Three words are everywhere at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Towson, written on classroom boards and posted prominently in hallways; respectful, responsible, ready.
Those words are part of positively-minded language that every student at the school, from three-year-olds in pre-kindergarten to eighth graders, sees and hears every day. Respect yourself and others, be responsible, and be ready to learn.
The phrases are at the center of the school's Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program, a strategy the school implemented in the 2014-2015 school year to encourage good behavior. Instead of merely scolding students who misbehave, teachers now model the behavior they want students to follow and then collect data about incidents to develop practices, based on that evidence, that encourage and result in good behavior.
Immaculate Heart of Mary has done such a good job implementing the system that the school scored 100 percent on a site evaluation in May, earning an award for the 2015-2016 school year from PBIS Maryland, a partnership between the state and two major health institutions that helps private and public schools in Maryland to implement the behavioral system, which is known by its acronym, PBIS.
A common hallway scene, with students lining up to walk from one place to another, serves as an example of how the program works. In the past, if a student stepped out of line, the adult in charge of the group might have told the student to "get in line," or say "you're out of line," said Terri Archibald, a middle school social studies teacher at Immaculate Heart who is one of three staff members who coordinate and lead the implementation of the method in the school.
Now, teachers might say, "You're following my directions, going down the hallway, thank you." Archibald said, adding that, if a student needs to have a behavior corrected, a teacher might remind the student that when they walk as a group in the hall they remain in line.
"You reteach it, but in a positive way," she said.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports is an approach that has been researched for more than three decades. Congress mentioned the approach in its 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as an effective method for helping to teach students with disabilities. Congress decided to encourage the use of PBIS in schools because of strong evidence supporting the system and because students with disabilities were being excluded from some educational opportunities due to behavioral issues, according to the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs' Technical Assistance Center for Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports.
PBIS is considered to be a successful method of improving student behavior, not just for special education students but for all students, said Kandace Hoppin, an assistant professor in the department of special education at Towson University.
"It's just like academic learning," Hoppin said. "We need to teach kids the behaviors we want to see."
Baltimore County uses PBIS in 73 of 173 public schools, according to school officials. The method also is in place at all elementary and high schools operated by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to the websites of the Archdiocese.