Does Punishment Work in Schools?

Punishment, in the traditional sense, does not work in schools. There is an abundance of evidence that shows suspensions, detentions, etc. are not effective behavior change strategies. In fact, the evidence shows these types of punishments lead to negative outcomes like dropping out of school and involvement in the justice system.

Alternative strategies that focus on teaching students skills and building on behaviors that we want to see are much more effective at producing durable behavior change. Therefore, in the traditional sense,  punishment in schools does not work. In this episode we will explore what punishment actually is based on the behavior analytic definition, alternative strategies to punishment that actually work, and steps to teaching students new skills in the classroom.

First, what is punishment? According to behavior analysts, punishment is a process by which the likelihood of a behavior is decreased in the future based on the addition or withdrawal of a stimulus. What that means is that an intervention aimed at “punishing” a behavior should decrease the likelihood of the behavior in the future. If the behavior is not decreasing you are not “punishing the behavior.”

This is where a lot of schools misunderstand punishment. Often the code of conduct states certain “interventions” will be used as punishment such as phone calls home, detention, taking away recess, suspension, etc. However, school districts fail to take data and determine if these measures are actually decreasing the behavior. Often these “interventions” decrease the behavior in the moment but because they do not actually teach the student anything, the student continues to engage in the same or similar behaviors in the future.

This is why punishment is not effective in schools. Not to mention the above mentioned “interventions” are not culturally response, equitable, or trauma informed.

Alternatives to punishments include teaching students the skills they need to successfully engage in appropriate behavior. If we adopt the mindset that students do well and engage in appropriate behavior when they have the skills, we reframe our interventions to focus on teaching those skills.

Using a skills based approach we can focus on teaching students the skills they need to engage in appropriate behavior when they are presented with a variety of situations. But how do we do this?

We teach skills through explicit instruction. We provide students with the opportunity to learn about the why behind a skill and information about that skill. Then we model that skill and allow the student to practice. We provide the student with feedback and continue to go through this cycle until the student engages in the skill effectively.

 This can be done in whole group or small group lessons. Often times this is where a lot of teaching teams stop, but we need to make sure the skill transfers to real life situations. Therefore, whenever we can, we need to prompt for engagement in the skill and reinforce the use of that skill in the classroom.

 Over time the student will become more fluent in the skill and be able to engage in the behavior when they need to. This effectively increases the skills of our students and decreases the use of the previous undesired behavior.

This method of behavior change produces lasting and durable behavior change as opposed to temporary behavior change in the moment like traditional forms of punishment.