is designed for that 10‐15 percent of students who are not responsive to preventive measures. These are students who would receive more focused attention to their academic performance, whether it is trouble learning or a refusal to participate in the learning process. The tertiary prevention tier is the most focused and intensive level of support and is directed at those who may be at risk youth due to chaotic home lives, impoverished living conditions or mental health issues of someone in the immediate environment. This chapter presents a strong research base for its presentation of the value of a school‐wide behavioral plan.

Chapter 2 defines and details a primary prevention program at each level of education, recognizing the differences in working with students of different ages and grade levels. Though not a primary focus, the importance of the classroom and teacher are acknowledged here, including how the classroom structure, appropriate curriculum, and instructional delivery are linked to behavior. This chapter also includes a table of 11 existing programs, which focus on non‐violence, bullying, or positive behavior that could be used to assist, not replace local thinking, in developing a plan creating a culture of positive behavior and citizenship.

By Chapter 4, the book gets to its core as it provides solid direction for designing and starting a primary prevention plan. The authors present very clear procedures to guide the process for the developing and implementation of a plan. Although, the authors include consensus building and building a team to oversee the process at times the richness of samples could also become overwhelming in all of the steps that would be conducted. More examples could have been presented about gaining community support to assure that the valued behaviors and plan is reflective of the community. This is especially important when the faculty is not reflective of the community that the school serves. The faculty or administration providing leadership in developing the school's plan needs to be sensitive to incorporating a broad range of stakeholders and ensuring that the curriculum is culturally responsive, developmentally appropriate, and evidence‐based as advocated by the authors.

After implementing the plan for school‐wide behaviors, the subsequent chapter moves into more detail about assessing the success of the program including sample measures and ways to collect feedback on the plan. In addition, more information is given about monitoring all students for academic and behavior concerns in the primary tier as a way to prevent difficulties and identify students who are struggling. Examples of existing assessments and tools used for this screening are provided.

Chapter 6 focuses on the implementation plan, including how to collect school‐wide data to monitor how the school and its students are responding to the plan, to determine how different types of students are responding, and to identify students who require additional supports in the form of secondary and tertiary interventions. The information on how to identify students who need targeted support includes examples of a variety of programs and interventions that would support struggling students. The chapter also points out the importance of the integrity of the implementation. For example, if constituents of the implementation plan do not use the plan as it is developed this can result in a different form of evaluation than if the plan is implemented as developed. Although fidelity to the plan was addressed, these reviewers believed more attention could be directed at faculty and staff behaviors that result in problematic student behaviors. In the experience of these reviewers, adults may treat children in disrespectful or culturally insensitive ways. When a student reacts, the student is held accountable while the adult is not called to task as the cause of the student's unacceptable behavior. Further attention to training faculty and staff to ensure respectful interactions with all students as well as more specialized training to understand students with emotional or behavioral disorders is recommended.

The final chapter, Chapter 7, offers a series of frequently asked questions and responses to those questions as a means to address issues that were not addressed more extensively earlier. It serves as a helpful resource for teachers and administrators utilizing the book as a guide to implement a school wide program to monitor student learning and behavior. While this book is designated for special education, the co‐reviewers represent general education and special education. We were curious to see if the book would provide information that is useful to a broader group of educators. As a result, an interesting discussion ensued. The term “managing behaviors” was an issue in the separate cultures of general and special education. Although readily accepted by the special education reviewer as a routine issue in teaching, the general education reviewer had to go through a process to understand that “managing behaviors” was not necessarily an insensitive approach to improving student functioning in a social setting. Creating a culture of high expectations with a systematic approach for academics and behavior was seen as a way to ensure that all students have a safe, supportive environment in which to learn.

These two reviewers initially disagreed about the cultural sensitivity of strategies described in the book. In a city as diverse as Los Angeles, asking one parent to serve on the team that develops and monitors the behavioral plan would leave several ethnic constituents unrepresented. Further discussion brought out the need of general education and special education stakeholders to also be represented. The conversation about cultural sensitivity was a rich discussion of a school needing to be aware of its own needs, and to adjust the team and process for the school's individual situation. Through this discussion, both reviewers felt that Developing School‐wide Programs to Prevent and Manage Problem Behaviors: A Step‐by‐Step Approach is a worthwhile read for teachers and administrators who wish to implement a systemic approach to ensuring academic success while minimizing problem behaviors. The book would especially be useful to educators in a school administration or educational leadership program.