Pyramid Model for Programs, Teachers, and Administrators
Challenging behavior like hitting, scratching, pinching, and biting, places a huge strain on early childhood professionals. Many teachers report that they are seeing more of this behavior than ever before, and that they feel overwhelmed and unprepared to respond to it. As a result, children with challenging behavior are often suspended or expelled from preschool and child care settings. In fact, preschool children are up to 3x as likely to be suspended than those in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Children who have been suspended or expelled are as much as 10x as likely to drop out of high school than their peers who have not.
Expelling young children eliminates their chance to learn appropriate, desired behaviors that will prepare them for their future, but it’s also extremely difficult to keep them in the classroom if teachers do not have the tools and support they need to respond to challenging behavior. The Pyramid Model provides the framework that teachers, administrators, and programs need to support children's social emotional learning and decrease the incidence of challenging behavior in the classroom.
Watch this video from an administrator in Kansas to find out how Pyramid Model helped her program and teachers!
The Pyramid Model provides a framework that allows early childhood programs to do the following:
- Build social and emotional learning into their programs and policies in a way that is meaningful and intentional
- Give early educators the professional development tools they need to feel supported in understanding and responding to challenging behavior, and utilize consistent, evidence-based practices to prevent and manage such behavior
- Develop sustainable infrastructure to ensure consistent results over time
Are you interested in learning more? Click here to access a variety of free training opportunities from the New Hampshire Department of Education.