Teach Effectively!

Forty-two schools in Utah are doing it the right way! Woohooooo!

According to Jennifer Toomer-Cook of the Deseret Morning News, these schools have adopted a research-based approach to promoting appropriate behavior. Here’s a quote from her story:

A cluster of Utah schools thinks it has found a way to change the way students behave and, in turn, improve academics, prevent bullying and possibly stave off the kind of violence seen in last week’s deadly Minnesota school shooting.

The Utah Behavior Initiatives Project, implemented in 42 schools and grounded in research, aims to prevent bad behavior by teaching, demonstrating and rewarding the good. Schools track data, keep what works and throw out what doesn’t.

It sounds pretty basic: Reinforce the behavior you want to see.

But schools often focus on disciplining students who get out of line — something some educators say is far easier than teaching a teenager what it means to be respectful, when his daily interaction is anything but.

Utah’s Behavior Initiatives (UBI) is a cooperative venture of several groups in Utah focused on staff development (especially, the Utah Personnel Development Center) and the Utah State Office of Education Special Education Services. These folks really deserve credit.