PARIS — Last month at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, the entire student body and staff attended an assembly to celebrate student achievements of positive behavior and participation during the semester.
Principal Paul Bickford announced that educators and staff had logged 1,890 incidents of students deserving reward for situational behavior, participating in academic and extracurricular activities, hitting milestones, or volunteering.
The primary goal for BPIS is to improve student outcomes by facilitating recognition of behaviors that produce them, using a tiered system that fosters daily support for all, with intervention tools to address the needs of some students who may benefit from additional encouragement or increased engagement between educators and families, and another subset that require individualized academic or behavioral plans.
The Oxford Hills school district has worked for the last few years to make Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) a prominent classroom method every day.
The program launched with BPIS training for elementary school teachers before expanding to bus drivers and other support staff. As PBIS’ effects post-COVID were measured in the district, the program was expanded to the upper grades, where Bickford embraced it for staff and students.
During the PBIS assembly Nov. 26, Bickford asked the kids to stand up and share rounds of applause as he shared some of the numbers:
Made honor roll: 454
Attendance of 95% or better: 452
Earned Viking care cards: 418 students were recognized for 1,039 instances of positive behaviors.
When students earn care cards, they can put them towards rewards in the future, including pizza parties during class or other privileges.
Bickford also recognized students who participated in fall sports; logged double hours for community service; served as Viking mentors; participated in school clubs or civics exercises for election day; were honored as students of the month or quarter, or for art/music; served in leadership roles in school or with district or state school boards.
Three teachers, Kayleigh Correale, Alicia Saddler and Dianne Slicer were awarded gift cards for distributing the most care cards during the first quarter.
Twenty gift cards were randomly drawn from all the students earning care cards.
PBIS assemblies are held quarterly at each school in the district.
