Giving Compass' Take:

· Within 3 years, Indian Springs High School in San Bernardino completely turned itself around by implementing a point program to reward students' good behavior. By rolling out this program, students and staff alike became more positive at school because students wanted to be rewarded and teachers appreciated the good behavior.

· Is this program an effective idea for all schools?

· Read more about positive behavioral interventions.

Sometimes schools and students can get caught in a negative loop. Teachers expect certain behaviors and when students can’t meet basic demands such as getting to class on time, the whole day can feel like a battle.

Soon after Indian Springs High School in San Bernardino opened in 2012, our staff morale was low. With many new teachers and because our school is in one of the poorest areas in the country, students faced a plethora of problems from poverty to exposure to violence. We wanted to break the cycle of misbehavior and punishment so we decided to implement a program to reward students for good behavior.

There were skeptics. Some teachers felt we would be rewarding students for behavior that should be the norm. Others felt a positive behavior program better suited elementary kids rather than teenagers. Given our current plight, we figured we had nothing to lose.

In 2015, our school started using Hero, which is a management system for teachers to award points to students for being on time, being dressed appropriately, being ready to learn and other appropriate behaviors.

Read the full article about rewarding positive behavior in school by Chelsea Ramirez and Jacob Rosario at EdSource.