Wednesday, April 13, 2011

.:: PBIS at Naugatuck HS ::.

     When reviewing the eight features of PBIS, it is pretty clear that Naugatuck High School does not implement the process. Having said that, there are classrooms that seem to informally address some of the core features of PBIS, but not officially. For example, I have observed classrooms in which behavioral expectations are taught like social skills and academic performance is maximized. However, this is not part of a designed PBIS program nor is it a school-wide implementation. Furthermore, in regards to the secondary tier of prevention, for instance, I have never seen a "check in-check out" performed at the school. 
     The heart of PBIS is that it is a prevention program. The process is to implement strategies in the school in order to improve student behaviors. The extent of prevention here at Naugatuck seems to be along the lines of "don't do this because it's bad and you will get in trouble." This approach is hardly research based, nor does it establish a continuum of behavioral support. If in fact Naugatuck does implement PBIS, they do a terrific job of hiding it.

.:: PBIS at Nonneqaug HS ::.

     I must admit that while interning last semester at Nonnewaug high school, I never heard the acronym PBIS mentioned. In fact, it was only while attending grad school that I was introduced to the concept of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.
     This, however, does not mean that the PBIS structure was not implemented at Nonnewaug. Looking at the foundations of PBIS, it becomes clear to me that at least some elements were incorporated at the high school on a fairly regular basis.
     For instance, data was gathered on all troublesome and potentially troublesome students. After the data was analyzed by both parents and school officials, strategies were put in place to help improve the behavior of the individual students in question.
     Also worth noting is the fact that teachers and school officials instructed and directed these students in behaviors that were appropriate, observed these students carefully and tried to adapt to changing or unpredictable situations by altering the strategies which were in place when necessary. I did not, however, notice the enactment of other “principles” which make PBIS effective. This is not to say such “principles” were not implemented at all, but, rather to say such implementations may have gone unnoticed.
     For instance, I noticed no change in environment for behaviorally challenged students while I was at Nonnewaug other than the breaking up a large class of such students into two smaller classes. I was also unable to consciously observe any “evidence based behavioral practices.” That being said, I was also unaware of what “behavioral practices” may have been available to the school at the time.
     Ultimately, I would have to take a closer look at Nonnewaug high school's dealing with behaviorally challenged students in order to make an accurate and fair assessment of the school in regards to PBIS. The fact that I am no longer an intern at the school now means I am unable, however, to make such a first person observation. When it comes to Nonnewaug high school, memory will have to serve as the best critic.

.:: PBIS at NEMS ::.

Put together by Jen Radaskie
Here are some of the PBIS supports we have in place at North End Middle School:


For Students:
  • Super Student Tickets:  Students can earn a ticket for following the RAMS Rule (Respect, Attitude, Motivation, and Success) or for doing other various "good deeds" like helping another student or a teacher.  One half of the ticket is given to the House Principal and one half goes on a board in the display cabinet.  When the board is filled, the tickets stubs go into a raffle for a prize (normally a North End T-shirt).  Tickets can be given out by teachers, principals, and other building staff.
  • Dance Party:  Any student who has not been written up in the second marking period would be allowed to go to a dance party during the U.A. periods.  Other activities that take place are button making, pizza, and face painting.
  • Rock Cats game:  Any student who has not been written up or received any office referrals for the third marking period will be allowed to attend a Rock Cats game.
  • Lake Compounce Field Trip:  Any students who has not been written up or received an office referral for the fourth marking period will be permitted to go to Lake Compounce in June.
For Teachers:
  • Super Staff Tickets:  Both students and staff at NEMS can award a teacher with a Super Staff ticket, whether it is for helping a students with something they are having a hard time with or because they have been very involved with a specific activity.  Just like the student tickets, one half goes to the teacher and one goes to the office.  At the end of each week, a name is drawn from the barrel in the main office.  The teacher who is picked receives a trophy for the week, a parking space in the front of the building, and a spot in the NEMS school newsletter.

