How can teachers encourage and reinforce expected behaviors?
Page 7: Using Classroom Reinforcement Systems
Alongside rule reminders and positive feedback, some teachers use a more structured approach to motivate and acknowledge children for following the rules. They do this by implementing a classroom reinforcement system—a preventive, or reinforcement-based, system in which children are acknowledged and earn rewards for their appropriate behaviors. When teachers reinforce children for following rules, the children learn what to do in the classroom and are more likely to behave accordingly in the future.
Types of Classroom Reinforcement Systems
There are two types of classroom reinforcement systems: one in which children access individual rewards and one in which children access a group reward. Each system has benefits, so teachers might select one over the other depending on what they would like to accomplish.
Individual reward system—Other teachers might prefer an individual reward to encourage individual children to be more accountable for their own behavior. For example, a teacher might hang pictures of treasure chests on a bulletin board for each child. Each time a child is acknowledged for following the rules, the child earns one coin to put in the treasure chest. When the treasure chest is filled with coins, the child earns a special reward or celebration. These should be based on the interests and preferences of the children, as well as the restrictions of the school district or program. Potential rewards or celebrations could include extra time on the playground, a dance party, stickers or stamps, a popcorn party, or a visit from a special classroom guest to read a story. - Group reward system—Some teachers might prefer the group reward as a way to foster cooperation and a sense of community. For example, a teacher can create rules posters (like the one below) and hang them around the classroom in prominent locations. Each poster contains one classroom rule and a simple blank table. Each time a child is acknowledged for following a classroom rule, they are directed to make a check mark on the table with a dry-erase marker. Once the table is filled with check marks, the class earns a celebration.
Research Shows
- A review of research conducted in preschool classrooms across more than 40 years suggests that group contingencies:
- Can reduce challenging behaviors and increase appropriate behaviors, especially when paired with a visual to help students monitor their progress (e.g., token board, chart with space for checkmarks)
- Are effective for most typically developing children and some, but not all, children with autism
(Pokorsi et al., 2017)
- Another review of 50 studies conducted between 1980 and 2010—which focused on children ranging from preschool through high school—shows that group contingencies are effective for a wide range of behaviors, including decreasing discruptive behavior and increasing on-task behavior.
(Little et al., 2015)
Tips for Teachers
The following tips can help educators make classroom reinforcement systems more successful.
For Your Information
Some scholars discourage educators from using positive reinforcement with young children because they feel it is manipulative and can decrease children’s intrinsic motivation. However, positively reinforcing desired behaviors helps children learn new skills. When using positive reinforcement, educators should focus on behaviors the child is not yet fluent in.
- In the initial stages of implementing a classroom reinforcement system, educators might need to frequently reinforce children, especially those who typically have a difficult time following the rules.
- Educators can pair positive, specific feedback and a classroom reinforcement system to reinforce desired behavior, which helps children learn new skills.
- In the beginning, educators might need to offer rewards or celebrations more liberally. For example, for the group rewards tracker above, the teacher might provide a celebration after the children fill five boxes, as opposed to when they fill the entire table. As children become more successful in earning celebrations, teachers can increase the target level that children are attempting to reach.
- To make the reinforcement more meaningful and motivating for children, teachers can allow children to vote on the type of group reward they want to earn or can allow each child to select a reward. Giving children a choice gives them ownership over the process.
- Educators can focus on all the rules or only on the rules children are having trouble following.
- Teachers can use an infinite number of visuals for their reinforcement systems (e.g., adding fish to a fish tank, cookies to a cookie jar, petals to a flower). Regardless of what they choose, it should help children monitor their progress toward the reward.
For Your Information
Even when using a proactive reinforcement-based system, rule infractions will occur. Teachers can address occasional minor infractions using a variety of easily implemented strategies (e.g., ignoring, redirecting their behavior, reminding them of the rules). However, for children who have persistent or significant challenging behaviors, teachers might need to use a more intensive, individualized approach.
In the first interview, Mary Louise Hemmeter discusses classroom reward systems. Next, Erica Roy discusses how she uses both individual and whole-group reinforcement systems in her classroom.
Mary Louise Hemmeter, PhD
Nicholas Hobbs Chair
in Special Education and Human Development
Vanderbilt University
(time: 1:24)
Transcript: Mary Louise Hemmeter, PhD
Sometimes teachers will have classroom-wide systems where when they see a child engaging in one of the expectations, or when a child sees another child engaging in one of the expectations, they’ll put something up on the bulletin board. They might have high-five handprints and they do high fives for children who are engaging in the expectations and they write their names on the handprint and what they did and they put those on the wall. They might have a tree and every time a child engages in an expectation, they put leaves on the tree with the child’s name. And that actually is a way to kind of get a classroom-wide focus on the expectation so it’s not just about an individual child but it’s about us all engaging in these expectations. If you have a child who you’re particularly concerned about, then we would say develop a data-collection system that allows you to track that child’s behavior more intensively or more often. But we would definitely initially work on collecting data on children who are doing the expectations, as opposed to children who aren’t. We’re really trying to get everybody focused on catching children engaging in the expectations so that it promotes that positive approach to discipline in the classroom.
