One of the primary goals of the Percy Project is to determine how best to measure both the increase in positive behavior learning that is occurring as well as the decreases in negative student behavior.

Measuring  increasing positive behaviors. The Percy Positive Award is an effective method to measure positive (pro-social learning). First, when a student behaves in a manner consistent with the project goals (appreciating  yourself, respecting others and not “pecking” others) the certificate rewards such pro-social behavior. Second, it records when students have exhibited pro-social skills both for the individual student and for the class/school collectively. Thirdly, it ensures that teachers and school staff are participating in the program as it measures the amount of pro-social recognition and reinforcement teachers are providing students.

Measuring the decrease in negative behaviors. The challenge with measuring decreases in negative school behaviors is twofold.  First, schools currently define negative or “bullying behaviors” differently.  More importantly, how negative behaviors are tracked and recorded vary between schools and school systems.

Our approach.

As stated above, The Percy Project has a practical and effective method to track increases in positive social behaviors learned from the project. The Percy Positive Award measures when, and how much pro-social learning is taking place.

To measure the decreases in negative behaviors, The Percy Project is utilizing a measurement method call “informed self report”. Self report methodology is a valid form of measuring outcomes utilized throughout modern research. In the Percy Project, schools rely on the information they use to measure negative incidents to determine whether there has been a decrease or increase in negative student behaviors. For instance, some schools record negative incidents by “office referrals” while other schools more often manage their incidents, without office referrals, and track per classroom.

 As a pilot project, we hope to learn from this year’s experience to develop an outcome based approach that is consistent with emerging practices. We are in the process of seeking support for this project from academic institutions to build upon our current process.