We are a STAR/PBS school:
S = Safe
T = Trustworthy
A = Accepting of Responsibility
R = Respectful & Cooperative
CHAMPS is a series of materials designed to help the classroom teacher develop (or fine-tune) an effective classroom management plan that is proactive, positive, and instructional. During the past 30 years, researchers have identified consistent and reliable findings concerning how effective teachers manage student behavior and enhance student motivation. The strategies and techniques presented in CHAMPS are derived from the research literature and are based on the following principles:
• Classroom organization has a huge impact on student behavior; thus, teachers should carefully structure their classrooms in ways that prompt responsible student behavior.
• Teachers should explicitly teach students how to behave responsibly (i.e., be successful) in every classroom situation.
• Teachers should focus more time, attention, and energy on acknowledging responsible behavior than on correcting misbehavior.
• Teachers should pre-plan their responses to misbehavior to ensure that they will respond in a brief, calm, and consistent manner.
The acronym CHAMPS represents the categories of expectations that teachers need to clarify for students about every major classroom activity and transition. These categories are:
C onversation Can students talk to each other?
H elp How do students get their questions answered? How do they get your attention?
A ctivity What is the task or objective? What is the end product?
M ovement Can students move about? P articipation What does the expected student behavior look and sound like? How do students show they are fully participating?
S uccess If students follow the CHAMPS expectations, they will be successful.
CHAMPS is an approach, not a program.
CHAMPS is a way of thinking about behavior management, not a canned program with step-by-step instruction on what to do. That’s because no set of simple steps can help manage and motivate all, or even most, students. The CHAMPS approach guides teachers in making research- and data-based decisions on classroom management. However, the final decisions about managing the behavior of their students are left up to the teachers.
CHAMPS is comprehensive, informative, and user friendly.
There are five sections in CHAMPS. The first discusses how to structure the classroom for success, including the development of a Classroom Management and Discipline Plan, including information on classroom rules and consequences for rule violations. The second section is about teaching your expectations to students. The third section covers information on observing: scanning the classroom and collecting data to use in making decisions about your management plan. The last two sections discuss motivating and interacting positively with students as well as correcting misbehavior fluently.
Based on the most recent recommendations set forth by researchers and the U.S. Department of Education, CHAMPS is an evidence-based approach to classroom behavior management. CHAMPS is not a curriculum or program, but instead is a collection of recommendations that are based on more than 30 years of research in the fields of education and psychology. Safe & Civil Schools has many examples of district-based studies where CHAMPS has been implemented with remarkable results. Improvements include reductions in classroom disruptions, office referrals, and in-school and out-of school suspensions, along with corresponding increases in teachers’ perceptions of efficacy and student motivation and behavior. For information on efficacy data, contact Safe & Civil Schools or go to safeandcivilschools.com.