Transcript: Erica Roy
I do use a few different reinforcement systems in my classroom, and I found that both the individual and the whole-group ones work really well to help students stay motivated. Something I’ve used for individual reinforcement are punch cards. So as students are following the expected behavior, making good choices, they can earn a punch on their card. And then once their card is filled up, they can earn a small reward from our prize bin. So that was, of course, extremely motivating for students. They all want a prize from the bin. They all want to be able to make their own choice. And it’s also giving them something tangible to work towards, which is really nice, like their own goal. And then for the whole-class reinforcement, I have this poster in my room, 100 Acts of Kindness, and it has 100 hearts on it. After we fill up a row of 10, we’ll do whole-class rewards. So some examples, we’ve had pajama day, pajama stuffy day, a beach day, choose-your-own-seats day, which was very interesting. So just things like that, I have them come up with it. So as we notice we’re getting close to a full 10, we kind of talk about what we want our next reward to be. So we had pajama and stuffy day more than 50% of the time because that was their favorite. But I like to get their input so that’s something that’s meaningful and exciting for them. And then once the whole thing was done, we had our end-of-year class party. It just worked out that way this time around, but I would typically just do, like, our own celebration in the classroom to celebrate that achievement.
I prefer the whole-class reinforcement ones because I think it really builds a sense of community and still enforces that we all have to work together in order to make this happen. I found they really love celebrating their accomplishments together. It also helped them remind each other of the expectations in a respectful way because respect is also part of our expectations.
One piece of advice I’d give is for educators to start small when setting up a class-wide reward system or reinforcement system. I think it’s very easy to get excited and want to implement a bunch of different things, but it’s also really tricky to find something that’s manageable. It might feel manageable at first, and then once you get started, you start forgetting to get those rewards or those hearts as often as they deserve it. And then if students realize that you’re forgetting, they don’t take it as seriously anymore and it doesn’t hold the same weight. I would advise other educators to start small, choose something manageable, and then you can grow from there. That’s definitely been the most challenging part for me is remembering to keep up with systems that I’ve had in place, especially on those super busy days where you’re just running from thing to thing. You might have assemblies and a lot of things going on, but the students are still thinking about that reinforcement even if you’re not. I would definitely say starting small and something that you can manage.
For Your Information
Some schools use positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), an evidence-based framework, which promotes the appropriate behavior of all students. It includes school-wide expectations and acknowledgement systems.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
glossary
Early childhood PBIS, also known as the Pyramid Model, promotes the social and emotional development of young children. It defines practices that are used in applying PBIS to early childhood settings, including developmentally appropriate intervention and reinforcement practices for younger children. More specifically, the model is supported by an effective workforce that can implement and adjust evidence-based practices to meet the needs of all children within a tiered system of supports:
evidence-based practice (EBP)
glossary
- Tier 1: Universal Promotion—All children receive universal supports—high-quality supportive environments and nurturing and responsible relationships—that facilitate social development.
- Tier 2: Secondary Prevention—Children at risk for challenging behavior also receive targeted social emotional supports to prevent those behaviors.
- Tier 3: Tertiary Intervention—A small number of children who continue to have persistent challenging behavior are additionally provided individualized intensive intervention.
Revisit Mrs. Rodriguez's Classroom
Although Mrs. Rodriguez thought she was implementing a classroom reinforcement system, she now realizes that her color-coded clothespin system is actually punishment based and isn’t meeting her children’s developmental needs. Consequently, she replaces it with a classroom reinforcement system. Now when Mrs. Rodriguez (or any other adult) observes children following a rule, she acknowledges them by providing positive descriptive feedback and adding a flower to the classroom meadow. With this system, children never lose flowers from the meadow for not following rules. They are simply reminded of the rule and given an opportunity to change their behavior. When the meadow is filled with flowers, the classroom decides on a celebration such as a popcorn party or other special activity.
For additional information about content discussed on this page, review the following resource. Please note that this resource is not required reading to complete this module. A link to this resource can be found in the Additional Resources tab on the References, Additional Resources, and Credits page. Early Childhood PBIS This web page on the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) website explains the PBIS Pyramid Model (including tiers and foundational systems) and reasons for early childhood implementation, in addition to providing assessment tools and supplementary resources for further information. |