.:: PBIS Research Points ::.

Covered by: Julianne Rowland

What does research say about the effectiveness of PBS/PBIS?
  • Research conducted over the past 15 years has shown that PBS is effective in promoting positive behavior in students and schools.  Use of PBS as a strategy to maintain appropriate social behavior will make schools safer.  Safer schools are more effective learning environments.
  • Schools that implement system-wide interventions also report increased time engaged in academic activities and improved academic performance.
  • Schools that employ system-wide interventions for problem behavior prevention indicate reductions in office discipline referrals of 20-60%.
  • Appropriately implemented PBS can lead to dramatic improvements that have long-term effects on the lifestyle, functional communication skills, and problem behavior in individuals with disabilities.
  • A review of research on PBS effectiveness showed that there was over a 90% reduction in problem behavior in over half of the studies; the problem behavior stopped completely in over 26% of the studies. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

.:: Tertiary Prevention Pt. 2::.

Covering Tertiary Prevention Pt. 2: Molly Palmer


PBIS, Special Education, and The Law

  • PBIS often used at the Tertiary level for students receiving special education services
  • PBIS is the only behavioral approach specifically mentioned as an intervention in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
    • One of the primary reasons Congress included PBIS in the law was to address the “historic exclusion of individuals with disabilities based on unaddressed behavior”
    • Felt students were being excluded from educational opportunities because of behavior issues
    • In both the 1997 and 2004 versions of the law, it states:

(5) Almost 30 years of research and experience has demonstrated that the education of children with disabilities can be made more effective by—

(F) providing incentives for whole-school approaches, scientifically based early reading programs, positive behavioral interventions and supports, and early intervening services to reduce the need to label children as disabled in order to address the learning and behavioral needs of such children.

  • IDEA requires that an IEP team:
    • Considers the use of PBIS for students whose behavior impedes on their learning or the learning of others
    • Provides a functional behavioral assessment when a student has no behavior plan but is removed from school for more than ten days (such as a suspension) for a behavior that is a result of a disability
    • Provides a functional behavioral assessment to address any behavior that results in a long-term removal
    • IDEA also authorizes states to use professional development funds and created its own competitive grant funds for training in PBIS

Example of a Tertiary Approach Used in Special Education - Wraparound

  • Special Education students can receive a range of different types of interventions depending on their individual situation
  • One particularly intensive example at the tertiary level is the Wraparound method, a program rooted in the theories of Urie Bronfenbrenner
    • Considered unique because it consists of a team designed by the student and the family
    • It is composed of families, schools, and community partners which design plans to address emotional, cultural, educational, social needs as well as the living environment, basic needs, and safety of the students
    • It is unconditional – the student does not fit into a pre-made plan, rather the plan is molded around the student and changes according to their needs
    • Designed to follow a continuum where the student can climb their way through interventions until they only participate in school-wide behavioral supports

Sunday, April 10, 2011

.:: Tertiary Prevention Pt. 1 ::.

Covering Tertiary Prevention-Part 1 is Sean Crose:


At its essence, Tertiary Prevention focuses on those students who show problem behavior.  These students may not have a traditional "diagnostic label" such as behavioral or learning disabilities, but nonetheless engage in actions which are inappropriate for the classroom.


Two distinct types of Tertiary Prevention systems appear to be the most effective.  The first system, known as the primary system, focuses on behavioral issues in a more narrow classroom setting.


Overall, what separates Tertiary Prevention from other behavioral prevention programs is the element of intervention.  In other words, Tertiary Prevention is completely reliant on a positive, hands on approach.


For Tertiary Prevention to be effective, the student, along with educators and family members, should all become part of a BST, or Behavioral Support Team.  Such teams are constructed around each individual student so that specific needs will be met and positive steps will be taken.  The point here is to lower the level of disruptive or harmful actions on the part of the student while leading the student to make strides in his/her scholastic and personal life.


