Public Posting

Public posting is a strategy, often used in classroom settings, in which publicly displayed charts, pictures, or posters are used to increase appropriate academic or other classroom behaviors. Currently, these goals are achieved by placing emphasis on desirable and appropriate behaviors. Historically, however, public posting strategies were used to record inappropriate behavior (e.g., teachers writing the names of children who misbehaved on the blackboard). The success of public postings is based on the assumption that public display of appropriate instances of behavior either reinforces these behaviors or provides the opportunity for reinforcement by others.

Public postings may be displayed in a variety of formats, depending on the targeted behaviors. In addition, public postings may be used to address individual child behavior or group (i.e., whole-classroom) behavior. Typically, information is displayed on charts that track daily progress. However, public posting strategies used in conjunction with whole-classroom behavior management programs may track progress over brief, discrete periods of time.

For example, one strategy used to improve academic class averages is to publicly display individual grades (without names), as well as the calculated daily class average. This may be used for daily quiz grades, number of completed worksheet problems, writing and language performance, and so on. Another use of public posting is to improve desirable classroom behaviors, such as class participation, attendance, and prosocial behaviors. Some interventions designed to address classwide behavior management endorse the use of public posting of appropriate behaviors for brief periods of time, allowing the individual or group of individuals to earn reinforcers for appropriate behaviors multiple times each day. Hence, the public posting of points earned (e.g., smiley faces, stars) refers to a designated period of time only.

Several components enhance the success of public postings. The system must be in a conspicuous place that is visible to the targeted individuals. Also, the information posted must be meaningful to those who will be viewing it. By including a goal-setting component, criteria (that may change over time as the targeted behavior improves) are set to guide student performance. Finally, posting of data must be as immediate as possible, and the postings must elicit positive reinforcement. It is important to note that the most effective public posting systems are combined with praise and immediate performance feedback.