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Programs & Strategies for Positive Behavior

     School-wide
     Interventions

     Targeted      
     Intensive
     Interventions

Behavior Support for Positive Student Behavior

Character Education • Effective Behavioral Supports • The Good Behavior Game • Peer Tutoring • Positive Reinforcement • Project Achieve • Project Pathe • Second Step

Programs and Strategies for Positive Behavior:
School-Wide Programs & Strategies:
Project Achieve

Student Population Served
District-wide/School-wide
Elementary/Middle School
Includes students from Special Education

Program Description
Project ACHIEVE focuses on academically and socially at-risk underachieving students. The model emphasizes prevention, intervention, and crisis response. It is a systems approach that targets organizational requirements and processes that result in effective building-wide pro-social behavior management and positive, skills oriented student discipline systems. Regular and special education teachers, paraprofessionals, school staff (custodial, cafeteria, office), substitute teachers, bus drivers and volunteers implement a common approach to support positive student outcomes. Important components of the program are:

• School-wide Social Skills Training
• Individualized Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies
• Referral Question Consultation (Problem-Solving) Process
• Curriculum-Based Assessment and Intervention Approach
• Parent Support
• Organizational Assessment and Strategic Planning
• Integrated Building Committee Approach to Organizational Management
• Program Evaluation
• Training of Trainers Program

Training & Support Information
Project ACHIEVE takes approximately two years to implement completely in a district. Several teams are established to implement the different components of the program. Once staff have bought into the philosophy of the program and indicated their readiness to proceed, implementation of the program begins. An organizational analysis and needs assessment of the building and surrounding community must be completed. A School Climate Team, grade-level leaders, and a pupil personnel support team are identified, pre-intervention baseline data are collected, and the organizational support system needed to implement the program is designed and established.

At the start of the next school year, a two-day social skills training workshop is required for the entire staff. This workshop is followed by ongoing grade-level team meetings. The grade level teams determine the skills to be taught and support the development of lessons and strategies to teach and reinforce the skills. After initial training, workshops are also held every four to six weeks for the entire building to learn the skills needed to implement other aspects of the program.

Contact Information
Name: Dr. Howard M. Knoff, Co-Director
Address: Department of Psychological Foundations
University of South Florida
Tampa, FL 33620
Phone: (813) 974-9498
Fax: (813) 974-5814
Email: knoff@tempest.coedu.usf.edu
http://www.coedu.usf.edu/projectachieve

References & Additional Resources
Knoff, H.M., & Batsche, G.M. (1995). Project ACHIEVE: Analyzing a school reform process for at-risk and underachieving students. School Psychology Review, 24, 579-603.

Knoff, H.M., & Batsche, G.M. (1993). A school reform process for at-risk students: Applying Caplan's organizational consultation principles to guide prevention, intervention, and home-school collaboration. In W.P. Erchul (Ed.), Consultation in the Community, School, and Organizational Practice (pp.123-148). Washington, D.C.: Taylor and Francis.

Knoff, H.M. (1995). Best practices in organizational assessment and strategic planning. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best Practices in School Psychology, Vol. III (pp. 239-252). Silver Spring, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

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