PAX-Good Behavior Game: Shelton School District is Seeing Positive Impacts on Student Achievement and Whole Child Wellness
Guest article by Erin L. Wick (formerly Riffe) MBA, CDP, Director, Behavioral Health and Student Support, Capitol Region ESD 113
Almost 10 years ago I went to a community session presented by Dr. Embry. I knew immediately the PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX-GBG) would be a great addition to our service model. Capital Region ESD 113, a licensed as a behavioral health provider, offers comprehensive behavioral health supports through a multi-tiered system wide approach that encompasses school-based prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery supports. ESD 113 had implemented PAX — GBG in afterschool programs, but lacked the funding to implement it strategically during the school day.
When OSPI was awarded the Project Aware Grant in 2013, I knew right away this would be an excellent Tier 1 support as part of our comprehensive behavioral health programming in the Shelton School District. Since the initial award, all Shelton School District elementary schools have been trained in PAX-GBG, as well as the neighboring school districts of Hood Canal, Pioneer and Southside. PAX-GBG has been absolutely a fabulous program for our schools and I couldn’t be more excited to expand the reach of this program in our region.
From the first week of implementation, PAX-GBG provides practical tools to nurture self-regulation in any school context to improve attention and reduce impulsivity throughout the school day. Teachers, students, administrators, and families can see, hear, and feel measurable change within weeks. It has been an amazing feeling to go out into buildings and hear the teachers describe the positive impacts this program has had on their classrooms. We are always looking for programs that have impacts both on academic and whole child health and wellness.
With new standards under Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA, schools choosing to implement the PAX -GBG are well positioned to meet and exceed the increasing expectations placed on schools. Naturally, parents, educators, and policymakers also want to know if PAX-GBG is proven to impact academics and graduation.
Research studies involving PAX-GBG have shown:
- students gain voluntary control over attention by reducing their own classroom disruptions;
- peers and adults reinforce peaceful, productive, healthy, and happy behaviors every day; and,
- teachers report less stress, enabling more effective instruction.
(O’Donnell, Morgan, Embry, O’Kelly, & Owens, 2016)
The PAX-Good Behavior Game is an Evidence-based Practice recommended by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, and the Institute of Medicine.
By strengthening inhibition, extending self-regulation, and improving social emotional scaffolding, PAX-GBG creates changes in electrical, neurochemical, neural connectivity, and epigenetic make-up. PAX is the only classroom-based strategy shown to cause the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) genes that serve as adaptive protections for young people through adulthood and into future generations.
