Our Beliefs About Student Behavior
Hawkswood School believes that all behavior has a purpose and a message. Our job as educators is to understand and interpret each child’s unique communication.
Our use of the evidence-based SCERTS® Model as our educational framework, allows us to develop an individualized perspective on each student’s behavior, and its expressive and communicative intent. SCERTS® embraces strategies from many approaches, including developmental, behavioral, educational, and therapeutic disciplines. A primary component of SCERTS® involves assessment and response to behavior that interferes with the child’s ability to be a successful participant in the classroom, family and community. To learn more about the SCERTS® Model and its role in our curriculum and philosophy, click here.
When students have behavior that interferes with their life and learning, Hawkswood staff starts with a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) — including a comprehensive environmental assessment — to help determine the function or purpose of the behavior from the child’s perspective.
We believe learning needs to be about more than changing behavior. Our approach to challenging behavior encourages cooperative and pro-social behavior, and the positive reinforcement it inherently provides. We help students by providing logical and natural consequences. Instead of creating artificial external motivational systems, we focus on teaching our students positive strategies for self-direction and self-management.
We also focus intently on prevention, and providing additional opportunities for constructive behavior that facilitates personal learning and social growth. The result is that our classrooms are places where students gain a genuine sense of belonging.
At Hawkswood, we do not consider punishment an effective method of teaching. Our deep respect for students means that we never use aversive behavior modification procedures, and we never use restraints or time out rooms.
We are highly accountable for our interventions. Data is collected daily to demonstrate the effect of intervention on student behavior.
We want all students to know that they are valuable contributors to their family, classroom, school and community.
