IST 524- Op-Ed Assignment

Group 4-Team Awesome

Recorder: Jorey McComas

Coordinator: Erin McGee
Researcher: Shawna Geoffroy

This Op-Ed is written for Educational Leadership Magazine,

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership.aspx
 Shaping Future Learners:
How Do We Move on From Gold Stars?

In a continually changing educational system, teachers have been debating the most effective
instructional models for decades. From the early 1900s, educational psychologists have been
modifying and adapting new forms of learning into the classroom, each claiming they have
developed the most ideal and effective learning model. In revisiting Skinner’s theory of
behaviorism and his use of the ‘Skinner Box’ in which he analyzed animal behavior by
rewarding with food, one realizes that this type of extrinsic motivation is not a long-term solution
for humans. “If we manipulate children with rewards to get them to do something else, we only
attach them to the reward. And in a way, we flatter their lower nature, especially if we propose to
them a reward that is less worthy than the attainment we are actually after.” (Barney, J. 2019)
Expanding on behaviorism, we propose using Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
(PBIS), also known as School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) in learning to use
rewards effectively in motivating students.

What is Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

(PBIS)?
PBIS was developed by two researchers from the University of Oregon in the late 1990s. An
earlier program called Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) provided behavioral support to
behaviorally challenged students in classrooms, mostly in special education settings. The
techniques were rooted in behaviorism and the psychological field of applied behavioral theory.
(Safe and Civil Schools, 2019) “It's been decades since academic psychology took seriously the
orthodox behaviorism of the psychologists’ John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, which by now has
shrunk to a cult-like clan of "behavior analysts." But, alas, its reductionist influence lives on—in
classroom (and schoolwide) management programs like PBIS ” (Kohn, A., 2018). Like
behaviorism, PBIS is a learner's reaction or response to environmental stimuli and the use of
token economies. However, in addition to rewards like gold stars and candy, PBIS incorporates
effective praise, group responses through verbal and nonverbal means, defined expectations of
learners, and constant access to the teacher. PBIS also includes a social component, forming a
classroom/school culture. “SWPBS is a set of intervention practices and organizational systems
for establishing the social culture and intensive individual behavior support needed to achieve
academic and social success for all students (Sugai, Horner, & Lewis, 2009).

The Social Component

In the simplest form, PBIS’s reliance on a token economy provides extrinsic motivation for
students to make appropriate behavioral choices. “Thank you for throwing away your trash.
You’ve earned a Golden Ticket!” Many teachers are inherently opposed to rewarding students
for behaviors they feel should be common expectations. PBIS would argue that those behaviors
are not common expectations unless they have been taught explicitly and systematically.
Teachers can accept that. What they don’t want to accept is the damage that may be done to
students by rewarding them with extrinsic rewards for the behaviors once they have been
taught. PBIS counteracts this by including the social component of ‘group contingencies’ where
extrinsic rewards are earned as a group (Brown, C., 2019). Implementing rewards for a set
group expectation encourages classroom camaraderie.

In addition to the extrinsic reward example of the Golden Ticket and the use of group
contingencies, PBIS mandates the use of effective praise as an intrinsic reward. “The use of
praise is important to encourage positive behaviors in the classroom. PBIS methods stress that
praise needs to be specific, timely, and sincere. It should be personal to what works for each
individual student. As a rule of thumb, each student should receive five praise comments for
every one corrective comment” (Brown, C., 2019, March 21). By combining extrinsic and
intrinsic, you are not only appealing to the student’s sense of want (“I want the Gold Ticket!”),
but their need for praise, attention, and self-worth. Skinner believed, “a natural reinforcer is a
consequence that results from the very performance of the behavior we want the child to learn;
that consequence, in turn, motivates the child to want to perform these behaviors again”
(Hoose, N. A., N/D).

Making PBIS School-Wide

Many schools are moving to PBIS/SWPBS, to help build a strong school culture, decrease
unwanted behaviors, increase academic achievement, and build strong self-regulation in
students. The statistics are staggering! According to the National Technical Assistance Center,
more than 25,000 schools were using PBIS in 2018 (OSEP Technical Assistance Center on
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, 2019). With so many schools using the
program across the USA with the support of the US Department of Education, why wouldn’t
everyone jump on board? “SWPBS is not a formal curriculum but a 2–3 year process of
leadership team training intended to establish local or school capacity for the adoption of
effective and preventive behavioral interventions, high implementation integrity, continuous use
of data for decision making, embedded professional development and coaching to establish
predictable, consistent, positive and safe social contingencies at the whole school level” (Sugai,
Horner, & Anderson, 2010). We believe the PBIS expansion on behaviorism makes a strong
case for gradually implementing in educational institutions. We believe that the behaviorist
aspect of giving extrinsic rewards to motivate students to make better decisions can be
beneficial in the short term. We just caution schools to be very clear in their plan to phase out
these rewards as students move through the system, either as they get older, say moving from
Kindergarten to third grade, or as they move through the school year. We argue that it is
important to transfer extrinsic motivation to intrinsic forms of motivation to have the greatest
social/emotional impact on the students in your care. “In education, researchers have found
that intrinsic motivation is related to what they have called learning goals, or motivation to learn
for the sake of learning. Whereas, extrinsic motivation is associated with performance goals, or
learning in the pursuit of evaluation, or a good grade; in essence, a reward.” (Heyman & Dweck,
1992). Let’s aim to learn for the sake of learning.
 Work Cited
1. Barney, J. (2019, December 21). Marketing, Manipulations and True Classroom
Leadership. Educational Renaissance Blog.
{https://educationalrenaissance.com/2019/12/21/marketing-manipulations-and-true-
classroom-leadership/}.

2. Safe & Civil Schools. (2019). Positive Behavior Support (PBS) — A Discussion.
{https://www.safeandcivilschools.com/research/papers/pbs.php}.

3. Kohn, A., (2018, September 4). Students Aren't Lab Rats. Stop Treating Them Like They
Are, Education Week. {https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/09/05/students-arent-
lab-rats-stop-treating-them.html}.

4. Brown, C., (2019, March 21). How to use PBIS strategies in the classroom. Classcraft
Blog. {https://www.classcraft.com/blog/features/pbis-strategies/}.

5. Horner R., Sugai G., & Anderson, C. (2010, April). Examining the Evidence Base for
School-Wide Positive Behavior Support. Denver, CO: Focus on Exceptional Children.

6. Sugai, G., Horner, R., & Lewis, T. (2009). School-wide positive behavior support
implementers’ blueprint and self-assessment. Eugene, OR: OSEP TA-Center on Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports.

7. Hoose, N. A. (N/D). Behaviorism in the Classroom. Lumen Learning.

{https://courses.lumenlearning.com/edpsy/chapter/behaviorism-in-the-classroom/}.

8. OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports,

2019 OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and
Supports (2019). Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports. {https://www.pbis.org/}.

9. Heyman & Dweck, (1992). Motivating Children Without Rewards. Psychology Today.
LoBue Ph.D., (9/16/20). {https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-baby-
scientist/201806/motivating-children-without-rewards}.