Classroom Systems
School-wide PBIS
Increasing Specific Praise (5 to 1 Ratio)
Chris Borgmeier, PhD
Portland State University
cborgmei@pdx.edu
www.pbisclassroomsystems.pbworks.com
The Power of Habit:
Why we do what we
do in life and
business
Charles Duhigg
Video Intro
#2 on NY
Times
Bestseller
List on
March 18th
2012
PBIS Classroom System:
Next Steps
1) Brief presentation of practice
2) Time to individualize practice to fit your
classroom, context & needs
3) Brief presentation of Self-Monitoring use of your
targeted practice
4) Time to develop an individualized Self-
Monitoring Plan
Follow Along in the 5 to 1 Ratio Guide
Praise & the 5:1 Ratio
 Pay attention to What you Want to See
 Acknowledge positive behavior 5 times more often that you
respond to negative behavior
 Keep it genuine; not the same for all kids
 Negative interactions are not wrong and are sometimes
necessary; the keys are:


How the negative interactions are provided (gentle, respectful
corrections) &
the ratio
 There is a ceiling effect at 13 to 1 – but we are at very little risk
of achieving this in schools; more often we are at 1:1 or even
more negatives than positives
Why Praise & Acknowledge
Desired Behavior?
 Reinforce teaching of new behaviors
 Behavior is likely to become a habit and recur in the
future only if demonstrating it has been beneficial
 Harness the influence of kids who are showing
expected behaviors to encourage the kids who are not
 Strengthen positive behaviors that can compete with
problem behavior
 Improve school climate
 Create positive interactions and rapport with students
5:1 Positive to Negative Ratio
 The field at large recommends somewhere between 3
and 6 positive to every 1 negative

Gable, Hester, Rock & Hughes, 2009; Kerr & Nelson, 2006;
Nafpaktitis, Mayer & Butterworth, 1995; Stichter et al., 2009;
Walker, Ramsey & Gresham, 2004)
 Mental Health (Frederickson & Losada, 2005)
 2.5 to 1 = normal functioning
 4.3 to 1 = optimal functioning

Tipping point seems to be 2.9 to 1
5ish to 1
5:1 ratio, it’s not just for kids

Married couples that last (Gottman, 1994)
 Flourishing
marriages: 5.1 to 1 speech acts & 4.7 to 1 for
observed emotions
 Poor marriages: 0.9 to 1 speech & 0.7 to 1 actions

Business teams
 High Performance
teams = 5.6 to 1
 Medium Performance teams = 1.9:1
 Low Performance teams = 1 to 2.7

Losada, 1999; Losada & Heaphy 2004
ELEMENTARY
60 min x .09/min = 5.4 praise/hour;
1 every 11 minutes
MS
60 min x .04/min = 2.4 praise/hour;
1 every 25 minutes
Research on Praise & Acknowledging
Positive Behavior
Research has demonstrated that increased
Praise can lead to increases in the
following:



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Students’ correct responses
Work productivity and accuracy
Academic performance
On-task behavior and attention
Compliance, positive comments about self
Cooperative play
Simonsen, Fairbanks, Briesch, Myers, & Sugai, 2008
Critical Features of Acknowledgement
 Acknowledgment of Positive Behavior (praise) is
most effective if it is immediate, specific, sincere,
varied, student referenced




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Immediate
Specific: explicitly describes the desired behavior performed
Sincere: credible and authentic
Varied: varied word choice, varied academic and behavior
praise, whole group, small group and individual
Student referenced: compares student performance to
previous performance and does not compare students to
others; acknowledge effort
Positive Acknowledgement/ Praise
examples
 “Excellent job listening and following directions the
first time.”
 “Your eyes are on me and your mouth is quiet. Thank
you for being ready to learn.”
 “Wow, you completed your math work correctly
before the end of class.”
When Acknowledging Positive Behavior
 Identify the specific behavior being
acknowledged
 Link the behavior to one of the SW-Rules
 GOOD EXAMPLE
 “Wow, thank you for helping to clean up the spill, that
was very Responsible of you”
 NOT AS GOOD
 “Thank you, good job!”
Increase Positive Feedback &
Decreasing Negative
 ID a specific problem behavior you would like to see less
of and define the opposite of this behavior
 Teach & re-teach the expected/desired behavior
 Provide “precorrections” in advance to set up
behavior
positive
 Ignore the problem behavior and “catch” the students
meeting expectations w/ specific positive feedback

