Fix School Discipline Toolkit for Educators | Page 56

HIGHLIGHT: SHERIDAN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Good Behavior Game
First invented by a fourth grade teacher in 1967,
the Good Behavior Game is an approach to the
management of classrooms behaviors that rewards
children for displaying appropriate on-task
behaviors. The Game can be used in one classroom
or throughout a school. Within a classroom, students
are divided into rotating teams, balanced with regard
to boys and girls, shy children, and students who are
disruptive or act out. Consistent with SWPBIS, basic
classroom rules and expectations are clear, posted
and reviewed with students. The Game is played
during instruction and transitions for a set time,
and increases in length and frequency as children
become more successful. While the Game is played,
a team is given a point if any of its members display
inappropriate behavior. Each team that keeps its total
number of points below a set threshold by the end of
the session wins a group reward.54

What are the features of a successful Good
Behavior Game?
Through the Game, children work together to create
a positive learning environment by self-monitoring
their own behavior as well as that of their classmates.
Teachers use the Game during lessons and
transitions in the regular school day, and it does not
compete with instructional time. The Game is built
around four core elements integrating 1) classroom
rules, 2) team membership, 3) behavior monitoring,
and 4) positive reinforcement to individuals and the
group.

54 See, e.g., Kellam, S. G., Mackenzie, A. C. L., Brown, C. H., Poduska,
J. M., Wang, W., Petras, H., & Wilcox, H. C. (2011). The Good Behavior
Game and the Future of Prevention and Treatment. Addiction Science &
Clinical Practice, 6(1), 73–84; Tingstrom, D. H., Sterling-Turner, H. E., &
Wilczynski, S. M. (2006). The Good Behavior Game: 1969-2002. Behavior
Modification, 30(2), 225-53.

54 How we can fix school discipline

What does the Good Behavior Game look like in a
classroom?
The PAX Good Behavior Game55 is a specific
implementation of the Game that encourages
students to create PAX, “Peace, Productivity, Health,
and Happiness.” It aims to decrease unwanted
behaviors called “Spleems.” With the teacher,
students co-create lists of what they want to see,
hear, do and feel more in their classroom – the PAX
– and what they want less of – the Spleem. In this
implementation, the Game is played several times
a day, and combined with a number of evidencebased social-emotional learning strategies integrated
throughout the classroom setting, called “kernels,”
including:
 written notes, or “Tootles,” that are used to praise
positive behavior, given by both peers and
adults;
 use of a timer to decrease the time needed for
tasks or transitions;
 transition cues, in which a teacher blows on a
harmonica and holds up two fingers to get the
students’ attention; and
 rewards in the form of “Granny’s Wacky
Prizes,” fun behaviors that students are usually
prohibited from doing in the classroom.

When did SFUSD begin to implement the Game?
Tracy Nick, Good Behavior Game Coach: The
school district received a five year grant from the
federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) to bring the PAX Good
Behavior Game to the district in 2010. The grant
provided $100,000 per year for five years. The district
55 Developed by Dr. Dennis Embry and the PAXIS Institute, http://paxis.
org/products/view/pax-good-behavior-game.