Marcy Elementary School

Building bus behavioral expectations

Marcy Elementary began implementing PBIS strategies after participating in universal team training in August 2009. After reviewing their parent survey and discipline data from the previous school year, the PBIS Implementation Team decided to target bus behavior as their first area to review. They analyzed the bus discipline slips to determine if they had particular issues on the bus. From these, they found that switching seats, rough play, and not staying seated were the main issues.

The Implementation Team at Marcy Elementary decided to facilitate an in-service for the bus drivers. They addressed the expectations for students riding the bus and asked the drivers for their help in improving behavior. The team members explained the steps that would be taken at school and introduced “golden buses” as a way to acknowledge good behavior.

The Implementation Team then focused on students. Each student viewed a bus safety video with classmates and then took part in a positive bus behavior lesson on a school bus. As an incentive for good behavior, students were told that by following bus rules they would be acknowledged by the driver with a golden bus. Once a child receives a bus, they bring it to the school office where they are given the opportunity to sign a “Marcy bus,” a large bus poster in the hallway. Other acknowledgements for good bus behavior include the opportunity to earn pencils, board the bus first and help with bus dismissal.

Reinforcing behavioral expectations

In September, 40 bus referrals were turned in. In the months following, that number steadily decreased. In December and January, only one bus referral was turned in each month!

To continue to reinforce the bus expectations, teachers board the buses weekly to check on behavior and review the “Marcy Way.” This school has seen great success as evidenced by the significant decrease in bus referrals! PBIS has helped Marcy Elementary to proactively review their data and provided an opportunity to improve their systems. The implementation team’s next step is to look at playground behavior as their next targeted area.

https://www.hamilton.k12.wi.us/schools/marcy/