Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based system that is used by school districts across the country in an effort to use positive reinforcement to improve student behavior.
Students are rewarded for good behavior in a learning environment where educators emphasize the need for safety, empathy, and support. When the children exhibit positive behavior, many school districts reward them with tickets. Students can save these tickets and spend them at their school’s PBIS store.
Is your PBIS school store working?
Of course, the purpose of having a strong PBIS program is to promote positive student behavior at the school. The rewards program of exchanging tickets for items at the school PBIS store is something that encourages the students to continue to try their best while earning prizes now and then.
But if your school PBIS store inventory doesn’t contain items that students have an intrinsic desire for, you may not be receiving their full participation.
Is your school’s PBIS store not meeting goals and expectations? The good news is that it can be improved with a bit of planning. Here are a few ways to ensure that your school is making the most out of its PBIS store.
Dedicate a room at the school for the PBIS store
If you are running the PBIS store out of a school closet or a teacher’s desk, don’t expect the students to become particularly enthused. You must put in the time to create a special environment that will be memorable and head-turning as the students make their way into the PBIS store.
Always fully stocked
Can you remember the disappointment you felt as a child when you saved up enough money to take a trip down to the local store, only to realize that all the toys, candy, or other products on the shelves had already been picked over? The only items left were the ones that nobody wanted.
Don’t allow this to happen to your school’s PBIS store. The students will not be excited to earn and save their PBIS tickets if their only options are number two pencils and a couple of erasers.
Keep the PBIS store fully stocked and continue to add merchandise when possible. Having school-related items to choose from is one strategy, but a little candy section wouldn’t hurt either. You can also add academic items, as Scholastic books, educational apps for mobile devices, maps, science experiments, and more.
Update the school website to show what is available in the PBIS store
The PBIS store should only be open one day a week, otherwise students may spend too much time checking out the latest stock. To avoid the loss of instructional time that this can lead to, simply have a dedicated page on the school website detailing what is available in the PBIS store. This way, students can then check out the PBIS store’s products at home during their free time.
Get the students excited
A little excitement can go a long way in promoting positive behavior through your PBIS program. Having high-demand items in the school store will definitely help to create that needed excitement.
Rather than offering only products, consider allowing students to trade tickets for special privileges, such as:
- Being a teacher’s helper for the day
- Enjoying extended lunch or recess time
- Sitting wherever they want in the classroom for the day
- Watching a movie in the classroom
- Presenting the spelling test for the week
If you would like to take it one step further, and if members of the staff would be willing, the tickets can be saved up over the course of a month and spent to have one member of the teaching staff do something funny and entertaining for the students, such as shave their head, take a pie to the face, or kiss a pig.
All of this can be accomplished without devoting extra financial resources to products. This is important considering the often challenging matter of school budgeting. With a little consideration, you are bound to come up with plenty of ideas on your own for your PBIS store.
Bring in guest cashiers
If your current PBIS store is not firing on all cylinders and getting kids motivated to participate, then perhaps you should consider staffing the store a little bit differently.
Many cities and towns have locally well-known figures that the students are aware of. It may be the mayor, the retired sports star from years past, or even the owner of a local business that all the kids know. Ask a few of these people to become guest cashiers for a short period of time in the day, and be sure to promote their presence a week or so ahead of time. The students could be delighted to interact with a local celebrity if given the chance. After all, we want the school’s PBIS store to be an experience, not just a place to trade tickets for trinkets.
Lack of funding?
Rather than try to pass off substandard items as suitable rewards for positive behavior, the school may have to get creative to foster the right amount of motivation amongs students.
But how can a school PBIS store allocate the funds to get these items?
Hold various fundraisers with the participation of students, staff, and parents. The proceeds can go towards improving the PBIS store. This could be a car wash, a bake sale, a charity auction, or even something more simple, like a concession stand at sporting events.
A PBIS reward for the entire school
If the student behavior has improved significantly and you’ve seen a sharp decline in referrals and incidents, consider having a school assembly near the end of the year celebrating everyone’s accomplishment.
As the school year wraps up and the PBIS store is reducing its inventory in preparation for summer break, the school may choose to hold a competition day, wherein the students compete against the teachers in various athletic and academic competitions.
While this is technically not part of the school’s PBIS store, it still functions as a PBIS reward. Alternatively, you can hold celebrations specifically for students who have made significant achievements over the course of the year. Something like this should be left up to the school’s PBIS committee and administration. In any case, this type of approach can certainly boost student engagement and motivation, and ultimately, lead to more successful PBIS initiatives. of your department of education.
Photo Credit: Google Education
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