5 Errors that Inadvertently Cause More Dangerous Behaviors in Schools: And What to Do About It

As a behavior analyst and former school administrator focused on school improvement, I’ve spent over two decades helping teachers, schools, and districts drastically reduce behavioral crises like continuous aggression or self-injurious behavior.?These crises often occurred due to 5 minor but common errors that were usually easily fixed. If you want to find out if your school or district is making these same errors, keep reading

For many, a crisis in a school or district may seem like an insurmountable challenge. When perceived as such, it can negatively impact the performance and morale of students, staff, faculty, and administrators. Unfortunately, all too often, well-meaning district or school leaders end up focusing on engaging in “quick fixes” like de-escalation strategies that simply Band-Aid the situation. While this might provide temporary relief, it usually doesn’t get to the root cause of the problem. As a result, the same issue raises its ugly head in the future, and sometimes it's even worse. This is never more evident than when it comes to behavioral crises like continuous aggression, self-injurious behavior, or high-magnitude disruption that are increasingly occurring across our schools. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Your school can have an environment characterized by happy and successful students, staff, faculty, and administrators. One where behavioral crisis is minimal or even non-existent. ???

Here are five errors to be on the lookout for that will actually create more crisis behavior!

Error 1

First, let’s look at the error #1 , training. If staff are receiving “training” in crisis management that only requires a couple of repetitions of crisis procedures in order to pass the course, you are probably seeing increased levels of dangerous behavior. You know, I really wish that teaching something new only required telling people what to do, modeling it, and then having them practice it a few times would stick. Training would be so much easier! But that is not the way learning works. If your school or district has brought a crisis management system that trains like this, people will forget what they’ve learned in a week. This means good people end up doing the wrong thing when a crisis happens. This results in more behavior incidents, injury, litigation, and issues with morale and retention, ultimately negatively impacting student achievement. Remember, when a crisis occurs, people are being asked to manage really difficult problems that require high levels of training. We want to make sure these folks are truly professionals in crisis management. This requires professional training, not sit and gets!

Error 2

Now let’s look at error # 2, feedback. Suppose the crisis management procedures people are being trained in do not have immediate feedback and reinforcement loops built in. In that case, there is a very good chance that well-meaning people are inadvertently increasing crises. Listen, all learning requires feedback. Human beings have evolved to learn from feedback. If your crisis management system does not have immediate feedback and reinforcement loops built into the procedures, students are being robbed of the opportunity to learn and change their own behavior; in addition, practitioners are being simultaneously robbed of the ability to learn and change their own procedures to meet the needs of the student. When a student is restrained, even for a minute, and the adults do not respond to changes in the student’s behavior, it often increases the very crisis behaviors trying to be reduced. Oh, and let’s not even get into its negative impact on the relationship between the staff and the student. On this topic, and critical to the success of training, is feedback and reinforcement provided to staff regarding their performance in following outlined behavior and crisis management procedures. I'll cover that topic in another article.

Error 3

You probably know people who are really good at de-escalation. In fact, most crisis management systems focus their curriculum on de-escalation over prevention. Which is error #3. But providing the heaviest focus in this area makes no sense. If students are escalating, that means there is already a breakdown somewhere. That’s like waiting for your car to start making all sorts of noises before changing the oil. The goal should be to prevent escalation from occurring in the first place. For example, if there aren’t clear expectations and routines and procedures established for both students AND staff, there is a good chance this increases behavior problems, including crisis behavior. Establishing expectations along with routines and behaviors for all is a simple yet powerful prevention strategy.

Error 4

Now, let’s talk about the 4th error, the criteria for restraints. If there are not very precise criteria to inform staff when to engage in some sort of crisis intervention, this can lead to:

• Overuse of restraints
• Underuse of restraints
• Staff being too quick to use restraints
• Staff being too late to behavior prevent injury

And all of the above could compromise the safety of the students and staff. Not having precise criteria would be like there being no speed limit. As a result, one person may drive too slow in a given area, and another person too fast. In both cases, this can inadvertently create safety issues. Cops wouldn’t know when to pull over who. And if a cop pulled either person over and gave them a ticket, they would probably quickly escalate. I know I would! This would likely decrease the likelihood of cops pulling people over, thus increasing safety issues.

Error 5

Finally, error #5, let’s look at the retraining of those who end up being trainers in crisis management. If the crisis management agency only requires the trainers to recertify less than every year, this can lead to a number of problems, especially if they weren’t trained to fluency to begin with! For example, if they are teaching one procedure wrong, that could mean hundreds of people are implementing the procedure incorrectly with who knows how many students. Essentially, the safety of the students and staff is compromised exponentially.

Listen, if even one of these five issues is occurring within your school or district, you can be confident that the safety of both students and staff is being compromised. We at the professional crisis management association have helped school personnel systematically fix all of these errors in a way that results in drastic reductions in crisis behavior while at the same time improving the climate and culture. If you want to learn The Safest, Most Effective, and most Humane Crisis Management Solution in the world for reducing crises and making a positive difference, check out Professional Crisis Management at PCMA.com, reach out to Drew ca

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About the Author

Specializing in human performance, coaching, and organizational leadership, Dr. Paul "Paulie" Gavoni is a behavior scientist and educator who has worked across education and human services for almost three decades. In this capacity, he has served the needs of children and adults through various positions, including COO, Vice President, Director of School Improvement, Leadership Director, Professor, Assistant Principal, School Turnaround Manager, Clinical Coordinator, Therapist, District Behavior Analyst, and Director of Progam Development and Public Relations at?PCMA. Dr. Gavoni is passionate about applying Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), or the science of human behavior, to make a positive difference in establishing safe, productive, and engaging environments that bring out the best in faculty and staff so they can bring out the best in the learners they serve. He is an active board member of the?Opioid Awareness Foundation?and?World Behavior Analysis Day Alliance.

Known for his authenticity and practical approaches, Dr. Gavoni is the host of the Top 1.5% globally ranked?Crisis in Education Podcast?and a sought-out speaker at various Educational and Behavior Analytic Conferences Internationally. He a the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling co-author of The Scientific Laws of Life & Leadership: Behavioral Karma; Quick Wins! Accelerating School Transformation through Science, Engagement, and Leadership; Deliberate Coaching: A Toolbox for Accelerating Teacher Performance; and MMA Science: A Training, Coaching, and Belt Ranking Guide. Dr. Gavoni is proud to introduce OBM and Applied Behavior Analysis to worldwide audiences through his numerous publications and his work with PCMA to create productive, safe, and positive cultures.

Beyond his work in education and human services, Dr. Gavoni is also a former Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion and a highly respected striking coach in combat sports. Coach “Paulie Gloves,” as he is known in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) community, has trained world champions and UFC vets using technologies rooted in the behavioral sciences. Coach Paulie has been featured in the books?Beast: Blood, Struggle, and Dreams a the Heart of Mixed Martial Arts, A Fighter’s Way, and the featured article Ring to Cage:?How four former boxers help mold MMA’s finest. He is also an author who has written extensively for various online magazines such as Scifighting, Last Word on Sports, and Bloody Elbow, where his?Fight Science series?continues to bring behavioral science to MMA. Finally, Paulie was also a featured fighter in FX’s highest-rated show at the time, The Toughman, and as an MMA coach in the Lifetime reality series?Leave it to Geege.