The Boys Town Model
What is Boys Town Specialized Classroom Management?
In the Therapeutic Support Programs at WSWHE BOCES, the BoysTown Specialized Classroom Management System (SCM) is used as the universal teaching and support system for social, emotional, and behavioral needs of students. The goals of this approach are twofold: first and foremost it is a model that is based on teaching and secondly, it focuses on individual student growth. As part of the school-wide system, the following are key components:
Emphasis on Proactive Supports
- Positive supportive relationships
- Consistent procedures and structures
- Positive, predictable environments
- Frequent, proactive teaching of targeted social skills, individual to student need and developmental level, across environments
- Frequent, preventative prompts to set students up for success
Empowering Students through Teaching
- Empower students to manage themselves and practice self-determination
- Conversations over confrontation
- Guided critical thinking & problem solving
- Self-determination through student ownership
- Re-teaching developing skills
Common Language & Teaching Interactions:
- Explicit labeling of social and emotional skills
- Skills connected to teaching
- Predictable teaching cycle and interactions
Strengths Based
- Praise both academics & behaviors, with an emphasis on target skills
- Reinforce approximations when they show improvement
- Token economy with various levels of reinforcement and response cost to shape behavior and motivate
students
Opportunities for Growth
Specialized Classroom Management allows for students to grow and fade the level of support they require, while also increasing the complexity of the social and emotional skills they learn. Within the universal system, there are three levels: Daily, Progress, and Merit. We've witnessed countless success stories develop from this approach. Students who once were stuck in negative patterns often learn how to manage their own behaviors and move forward. Each student works on target skills that they need to learn. Target skills are in the areas of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship and responsible decision making.
Special Support
When students require additional support with a skill because they are not responding to corrective strategies from classroom staff, they earn a skills referral. A skills referral is an opportunity for students to work 1:1 with a skills interventionist or other school staff to problem solve, practice skills, and apply new learning. Skills interventionists include a Licensed Social Worker or Mental Health Counselor and a Social Worker Associate.
A Sample Day with Specialized Classroom Management
- Student completes card for the level they are on (Daily, Progress or Merit on Card)
- Student reviews points and bond balances, target skills and coping strategies.
- Student follows schedule, earning positive and negative points, completing corrective teaching through the use of teaching interactions.
- At the end of the day, student reviews positive and negatives earned, completes daily banking, makes purchases, and sets goals.
We have a series of recommendations to offer parents who wish to continue reinforcing the Boys Town approach while a student is at home:
- Offer praise for positive behavior
- Ask what skills your child is working on and what steps are needed to achieve these skills
- Remind your child that earning negative points is a learning experience
- Offer additional positive support for office referrals
- Ask which level your child is on and how they are trying to move to the next level for additional privileges
We take a holistic approach to helping our students. Our faculty and staff are trained in the “Boys Town Specialized Classroom Management Model.”
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