School Wide Behavior Expectations

• The Mount Horeb Area School District expects all students to follow the three Rs: Responsible, Respectful and Ready.

• The Mount Horeb Middle School has developed a behavioral matrix that outlines key expectations in different locations of the building and grounds.  These expectations are specific, measurable, age appropriate, succinct, and stated in positive wording.  

• All faculty and staff teach expected behaviors using a direct instructional approach: explain, model, incorporate different teaching modalities, allow time for role play/practice, and give reminders and prompts/pre-corrections.   All faculty and staff actively supervise and positively reinforce expected behaviors.

Ongoing System of Acknowledgement

• All faculty and staff use specific,  verbal reinforcement to promote  a more positive and nurturing environment where all students feel valued and recognized.

• All faculty and staff also acknowledges expected behavior by using tangible rewards and acknowledgements, “Caught Being Good Tickets”,  intrinsic rewards (i.e. extra time at P.E., free pass to the library, etc.) and social recognition (ie. name on bulletin board,name over intercom, postcards sent home to families, behavior assemblies, kid-nominated procedures). 

• “Caught Being Good Tickets”  are used by all faculty and staff members to Increase higher rates of positive contact and reinforcement in general amongst all staff, promoting a more positive and nurturing environment where all students feel valued and recognized.  Tickets can be redeemed at the time they are given and are also put into weekly drawing.  Students whose names are drawn are publicly acknowledged; a postcard is also sent home to those students’ families. 

Establishing a Site-Specific Discipline System

• Mount Horeb Middle School has established  which behaviors are handled by staff (minor problem behaviors necessitating verbal re-directions, teacher consequence, pre-correction and restatement of expected behaviors, etc.) and which are handled by the office (major and/or repeated  problem behaviors).

•  Procedures exist  for ongoing data entry, monitoring of problem behaviors and evaluation.

• Middle School staff meet regularly to review the school’s behavior data to move forward with problem-solving, interventions and decision-making.