With rising levels of student disruption, mental health issues, and chronic absenteeism, today’s students need more support than ever. Effective behavior management is crucial for creating a productive learning environment and motivating students — but, for many schools, it’s easier said than done.
Let’s explore four common challenges of student behavior management and how to overcome them with a solution like ePraise.
Inconsistent Systems
Many schools recognize the importance of student behavior management but lack the proper tools to address it. Teachers may track behavioral notes manually for their individual classrooms, a process that is not only time-consuming but inconsistent. When rules and consequences vary from class to class, students can struggle to understand the school’s expectations. They may feel unfairly treated or seek to push the limits and see how much they can get away with.
Inconsistent tracking systems also make it difficult to see which students need extra support. Manual charting is often limited to weekly or monthly behavior instead of assessing patterns over longer lengths of time.
ePraise is a student behavior and management platform that offers both school-wide and granular visibility into student progress. Teachers can easily monitor student behavior with a user-friendly digital points and demerits system that’s integrated with the Veracross SIS — no need to manually enter student data.
Fragmented Communication
Beyond merely managing student behavior, schools struggle to effectively communicate about it. Communication with families often focuses on negative student behavior without recognizing a student’s progress or positive actions. This approach can inhibit students from fully engaging or participating in class, for fear that they will misbehave and be reprimanded.
With ePraise, schools can track not only negative behavior but positive student effort and progress. Schools can establish milestones, accolades, and achievements so that students can see their progress and get recognized for positive actions. Additionally, built-in communication tools make it easy to correspond with families directly within the product interface. Teachers can have back and forth conversations with parents about their students’ positive or negative behavior, leading to a strong support system.
Students Get Overlooked
Another common challenge with traditional behavior management tools is that they either focus on low performers or high achievers, failing to recognize the students who fall somewhere in the middle. These students may be quieter or more reserved than their peers. Lack of recognition can lead to students feeling undervalued and questioning their sense of belonging at the school. When students feel seen, they are far more likely to engage and participate in the classroom.
ePraise gives educators the ability to recognize each student no matter where they fall on the behavioral scale with positive reinforcement and incentives. Schools can assign students points for positive behavior, effort, and progress. Points aren’t limited to good grades or attendance; they can be configured based on positive actions like self-awareness, responsible decision-making, or creative thinking.
Students are then rewarded for earning points. Schools can choose which rewards to dole out — it doesn’t need to be a physical item. Popular rewards include a casual dress day, computer room pass, or the ability to jump to the front of the lunch line. Students can also choose to redeem their points for a charitable cause of their choosing. For schools like Valley Gardens Middle School, this approach to points and rewards has proven to increase student morale and participation.
Additionally, students can submit anonymous incident reports to share information about themselves or other students. These incident reports address what happened, when it happened, where it happened, and who was involved. This tool empowers students who may otherwise stay silent to share their concerns and get support from a trusted teacher.
Limited Data to Identify Behavior Trends
Last but not least, many schools lack proper data to analyze or address behavioral trends within their student body. This is often a result of inconsistent tracking systems or inadequate software. Without data, schools are unable to identify patterns or address issues before they become systemic.
With ePraise, schools can easily monitor trends across classrooms, grades, subject areas, or at large. Administrators can see which students are getting points or working to achieve points compared to students who aren’t as engaged. This bird’s eye view helps schools make informed, evidence-based decisions about behavior management strategies and policies. It also enables educators to offer personalized support based on students’ individual needs.
Unlock Student Potential with ePraise
From inconsistent tracking systems to fragmented communication, overlooked students and limited data, traditional student behavior management approaches miss the mark on addressing student effort, progress, and behavior across the entire school. ePraise bridges the gap, helping schools see both the big picture and the contributions of each individual student.
To learn more about ePraise, watch our on-demand webinar for a preview of our award-winning student behavior management and motivation platform.