In order for all of this to work, an FBA, or Functional Behavioral Assessment will be provided and a support plan created.  This support plan will include methods for creating improved behavior and the necessary directives for such improved behavior to be brought about.


The support plan will also have steps for "monitoring, evaluating, and reassessing" the student's actions.  This way, the effectiveness of the implemented plan may be properly gauged and fluidity achieved if specific alterations to the plan must be made.


The plan may include a change in the environment of the student in question so that unacceptable behavior will be prevented and positive behavioral changes can be more easily enacted.  On top of this, an emergency strategy may be put in place in case the student exhibits outburst which may prove dangerous to his or herself or to others.


One of the joys of Tertiary Prevention is that positive results are so easy to notice.  When Tertiary Prevention works, the results are obvious and visibly rewarding.

.:: Secondary Interventions ::.

Covering this section: Rick Casagrande


The second tier of PBIS is the fifteen percent of students who fall into the group of "Systems for Students with At-Risk Behavior." This is also known as the "targeted group." While the primary prevention tier deals with school/class-wide systems for all students, the secondary group targets students with potential for at-risk behavior.


The group of interventions in this tier were initially implemented as primary interventions.


Major features:
  1. Linked directly to school-wide expectations and academic goals
  2. Continuous availability
  3. Implemented within three school days of determination to conduct intervention
  4. Can be modified based on assessment and outcome data
  5. Prompts of 'what to do' in relevant situations
  6. Results in student receiving positive feedback from staff
  7. Includes a school to home report system that occurs at least once a week
  8. Orientation provides initiation information to start the intervention
  9. Orientation materials provide staff (including substitutes and volunteers) information regarding the intervention
  10. Daily opportunities to practice new skills
Example 1 (not designed for individual students): Check in-Check out (CICO)
-One adult checks in and out with several students
-Each get the same intervention and treatment
-Same check in-check out time
-Same school-wide behavioral expectations set as goals
-Same number of opportunities for behavioral feedback
-Same DPR (daily progress report)


Example 2 (individualized) Check in-Check Out (CICO)
-Change location, person, time
-Individualize expectations beyond regular school expectations
-Include descriptors beneath expectations
-collect data using DPR
Further Suggestions:

  • add a "check in," if needed, before a time where potential for at-risk behavior increases (lunch, gym, etc.)
  • allow a friend to accompany the student when checking-in and checking-out
  • check in at locker in the morning

Saturday, April 9, 2011

.:: Universal/Primary Interventions ::.

Covered by: Jen Radaskie


We have provided a sample list of behaviors and a sample list of interventions which would be universal for all schools:

Minor Behaviors                              Possible Interventions
* Disrespect                                       * Counsel and Verbal Reprimand
* Disruption and Misconduct            * Parent Contact
* Cheating                                         * Detention (24hr notice required)
* Profanity (not directed to others)    * Special Work Assignment
* Tardiness (1-3 per 9 weeks)           * Withdrawal of Privillages
* Dress Code                                     * Behavior Contract
* Other                                              * Guidance Referral

MajorBehaviors                              Possible Interventions
* Disrespect                                      * Office Referral (mandatory)
* Open Defiance                              * Parent Contact (mandatory)
*Threats/Bullying                             * In School Suspension
* Destruction of Property                 * Out of School Suspension
* Stealing (over $10)                        * Restitution
* Alcohol/Drugs                               * Alternative Program/School
* Weapons                                       * Expulsion
* Sexual Offenses                            * Other

Keep in mind that these are just some possible interventions that might be put into effect.  There are, for some of these behaviors, more than one way to intervene.  For example, destruction to school property, such as graffitiing the bathroom,  could be handled by giving the student(s) guilty of destruction three days of "in-house" and making them pay X amount of money for the amount of hours it takes to clean and return to normal.

