Why raising the praising is so important in schools.

School research presents a clear picture of the value of praise in the classroom. This inexpensive and highly effective method for improving educational outcomes is deceptively simple, which may lead many to believe it is simplistic or unrealistic. For whatever the reason, research has shown that teachers tend to use much less praise than is considered to be effective by educational and behavioral studies.

In a NASP School Psychology Forum Research in Practice article entitled The Third Pillar: Linking Positive Psychology and School-Wide Positive Behavior Support by the authors Kristin D. Sawka-Miller and David N. Miller, the review of the literature supports the efficacy of praise in building positive institutions such as schools.

The use of contingent praise as reinforcement has been studied extensively and shown to help with a wide range of behaviors, including learning behaviors. Yet, not only do teachers severely under-utilize this method of improving behavior, researchers find that often teachers focus more attention on inappropriate behaviors which has the opposite effect. In essence, teachers not only ignore the water bucket while a fire is blazing, they throw gasoline on it, instead.

Research cited in this article indicates that teachers provide praise on average for students with externalizing disorders at a rate as low as 1 time per hour and about 4 times an hour for students with Learning Disabilities.

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