Source: IMDB

While “hallway duty” (duty to some) may be a pain for many, it is in fact a critical piece to the school improvement process and positively impacts student achievement while simultaneously making a school staff’s job easier. In my 20 years of working with schools, it has been my observation that transitions (particularly arrival) are often directly correlated with student achievement. Not only can it provide a measure of culture and climate, but also a quick observation can reveal who has consistently enforced rules and reinforced appropriate behavior. To discover this, I simply look at student behavior around particular staff members. Are they tucking their shirts in…are they walking when they see that staff member…are they going out of their way to say hello? Why is this important? Student arrival and transitioning at school is critical for establishing “instructional control” and increasing the likelihood of appropriate behavior throughout the school day. When staff fail to consistently reinforce and correct behavior, a litany of things can occur which may have a snowball effect and quickly generalize into the classroom on very deep levels. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard students, after being redirected for misbehavior, complain, “well Mr. So-and-so always let’s us…” It’s probably not that Mr. So-and-so “let them”, but more likely the illusion of permission from failure to establish expectations through the consistent reinforcement and correction of misbehavior.

Remember, when staff fail to reinforce and correct behavior, non-compliance may spread like wild-fire as other students might perceive that they do not have to follow the rules either. These effects can be immediate and have lasting and erosive like qualities on instructional control in a way that impacts staff morale and directly influences school climate and achievement.

When transitioning procedures (like school arrival) are implemented correctly, staff become what we in the behavior world call a discriminative stimulus as just simply their presence “tells” the students how they should behave in the same way a traffic light “tells” drivers how to behave (e.g. red light tells the driver to push the brake pedal). Imagine being at your duty post and simply just being able to say hi to the students and ask how they are doing without having to redirect misbehavior. It sounds like a fantasy for some, but I’ve supported many turnaround schools with effectively shaping desired behaviors and making their jobs easier!!! Implemented appropriately, arrival and transitioning procedures can:

• Strengthen the relationship between staff and students (this is MOST IMPORTANT!!!!)
• Increase academic achievement (i.e. students comes to class ready to learn)
• Improve the general school climate (i.e. teachers and students share a common positive perspective on the school based on safe and positive interactions within common areas)

Stay tuned for my next post on tips for how principals and other school leaders can positively influence staff to implement any transition procedures effectively, even when the leader is not present!

Paul has successfully supported multiple struggling schools in the turnaround process. As a certificated behavior analyst who concentrates on organizational behavior management, Paul provides administrative teams, teachers, and staff with coaching and consultation with analyzing and developing behavior and performance management systems that are directly aligned with student achievement.