Here are some additional behavioral problems that would fall under the universal category and which would receive a Tier 1 intervention:  Horseplay, Lying, Electronic Devices, Throwing Objects, Forgery, Misuse of Computer, Theft (pencils, candy, food, minor classroom materials, etc)

Thank you to the PBIS Team at North End Middle School for putting together the information packet on PBIS.
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Everything above this line was all behaviors that would require interventions, but PBIS is all about the supports we use to encourage the good behavior.  So, here are some sample good behaviors and some supports you might use to reward these behaviors:

Behavior                              Reward
* Helping Other Students     * Super Student/Wompoms/Leafs of Character, etc.
* Helping Teachers              * No Homework Pass
* Cleaning spilt food/drink   * Speed Pass (1st in line for lunch, no waiting)
* Improving on Quiz/Test    * Good Note Home/+ Referral/+ Phone Call Home)
* Bringing In Material 
Related to Lesson                 *BUG award (Bring Up Grade award)/Extra Credit
* See Something/Say 
Something                            *Certificate of Recognition
* No Disciplinary Referrals  * Field Day/Fun Day/Rock Cats Game/Sports Event

Just as we award our students for positive behaviors, it is always nice to have a reward system in place for positive actions for teachers positive attitudes and services to the school and its students.  Something as simple as awarding a teacher a good parking space for a week, making them a certificate, giving them a trophy, or mentioning them in the monthly school newsletter/paper would be a sufficant gesture.

.:: 8 Features of PBIS ::.

  1. It is a proactive systems approach to school-wide discipline designed to be responsive to current social and educational challenges.
  2. It is based on three levels of prevention (a) primary (b) secondary, and (c) tertiary.
  3. It is not a curriculum, discipline package, or product,...but a process for individualized and sustained decision making, planning, and problem solving.
  4. It has an instructional focus where emphasis is placed on:
    1. Teaching behavioral expectations directly
    2. Teaching social behaviors like academic skills.
    3. Maximizing academic engagement and success.
    4. Considering the influence of instructional support.
  5. It is based on empirically sound practices and applications in schools.  Research that is trustworthy, accessible, and usable.
  6. It uses data to guide intervention and management decisions.
  7. It increases the contextual fit between the problem context and what we know works.
  8. It establishes a continuum of behavioral support.

.:: PBIS: A Mini-Introduction ::.

PBIS, or Positive Behavior Intervention Supports, is in it's simpilest form various strategies which have been implemented into the school setting to improve the behaviors the students exhibit.  PBIS also aims to be a preventative program.  In some districts, PBIS is also known as PBS or SWPBS (School Wide Positive Behavior Supports).

The chart above provides a breakdown as to how the PBIS system works.  Approximately 80-90% of the students will fall into the bottom teir, 5-10% will fall into the middle teir, and only 1-5% of students will make up the upper teir.  In the posts that follow, we will break it down further.

We have included this video to give you an introduction to PBIS.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

.:: Self-Concept/Identity ::.

Covering the section of Self-Concept/Identity in Chapter 3 Rick Casagrande


Article title: "The Effects of Concealing Academic Achievement: Information on Adolescents' Self-Concept"
Authors: Baoshan Zhang, Mo Wang, Juan Li, Guoliang Yu, Yan-Ling Bi
Summary: The content of the article deals with deals with the concealing of both positive and negative academic information by adolescents. It is an experiment held by the authors in which certain groups were told to conceal information regarding their academic performance. Students were randomly assigned to different contexts where information could be concealed. As a result of the complicated and thorough experiment, it was ultimately determined that concealing academic-achievement information can in fact cause a change of self-concept in an adolescent.


Key points:
-Adolescents with low academic achievement in the environment where achievement was concealed showed that they had higher levels of self-esteem, yet more self-representation suppression
-This was activated when they were under a high cognitive load
-Adolescents with high academic achievement in the environment where positive achievement was concealed had a lower self-esteem
-This activated positive self-representation under high cognitive load
-Results showed that concealing information causes a short-term change of self-concept


Complete Citation:

Zhang, B, Wang, M, Li, J, Yu, G, & Bi, Y. (2011). The effects of concealing
academic achievement information on adolescents' self-concept. The
Psychological Record, 61, 21-40.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

.:: Erik Erikson ::.

