Fundamental Skill Sheet
Virtual Instruction: Behavior-Specific Praise
What Is It?
Behavior-specific praise is a positive statement directed toward a student or group of students that acknowledges a desired behavior in specific, observable, and measurable terms.
What Do We Know About This Skill/Practice?
Behavior-specific praise has been proven effective through many years of research and practical application. Research indicates that:
- Teachers can use behavior-specific praise both to increase positive behavior and decrease problem behavior.
- The use of behavior-specific praise is linked to improvements in student on-task behavior and compliance.
- Behavior-specific praise can be effectively used among students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs).
- Behavior-specific praise is most effective when delivered more frequently than reprimand statements. Some recommend four praise statements for every one reprimand, whereas others suggest the use of about six praise statements every 15 minutes.
Procedures
Behavior-specific feedback is a simple practice that requires minimal effort. Below are three easy-to-implement steps.
- Establish behavioral expectations: To create a safe and respectful classroom environment—either physical or virtual—establish and explicitly teach behavioral expectations, that is, the behaviors you want students to display.
- Observe student behavior: During instructional time, transitions, or downtime, look for students engaging in the desired behaviors. In the case of virtual environments, scan the video feed, join student breakout rooms, or monitor the chat area.
- Praise the student: Offer behavior-specific praise to a student by stating that student’s name and describing the behavior immediately after she performs it (e.g., “Johanna, thank you for cleaning up immediately when I rang the science bell.”).
Tips for Implementation
- Deliver behavior-specific praise immediately following a desired behavior or as soon as possible after.
- Deliver praise using a sincere tone of voice.
- In addition to the three procedures listed above, the four actions below can be helpful when implementing this practice.*
- Evaluate your current rates of general and specific feedback: Prior to establishing behavioral expectations, gather data or reflect on how often you provide feedback, the ratio of praise to reprimands, and which students you praise.
- Practice virtual delivery of behavior-specific praise: After establishing behavioral expectations, practice delivering verbal behavior-specific praise. Additionally, write out praise statements that can be quickly copied and entered into the chat room.
- Monitor delivery of behavior-specific praise: Self-monitor your use of praise by keeping a tally of praise statements during each class period to ensure at least a 4:1 ratio of praise statements to reprimands. Additionally, download the chat at the end of a virtual session to review your use of written praise.
- Seek student input: Give students the opportunity to offer feedback. Ask them how they liked this kind of feedback, whether they thought it was helpful, and whether they thought it resulted in a more positive learning environment.
* The Comprehensive, Integrated Three-Tiered Model of Prevention (Ci3T) combines these four actions with the steps listed above.
Things to Keep in Mind
- Behavior-specific praise can be offered to an individual student, to a group of students, or to an entire class.
- The praise should specifically identify the desired behavior. For example, the teacher should say, “John, you did a great job keeping your hands at your sides while walking to lunch!” instead of more general praise, such as “Good job!”
- To be effective, praise must be age- and developmentally appropriate. Elementary school students may respond to enthusiastic praise that occurs in front of the entire class, while middle or high school students may prefer subtle praise statements.
- For some students of any age, verbal praise in front of others may be considered aversive or even stigmatizing. Instead, offer individual praise (e.g., through a private chat).
- Some students might have difficulty meeting the established behavioral expectations and, therefore, have fewer opportunities to receive praise. In these instances, you may need to carefully plan how to provide praise four times as often as reprimands. Consider the example below:
During a virtual lesson, a teacher periodically praises students who are engaged in the assigned task. However, for a student with attention issues, the teacher might need to offer praise more frequently—every few minutes—for being engaged. Once the student spends more time engaged, the teacher can decrease the frequency of praise, though still maintaining a ratio of four praises for every one reprimand.
Implementation Examples
The table below illustrates how the teacher provided behavior-specific praise when students met the classroom’s established behavioral expectations. Note that the examples of behavior-specific praise both (1) identify the student or group of students who met the behavioral expectation and (2) clearly describe that behavior. Conversely, the non-examples neither identify the student or group of students nor reference specific student behavior.
| Behavioral Expectation | Student Behavior | Example | Non-Example |
| When students log in to a virtual lesson, they have all materials readily available. | The first four students to log in have their writing journals and a pencil. | Savannah, Gentry, Bain, and Abhi, thank you for remembering to bring your writing journals and pencils to class today! | Good job! |
| When someone else is talking, students click on the “raise hand” feature in the virtual platform to ask a question or to comment. | Ariana clicked the “raise hand” feature to ask a question during class discussion. | Ariana, great job following the class rule and raising your hand to ask a question. | Thank you. |
Elementary Video Example
In the video below, Mrs. Scruggs wants students to log in to virtual learning on time. Note in the example how Mrs. Scruggs correctly implements the procedures for behavior-specific praise, but in the non-example, she fails to provide behavior-specific praise.
