Teaching Schoolwide Expectations

Description of the Strategy

Rules provide the basis for maintaining safe and effective learning environments. When implemented at the schoolwide level, well-defined behavioral expectations provide a high level of consistency across all school environments for staff and students. Effective and efficient teaching of schoolwide expectations requires careful planning and implementation of a multistep process that includes (a) identifying a small number of rules to be applied across the school, (b) developing operational definitions that describe what the rules look like in each school setting, (c) actively teaching the expectations to students and staff, (d) developing a plan to acknowledge appropriate behavior, and (e) developing a plan to deal with inappropriate behavior. Any number of factors will determine how a school organizes efforts to proceed through this series of steps. However, continued support for the project will be encouraged when, to the greatest degree possible, staff, parents, and, when appropriate, students participate broadly in the implementation of schoolwide expectations.

Identifying Rules. The process of teaching schoolwide behavioral expectations begins with the selection of 3 to 5 positively stated rules that support the basic mission and purpose of the school and reflect the values of the school community. These general rules will form a “common language,” through which the students and staff will communicate regarding appropriate behavior. To meet this purpose, the rules should use simple language, be brief, and memorable. Common examples include “Be safe, be ready, be respectful” and “Respect things, respect others, respect yourself.” As in the case of the second example, schools may wish to choose rules that provide an easy to remember acronym (TOY).

Developing Behavioral Expectations. The second step in teaching schoolwide expectations involves defining how the simple 3 to 5 schoolwide rules apply in each school environment or context (e.g., classroom, lunchroom, bathroom, hallways, etc.). As with the basic rules, the behavioral expectations should be positively stated (e.g., describing what a student should do rather than what a student should not do). However, unlike the basic rules, these behavioral expectations should describe specific, observable behaviors. The number of behavioral expectations for each environment should be kept to a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5. For instance, “Be ready” in the classroom means “Bring your materials.” On the other hand, on the playground, “Be ready” may be defined as “Bring your coat and gloves.”

Teaching Expectations. Once the basic rules have been operationalized as behavioral expectations for each school environment or context, plans should be developed for communicating the rules and expectations to students, parents, and staff. Schools may choose different formats to communicate the rules. However, giving consideration to three guidelines can facilitate effective and efficient teaching of the expectations, regardless of how the specifics of the implementation might look.

First, direct instruction has been proven highly effective in teaching social behaviors. In general, direct instruction of individual expectations or groups of expectations involves (a) stating an expectation, (b) discussing the need for the expectation, (c) presenting or eliciting examples and nonexamples, (d) demonstrating the use of the expectation, (e) providing opportunities for guided practice, and (f) ensuring that prompt feedback is available once the expectation is implemented. Second, instruction should be conducted in the context (e.g., classroom, bus, library) in which the rule is to be applied. Third, the expectations specific to each environment should be visibly posted in that environment. The posting of the expectations serves to provide a constant reminder for students of what has been taught and is expected, and it is a handy teaching tool for teachers, who can easily review the expectations with students on a regular basis.

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