did not have money to purchase items in the store).
Additionally, schools may have a monthly focus lesson based on one of their expectations (George, 2009; PBIS Maryland, n.d.). For example, if Be Respectful is one of the expectations, schools can tease apart the expectation of respect into other behavioral qualities, such as cooperation, empathy, and understanding culture. A lesson can be created for each of those qualities, and students can receive monthly lessons on those qualities. Finally, schools will want to hold data-driven booster sessions on the expectations as another way to ensure ongoing instruction (George, 2009). For example, looking at data on referral rates can indicate to staff when students will need refreshers on the expectations (for example, after winter break) as well as what expectations, and in which locations, may need reteaching.
Because expectations are taught at the start of a year, school teams will have to consider how to handle new students who enter the school midyear. Teachers can take time to teach the new students the expectations and other aspects of SWPBIS, or the teacher can assign a student or school office staff member to teach the expectations to the new student. Schools can also deal with this issue by planning regular times to review and reteach the expectations (for example, a school may review expectations monthly, so new students will be exposed to the expectations at that time). Capturing all of the creative ways schools embed and extend the expectations is beyond the scope of this chapter. However, school teams should create the expectations with the goal of making them part of the school’s culture and ensuring ongoing instruction.
Reinforcing Expectations
After being introduced to the expectations, students will need ongoing acknowledgment and feedback by school staff to facilitate learning of the expectations. Ongoing acknowledgment for adhering to the expectations is an important practice in SWPBIS because it strengthens the prosocial skills and expectations being taught to students (George et al., 2009; Horner, Sugai, et al., 2005). Staff members will provide acknowledgment for students who engage in the expectations at the individual and group level, but they will also host events that reinforce the school culture and climate for all students. The school will create a comprehensive acknowledgment system that includes high-frequency acknowledgment, long-term acknowledgment, group recognition, and noncontingent acknowledgments. First, we describe behavior-specific praise, which is paired with high-frequency acknowledgment.
Behavior-Specific Praise
To provide feedback and acknowledge students’ appropriate behaviors, teachers and staff should give behavior-specific praise. Behavior-specific praise is instructional because it involves specific feedback about a particular behavior that is provided contingent on performing the behavior (Lewis, Hudson, Richter, & Johnson, 2004; Simonsen, Fairbanks, Briesch, Myers, & Sugai, 2008; Sutherland, Wehby, & Copeland, 2000). Whereas general praise is vague and not attached to a specific behavior (for example, “Good job!” “Way to go!”), behavior-specific praise consists of stating the behavior that the student is displaying and providing feedback that the behavior is desirable: “You did a wonderful job facilitating your group’s discussion and making sure everyone contributed. That’s a great example of being responsible!” See table 2.6 for examples of specific versus vague praise.
Table 2.6: General Versus Behavior-Specific Praise
| General Praise | Behavior-Specific Praise |
| Wow! You did such a good job! | John, thank you for raising your hand and waiting to be called on before answering. |
| Marianne, that is great! You’re a hard worker! | Marianne, you worked really hard and stayed focused on that assignment. I can tell you put a lot of work into it. |
| Super! | Everyone contributed, and you all found a way to cooperate. Excellent. |
| Incredible! Yes! | You’re looking at me and following along. That tells me you’re listening and that you’re ready to work. That’s appreciated. |
| You’re so nice! | It’s really respectful of you to hold the door for others as we come into the classroom. |
| Good job! | Thank you for walking in the hall. That is a great way to demonstrate safety. |
| Thanks! | Wow! You showed responsibility by arriving to class on time with all your materials. |
Source: Harlacher, 2015.
Behavior-specific praise is very powerful for changing behavior and increasing rates of prosocial behavior. For example, Kevin Sutherland, Joseph Wehby, and Susan Copeland (2000) studied an increase in behavior-specific praise from once every ten minutes to once every two minutes in a self-contained fifth-grade classroom. This resulted in almost twice as much on-task behavior, rising from 48 percent to 86 percent. Other studies have found increases in on-task behavior and decreases in problem behavior as a result of using more behavior-specific praise in elementary and secondary settings, as well as regular education and special education settings (Allday et al., 2012; Hawkins & Heflin, 2011; Pisacreta Tincani, Connell, & Axelrod, 2011; Rathel, Drasgow, Brown, & Marshall, 2014; Sutherland & Wehby, 2001). Behavior-specific praise serves as a positive, meaningful connection as well as a reminder for expectations (saying, “I love that you were responsible and finished your work neatly and completely” reminds all students who hear this praise of what is expected). Behavior-specific praise can be paired with tangible acknowledgments, which we discuss next.
High-Frequency Acknowledgment
A high-frequency acknowledgment is a small, inexpensive item such as a ticket, token, sticker, or signature that is given to students contingent on displaying the schoolwide expectations (George et al., 2009). The acknowledgments serve a clear functional purpose: they strengthen the learning of the expectations and provide immediate, tangible feedback to students. Additionally, they can serve as visual prompts for staff to regularly provide acknowledgment for engaging in desired behaviors. All staff give high-frequency acknowledgments, including custodial, playground, bus, and cafeteria staff on a daily, regular basis. They provide a steady dose of feedback to students to teach and strengthen the use of the schoolwide expectations.
The type of high-frequency acknowledgments used in schools varies considerably. Many schools use paper tickets, referred to as PBIS tickets. See figure 2.1 for examples. Typically, the ticket has a space for the student’s name, the location, and the specific expectation the student displayed that earned the ticket (George et al., 2009).
Figure 2.1: High-frequency acknowledgment tickets.
Paper tickets require money for printing, so other schools have opted to use signatures as a cost-saving measure. In this example, all students carry a daily planner with a cover page that lists the expectations and spaces for signatures (see figure 6.5 in chapter 6, page 168). When staff see a student displaying the expectation, they sign the student’s cover page (J. Ancina, personal communication, August 20, 2015). Other high-frequency acknowledgments include stamps, stickers, or recognition posted on a class- or schoolwide board (that is, each classroom posts a symbol or checkmark by students’ names to indicate they earned a high-frequency acknowledgment).
There should be clear procedures and policies regarding how to provide high-frequency acknowledgments to students. Time should also be devoted to teaching the staff how to provide behavior-specific praise, as it may be a new skill for some staff. To make the high-frequency acknowledgments most effective, follow these guidelines (George, 2009):
▴ Flood students with acknowledgments initially in order to establish buy-in and trust with the system among students.
▴ Provide a high ratio of positive acknowledgments to corrections