Covering the Section of Erik Erikson for Chapter 3: Julianne Rowland

Article Title: Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development, Psychosocial Development in Infancy and Early Childhood
Author: Kendra Cherry
Summary:  One of the most important concepts of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity. Ego identity can be explained as the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. According to Erikson and his theory, our ego identity changes frequently over time based upon our experiences and new information that we acquire through our social interactions with others. Erikson believed that in each stage, there is a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. Such conflicts are centered on either developing psychological quality or failing to develop that quality and failure to progress and grow. Erikson’s 8 stages of psychosocial development are: basic trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativitiy vs. stagnation and ego integrity vs. despair.

Key Points:
1. Erikson believed that all humans have the same basic needs and that each society must accommodate those needs. Erickson developed the psychosocial theory of development to emphasize the relationship between society and the individual and their personal development.
2. Erikson developed 8 stages of psychosocial development that occur between infancy and old age, each of which involves a central crisis. The resolution of each crisis leads to greater personal and social competence and a stronger foundation for solving future crises.
3. Erikson’s 8 stages of psychosocial development:
  1. Basic trust vs. mistrust (birth- 12/18 months):  The infant must form a first loving, trusting relationship with the caregiver or develop a sense of mistrust.
  2. Autonomy vs. shame/doubt (18 months-3 years):  The child’s energies are directed toward the development of physical skills (walking, grasping, controlling the sphincter). The child learns to control but may develop shame and doubt if not handled well.
  3. Initiative vs. guilt (3-6 years):  
    The child continues to become more assertive and to take more initiative but may be too forceful, which can lead to guilt feelings.
  4. Industry vs. inferiority (6-12 years):  The child must deal with demands to learn new skills or risk a sense of inferiority, failure, and incompetence.

  5. Identity vs. role confusion (adolescence):  The teenager must achieve identity in occupation, gender roles, politics, and religion. 
  6. Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood): The young adult must develop intimate relationships or suffer feelings of isolation.
  7. Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood): Each adult must find some way to satisfy and support the next generation.
  8. Ego integrity vs. despair (late adulthood): The culmination is a sense of acceptance of oneself and a sense of fulfillment.

4. By accepting or rejecting the later stages, efforts may lead to identity achievement: strong sense of commitment to life choices after free consideration of alternatives, foreclosure: acceptance of parental life choices without consideration of options, identity diffusion: uncenteredness; confusion about who is one and what one wants and moratorium: identity crisis; suspension of choices because of struggle.
5. In order to support identity amongst students, educators should: give students many models for career choices and other adult roles, help students find resources for working out personal problems, be tolerant of teenage fads as long as they don’t offend others or interfere with learning and give students realistic feedback about themselves.


Complete Reference:
Cherry, K (2011). Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development: Psychosocial development in infancy and early childhood, preschool, middle childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age and old age. About.com.Psychology

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

.:: Urie Bronfenbrenner ::.

Covering the section of Urie Bronfenbrenner and Ecological Systems Theory for Chapter 3: Molly Palmer

Article Title: The Vision of Urie Bronfenbrenner: Adults Who Are Crazy About Kids
Author: Larry K. Brendtro
Article Summary: This article introduces readers to the person and vision of Urie Bronfenbrenner, a Russian-born immigrant whose family came to the United States in 1922. Bronfenbrenner would emerge as one of the leading psychologists in human development and an advocate for cultural and economic improvements for children. His theory of ecological systems demonstrated his belief that each child is affected deeply by his or her environment. While the Ecological Systems Theory notes that there are several "social networks" at play, Brendtro emphasizes Bronfenbrenner's commitment to the most immediate networks connected to a child: parents, school, and peers. Bronfenbrenner believed that every child needs at least one adult who is "irrationally crazy" about them and willing to support them unconditionally. Brendtro introduces us to Bronfenbrenner, the idea of circles of influence, and Bronfenbrenner's practice of a practical study of children.

