Safe & Civil Schools Overview

The Safe & Civil School Series is a collection of practical materials designed to help schools improve safety and civility across all school settings. By so doing, schools lay a foundation to engage students and enhance learning. The goal of all materials in the Series is to empower school personnel with techniques to help all students behave responsibly and respectfully. The materials are full of specific "how-to" information. Though each resource stands alone, all are integrated and share some basic processes and beliefs.

The processes include:

1. Self-reflection—if student behavior is irresponsible, school staff should reflect on what they can do to help students.
2. Using data—objective information about behavior is more reliable than labels, conclusions, or stereotypes.
3. Structuring for success—all school settings should be organized to promote successful behavior from students.
4. Collaboration—helping students behave responsibly is the shared responsibility of all school staff.

The beliefs include:

1. All students must be treated with dignity and respect.
2. Students should be taught the skills and behaviors necessary for success.
3. Motivation and responsibility should be encouraged through positive interactions and building relationships with students.
4. Student misbehavior represents a teaching opportunity.

These processes and beliefs form a structure that supports procedures to help prevent any students from "falling through the cracks" into school failure. Procedures can be categorized into three levels: school-wide (those affecting all students in all settings); classroom (for teachers in their own classroom); and those specifically tailored to meet the needs of individual students. Figure 1 shows the three levels as an inverted triangle with school-wide procedures at the top.

Figure 1

The idea is that if large numbers of students are misbehaving across school settings, modifying school-wide procedures is the best intervention. If large numbers of students are having trouble in their classrooms, targeting classroom procedures is indicated. Individualized plans for students needing extra support are developed as necessary. If large numbers of students are requiring individualized plans, staff need to focus more time, effort, and energy on school-wide and classroom procedures.

Schoolwide Resources

• FOUNDATIONS: Establishing Positive Discipline Policies, considered the cornerstone of Dr. Sprick's Safe & Civil Schools Series, is a comprehensive, multimedia program that guides schools through the process of designing a positive and proactive schoolwide discipline plan. The program lays the groundwork for developing and implementing effective behavior management and positive behavior support of all students. Foundations consists of three modules with more than 14 hours of how-to video content, including demonstration vignettes, study guides, and surveys that will help staff gather and use data.


• START on Time! Safe Transitions and Reduced Tardies is a multimedia inservice program for middle and high school settings designed to create safe hallway transitions and reduce tardiness schoolwide. START on Time! includes two CD-ROMs (Planning Steps and Implementation Steps), a reference manual, sample lesson plans, survey forms, and reproducible overhead transparency masters.


• Administrator's Desk Reference of Behavior Management is a three-volume set written specifically for building administrators (principals and assistant principals). Volume I provides information on how to guide staff in the development and implementation of proactive schoolwide policies and procedures. Volume II addresses how to deal effectively with disciplinary referrals and how to support teachers and students when chronic or severe misbehavior occurs. Volume III contains everything an administrator needs to establish and maintain a program of "meaningful work" for students. Meaningful work can be a very effective means of reducing student behavior problems and increasing student success.


• Cafeteria Discipline can help turn a school's lunchroom into a calm, orderly place that staff and students will enjoy. The two videos and accompanying reproducible viewer outlines provide: a) information on how to better prepare students to behave appropriately in the cafeteria; and, b) specific strategies for cafeteria supervisors on how to manage behavior more effectively. Other useful reproducible materials are also included.


• Coaching Classroom Management is a must-read for administrators, staff developers, behavior specialists, and instructional coaches who work directly with teachers to improve classroom management and student behavior. Coaching Classroom Management is filled with everything you need to implement effective behavioral coaching.


• In the Driver's Seat contains information designed to help bus drivers and classroom teachers improve student behavior on school buses. It also includes information for administrators on how to assess, revise, and implement transportation policies and practices. The program consists of three components: Bus Driver Program, Transportation Supervisor Program, and Group Lessons DVD for Drivers, all of which include video narration and demonstrations of effective strategies to prevent and correct misbehaviors.


• On the Playground a new, interactive CD program will help ensure a physically and emotionally safe playground for all students. On the Playground helps a principal, leadership team, and playground supervisor (a) analyze and revise the current structure of playground/recess; (b) teach age-appropriate lessons to all students about responsibility on the playground, and (c) train your playground supervisors in active supervision and research-based behavior support strategies.


• ParaPro: Supporting the Instructional Process is an excellent resource for providing non-certified staff with the information and training they need to effectively manage student behavior in the settings they supervise. Covered topics include being part of the school team, managing small group instruction, helping in a classroom, supervising common areas, and working with an individual student.

Classroom Resources

• CHAMPs: A Proactive and Positive Approach to Classroom Management is a comprehensive and practical book for classroom teachers who want to improve their current classroom management plan. The eight modules lead teachers through a process of identifying and maintaining the effective aspects of their current management plan, while concurrently adding and/or strengthening any missing or less effective aspects. This resource, designed for use by individual teachers or study groups, can help any teacher manage student behavior more positively and effectively.


• CHAMPs DVD Inservice Series contains everything necessary to facilitate a class or study group on the CHAMPs book. The ten fast-paced film presentations bring the book to life, while the accompanying print materials provide the structure and tools needed to guide groups in discussion and self-assessment activities. The new DVD format allows easier accessibility to key points within each presentation. The program includes four DVDs, two copies of CHAMPs, and a facilitator's manual.


• Discipline in the Secondary Classroom is specifically written for the high school classroom, providing teachers in grades 9-12 step-by-step guidance for designing a management plan that prevents problems and motivates students. The book contains forms, samples, and evaluation tools that will help teachers design a plan that prevents misbehavior and increases student motivation.


• Teacher's Encyclopedia of Behavior Management is an indispensable tool for all elementary, middle, and high school personnel. It offers practical solutions to more than 100 common classroom problems. For each problem covered, there are three to seven detailed intervention plans that teachers can choose from or modify to fit their particular situation. This easy-to-use reference is arranged alphabetically and includes an extensive index, as well as cross-indexing among the problems.

Resources for Dealing with Individual Students

• Interventions 2nd Edition: Evidence-Based Behavioral Strategies for Individual Students is a comprehensive resource to assist staff in developing and implementing practical intervention plans for individual students. Interventions can help teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, and others who work with challenging students in the planning and implementing of validated, tiered strategies to increase motivation and improve behavior. Each of the 19 chapters in the book discusses a different evidence-based intervention, with information on implementation, sample forms, charts, and data-collection tools. The book includes a CD with reproducibles.


• Interventions Audio 2nd Edition contains eight CDs with 20 presentations (an introduction and content on each of the 19 different evidence-based interventions described in the book). This collection compliments Interventions 2nd Edition.


• 25 Minutes to Better Behavior: A Teacher-to-Teacher Problem-Solving Process describes a process for keeping collaborative problem-solving meetings to 25 minutes. The 45-minute video shows how to keep team members on task and focused on developing a proactive and practical intervention. The accompanying manual includes reproducibles.