Transcript: Virtual Behavior-Specific Praise (Elementary Example and Non-Example)
Narrator: Mrs. Scruggs wants students to log in to virtual learning on time. “Log in on time” is one of her classroom rules, which she has taught to the class. Yet some of the students, like Daphne, consistently log in late. In this example, Mrs. Scruggs uses behavior-specific praise to acknowledge students who arrive on time. Note how she states each student’s name and then specifically describes his or her behavior.
Mrs. Scruggs: Good morning, Sophie and Skylar. Nice job logging in early. I’m glad you’re here today!
[Shown in chat box] Hi, Amelia! It’s nice to see you! Thank you for logging in early!
Hi, Noah! Thank you for logging in early! It’s nice to see you!
Feel free to say hi to your friends in the chat box while we’re waiting. Good morning, Elijah! Thank you for logging in on time.
[Shown in chat box] Daphne, thank you for logging in on time today. It’s nice to have you here!
Summer and Maddox, I see that you’re logged in and ready to learn. Thank you!
I appreciate that everyone logged in on time. You are all so responsible! And that means that we can start class on time. In today’s morning meeting, we’re going to think like innovators.
Narrator: To review, the teacher implemented behavior-specific praise correctly. She established behavioral expectations, observed student behavior, and praised the students. When she did so, she stated the students’ names and delivered praise specific to their behavior. In addition, she delivered behavior-specific praise both verbally and in the chat box based on the students’ preferences. In this non-example, Mrs. Scruggs attempts to offer behavior-specific praise, but her efforts fall short. Pay close attention to the ways in which her word choices and timing prove ineffective.
Mrs. Scruggs: Good job, everyone! Feel free to say hi to your friends in the chat box while we’re waiting.
Thank you, Daphne.
Narrator: To review, Mrs. Scruggs attempted to use behavior-specific praise by making comments like “Good job, everyone” and “Thank you, Daphne.” However, this was not behavior-specific praise because the statements did not specify the desired behavior. In Daphne’s case, she also delayed the acknowledgement for several seconds after she logged in rather than immediately following the desired behavior. This caused confusion for Daphne, who didn’t know why her teacher was thanking her.
Allday, R. A., Hinkson-Lee, K., Hudson, T., Neilsen-Gatti, S., Kleinke, A., & Russel, C. S. (2012). Training general educators to increase behavior-specific praise: Effects on students with EBD. Behavioral Disorders, 37, 87–98.
Cavanaugh, B. (2013). Performance feedback and teachers’ use of praise and opportunities to respond: A review of the literature. Education and Treatment of Children, 36, 111–136.
Comprehensive, Integrated Three-Tiered Model of Prevention (CI3T). (2015). Low-intensity strategies: Using behavior specific praise to support inclusion. PowerPoint slides and YouTube video. https://www.ci3t.org/pl
Fullerton, E. K., Conroy, M. A., & Correa, V. I. (2009). Early childhood teachers’ use of specific praise statements with young children at risk for behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 34, 118–135.
Myers, D., Freeman, J., Simonsen, B., & Sugai, G. (2017). Classroom management with exceptional learners. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 49, 223–230.
Myers, D. M., Simonsen, B., & Sugai, G. (2011). Increasing teachers’ use of praise with a response-to-intervention approach. Education and Treatment of Children, 34, 35–39.
Pérez-Clark, P., Lane, K. S., Austin, K. S., Allen, G. E., Oakes, W. P., Lane, K. L., & Menzies, M. (2020, August).
Piscareta, J., Tincani, M., Connell, J. E., & Axelrod, S. (2011). Increasing teachers’ use of a 1:1 praise to behavior correction ratio to decrease student disruption in general education classrooms. Behavioral Interventions, 26, 243–260.
Sutherland, K. S., Copeland, S., & Wehby, J. H. (2001). Catch them while you can: Monitoring and increasing the use of effective praise. Beyond Behavior, 11, 46–49.
Sutherland, K. S., Wehby, J. H., & Copeland, S. R. (2000). Effect of varying rates of behavior-specific praise on the on-task behavior of students with EBD. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 8, 2–8.
Weaver, A. D., & Watson, T. S. (2004). An idiographic investigation of the effects of ability-and effort-based praise on math performance and persistence. The Behavior Analyst Today, 5, 381.
About the Author
This resource was developed in collaboration with the Comprehensive, Integrated Three-Tiered Model of Prevention (Ci3T) Strategic Leadership Team. More information on their seven-step process for virtual behavior-specific praise can be found on the Ci3T website.