Key Points:
  1. Urie Bronfenbrenner transformed the study of children in the fields of education, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and more by taking the focus away from studying narrow aspects of a child's world. He created a whole new field of study, the ecology of human development, which focuses on the reciprocal relationship between a child and his/her immediate networks.
  2. According to Bronfenbrenner, in order for a child to succeed intellectually, emotionally, socially, and morally, they need at least one adult with whom they can form a long-term, reciprocal bond; this adult must be committed to the child's well-being and upbringing.
  3. Bronfenbrenner's "circles of influence" (Ecological Systems Theory) consist of the most powerful and influential sphere (family, peers, school), surrounded by "neighborhood" influences (work, youth clubs, church, formal/informal mentoring, etc.), and finally surrounded by the sphere of broader cultural, economic, and political forces.
  4. The different elements of the spheres also interact with one another, and this can strengthen or disrupt a healthy ecology for a child (for example, the relationship between a child's parents and their teachers).
  5. Bronfenbrenner objected to studying child behavior through a narrow focus on microbehaviors. Instead, he believed that a practical approach meant studying children in their natural environments to explore how a child experiences and interprets his/her world. Behavior is not isolated, rather reflects the interactions between a child and his/her surroundings ("conflict is a performance that requires multiple actors").
  6. Bronfenbrenner's academic work coupled with his commitment to enact tangible change. He is a co-founder of the Head Start movement which provides educational, health, and parental-involvement services to low-income children at early stages of their development.

Complete Reference:
Brendtro, L.K. (2006). The vision of Urie Bronfenbrenner: adults who are crazy about kids. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 15(3), 162-166.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

.:: Personal/Social Development (families, peers and teachers) ::.

Covering the section of Personal/Social Development for Chapter 3: Sean Crose


Article Title: Social and Emotional Learning: What is it? How can we use it to help our children?
Author: Robin Stern, Ph.D.
Article Summary: Students need to learn more than academics in the classroom. In fact, Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, as it's called, has been found to be the single greatest factor in determining the success of an individual in our society (far greater than the more lauded IQ of an individual). Classrooms, then, must focus on social and emotional development as well as the more traditional aspects of learning. Five major points must be focused on to assure the individual student's emotional and psychological well-being: self and other awareness, mood management, self-motivation, empathy and management of relationships. These five major points can be emphasized and focused on in all aspects of the individual student's life. Teachers, parents and students, then, can all play the role of educator in this very important (and, as yet, under-rated) aspect of personal development.


Key Points:
1. Emotional Intelligence has been found to be of primary importance when pertaining to the individual student's development and personal success.
2. Development in the field of social skills and emotional growth has a deeply positive impact on the individual student's ability to learn.
3. Parents should: begin their child's emotional education early, start an SEL (social and emotional learning) discussion group, be a role model, applaud their children's efforts, look for teachable moments, employ personal stories and current events as well as movies and web-sites as teaching tools, keep a journal, look for toys and products which help in their child's emotional development.
4. Educators should: integrate SEL skills, research SEL programs, look for ways to employ technology to achieve their goals for social and emotional education, find teachable moments, value social and emotional intelligence in their students, create classroom reflections, engage with other teachers to learn about classroom strategies, get involved with SEL programs outside of school, keep a journal.
5. Students should: keep a journal, encourage themselves through “self talk,” find ways to calm themselves and shift moods, encourage friends to give their personal points of view, be aware of the “buttons” which trigger their individual bad behavior, find opportunities to work with their peers, listen to their instincts, take time to reflect and actually listen to their “inner voice,” be aware of their social and emotional needs.
6. Students must be in an environment that allows social and emotional growth to occur. This point applies not only to teachers and parents, but to students themselves.