Coaching Classroom Management, 2006
Procedural Steps for increasing Positive
Acknowledgement Ratio
1) Identify challenging times, routines and behaviors
that occur throughout the day
2) Identify desired behaviors to focus on praising,
particularly during challenging times
3) Explicitly teach students to engage in desired
behaviors
Procedural Steps for increasing Positive
Acknowledgement Ratio
4) Identify a range of phrases, gestures, methods for
acknowledging targeted desired behaviors,
particularly identify ways to replace corrections
with acknowledgement of proximal peers for
desired behavior
5) Monitor for desired behaviors & acknowledge
individuals or group of students immediately
following desired behavior
6) Implement personal prompts and monitoring to
encourage replacement of corrections with
acknowledgments
The Habit Loop from “The Power of Habit”
A habit is a formula our brain automatically follows:
When I see CUE, I will do ROUTINE in order to get a REWARD.
Step 1: Identify Challenges & Positive
Acknowledgements
Your Turn
 Take a few minutes to Complete Step 1 of the
Worksheet
 Remember, we’d like to collect a copy of
your worksheet at the end of the training
today to plan for support
FLIP THE RATIO
Trading Negative Acknowledgements for
Positive
Your Turn
 Take a few minutes to Complete Step 2 of the
Worksheet
 Share your strategies with a partner
Set up Systems to Increase Positive
Acknowledgement
Students
 Good Behavior Game
 T-chart
 Teach behavioral expectations
 Students earn points for positive behavior
 Teacher gets points for negative behavior
 Total points at end to determine if “reward” is earned
Teacher
 Hand out Acknowledgement Tokens or Tallies for
positive behavior

Individuals or Pre-arranged Groups in the classroom
Ways to Encourage & Monitor your
Ratio
 Post a visual reminder to praise students in area
viewed frequently
 Praise in Pairs: After praising one student, find
another student exhibiting similar behavior to
praise
 Acknowledge creatively – use gestures (thumbs up,
OK sign, clapping, nod, high five) tangibles
(stickers, stars), points toward whole class or
individual reward, calling parent to report student
success
Self Monitoring
 Training on classroom management practices alone
does not result in changes or improved practice
 Self-monitoring offers an effective, efficient strategy
for improving implementation of classroom practices
(Simonsen, MacSuga, Fallon & Sugai, 2013)
Self Monitoring
Strategies for Self-Monitoring
 Index Card Tearing (long side for positive, short side for
negative)
 Hash marks on tape on your arm or pant leg
 Golf Counter
 Move Pennies or paperclips from one pocket to other based
positive & negative acknowledgements
Step 3: Self-Monitoring Plan
Your Turn
 Take a few minutes to Complete Step 3 of the Worksheet
 Make sure to Identify meaningful& feasible
supports

Identify your strategy for Self-Monitoring

Develop Peer Strategies for support – you can discuss with a peer
 Please turn in a copy of your implementation
plan with your name on it before you leave

We will copy and get it back to you
Daily email prompt to enter self-monitoring data
Ongoing Implementation Supports
 Graphic summary of Self-monitoring data will be
provided
 Review in PLC teams
 Set goals
 Problem Solve
 Encourage, Support & Celebrate
Team & School-wide Supports
 Team Supports (e.g. Dept.,
Grade Level, PLC)
 Make Classroom
improvement a regular part
of meetings and activities
 Begin meeting w/ 2 minute
check:
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
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Check-In & Celebrate successes
Encourage implementation
Problem solve & enhance
implementation
Support Habit Development!
 School-wide Supports
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Reminder on Morning
announcements
Regular review/check-in at
staff meeting

Rewards for implementers &
exemplars


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Recognize your Buddy
Recognize someone you
observed engage in the
practice
Daily or weekly
implementation updates &
recognition
References
Descriptive Readings
 Brophy, J. (1981). Teacher Praise: A Functional Analysis. Review of Educational Research, 51(1), 5-32.
 Conroy, M. A., Sutherland, K. S., Snyder, A., Al-Hendawi, M. & Vo, A. (2009). Creating a positive classroom
atmosphere: Teachers’ use of effective praise and feedback. Beyond Behavior, 18(2), pp. 18-26.
 Gable, R. A., Hester, P. H., Rock, M. L., & Hughes, K. G. (2009). Back to Basics Rules, Praise, Ignoring, and
Reprimands Revisited. [Article]. Intervention in School and Clinic, 44(4), 195-205.
 Simonsen, B., Fairbanks, S., Briesch, A., Myers, D. & Sugai, G. (2008). Evidence-based practices in classroom
management: Considerations for Research to practice. Education and Treatment of Children, 31(3), pp. 351380.
 Sprick, R., Knight, J., Reinke, W., Skyles, T., & Barnes, L. (2009). Coaching Classroom Management:
Strategies and tools for administrators and coaches (2nd ed). Pacific NorthWest Publishing, Eugene, OR.
Research Studies demonstrating outcomes associated with the use of praise to reprimand

Becker, W.C., Engelmann, S., & Thomas, D.R. (1975). Teaching 2: Cognitive Learning and Instruction. Chicago: Science Research
Associates.

Pfiffner, L. J., Rosen, L. A., & O'Leary, S. G. (1985). The efficacy of an all-positive approach to classroom
management. [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't]. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 18(3), 257-261.
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(1), 2-+.
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Relationship between praise, rewards, and intrinsic motivation
 Akin-Little, K. A., Eckert, T. L., Lovett, B. J., & Little, S. G. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom:
Bribery or best practice. [Article]. School Psychology Review, 33(3), 344-362.
 Cameron, J., & Pierce, W. D. (1994). Reinforcement, Reward, and Intrinsic Motivation: A meta-analysis.
Review of Educational Research, 64(3), 363-423.
 Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of
extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627-668.