Complete Reference
:
Stern, Robin, Ph.D. (3/28/2003). Social and Emotional Learning: What is it? How can we use it to help our children.http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/social_emotional_learning_what_it_how_can_we_
use_it_help_our_children

Friday, January 28, 2011

.:: Emotional/Moral Development ::.

Covering the section of Emotional/Moral Development for Chapter three: Jen Radaskie

Article Title: "Enhancing School Based Prevention and Youth Development Through Coordinated Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning"
Article Authors/Contributors (as listed in article): Mark J Greenberg, Roger P Weissberg, Mary Utne O'Brien, Joseph E Zins, Linda Fredricks, Hank Resnik, and Maurice J Elias
Article Summary:  This article places a strong emphasis on effective education by means of ensuring social and emotional needs are met.  Furthermore, the authors are concerned with the limitedness of these goals.  What the article aims for is a guide for school improvement.  To do this, they have covered the background of academic learning which exposes the readers to some statistics that truly are eye-opening when we consider the reasons the world of academia has shifted to such an extent.  From there, the authors move on to present various approaches that can be taken to improve the social and emotional aspects of learning.  Finally, they take an in-depth look at the issues that have since been considered as damaging to students in today's academic setting.

Key Points:
  1. High-quality education should teach young people to interact in socially skilled and respectful ways.
    1. Schools should also teach student to practice positive, safe, and healthy behaviors, contribute ethically and responsibly to their peers, family, school and community, as well as possess basic competencies, work habits, and values as a foundation for meaningful employment and engaged citizenship.  (These are the qualities  high-quality education seeks to teach).
  2. Social Emotional Learning, SEL, instruction should begin in preschool and continue through high-school.
    1. SEL allows students to recognize and manage their emotions, appreciate others perspectives, establish goals, make responsible decisions, and handle situations effectively.
  3. Positive youth development programs, like promotion and prevention programs, make a difference; results of studies taken showed improvements in interpersonal skills, quality of peer and adult relationships, and academic achievement.  Results also indicated a reduction in problem behaviors.
  4. There are 3 effective strategies that encourage school-based prevention strategies:
    1. Teaching students SEL values and how to apply them, combined with ethical values in everyday life through interactive classroom instruction, providing frequent opportunities for student self-direction, and school/community service.
    2. Fostering respectful, supportive relationships with other students, staff, and parents.
    3. Supporting and rewarding positive, social, health, and academic behavior through systematical school-friendly community approaches.
  5. Training for schools--superintendents, principals, teachers, and parents--must be further developed and policies must also be developed  which will support the successful introduction and institutionalization of these school-based prevention programs.
Complete Reference:

Greenberg, M. T., Weissberg, R. P., Zins, J. E., Fredricks, L., & Elias, M. (2003). Enhancingschool-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning. American Psychologist58(6/7), 466-474.

    .:: Chapter 3: Personal, Social, and Emotional Development ::.

    After taking a look at the Chapter, we found that it broke down into 5 key points.  The following five points are what we have ventured to expand upon with various articles:
    1. Erik Erikson
    2. Urie Bronfenbrenner
    3. Personal/Social Development
      1. families
      2. peers
      3. teachers
    4. Self Concept/Identity
    5. Emotional Development
    Everyone will receive a hard copy of each of the articles we present to you in class.  However, you will find our summary of each article and their key points separated into their own individual posts.  Our reference page for this chapter will come at the very end of our posting for this chapter.

    .:: About Our Blog ::.

    Welcome to our blog! This blog has been created by Jen, Rick, Molly, Sean, and Julianne for EDUC509 (Educational Psychology) at the UB-Waterbury, Section 2 (6:10-8:10). We have generated this website for our classmates and professor in an attempt to present an easy (and green) way to provide our presentation material. Here you will find our articles, references, and useful information pertaining to our articles and the chapter they are linked with. Please feel free to comment/ask questions here. We all have access to this blog and can respond to any questions you may have.