Teach Positive Actions¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 6 studies (3 review, 2 quant-synthesis, 1 theoretical), q2–q4 · 2 of 6 report an effect size

Description¶

Teaching positive actions means directly instructing learners in the concrete behaviors that produce well-being and success: caring for the body (nutrition, exercise, sleep), developing the intellect (thinking, decision-making, problem-solving), managing oneself (time, energy, emotions), treating others fairly and kindly, acting honestly, and setting and achieving goals. The strategy is carried out through sequenced lessons that name the positive action, model it, give learners practice with it, and connect it to how they feel about themselves. The best-known implementation is the Positive Action curriculum, a school-wide program with grade-specific lessons, but the strategy generalizes to any setting where prosocial and self-management behaviors are taught explicitly rather than assumed.

Design Implications¶

Positive actions function like any other learnable skill: they benefit from explicit modeling, guided practice, and feedback rather than exhortation. Meta-analytic evidence shows that social-emotional learning programs that teach skills explicitly improve both behavior and academic achievement Durlak et al.'s SEL meta-analysis. [+M]. The strategy's core mechanism is a self-concept loop — learners observe that positive actions lead to positive feelings about themselves, which motivates further positive actions — consistent with social-cognitive accounts of reciprocal determinism between behavior, cognition, and environment Social learning theory. [+M].

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A sequenced set of lessons or activities that name and model specific positive actions, not just values statements
• Repeated Practice opportunities in authentic social and self-management situations, with Coaching and corrective feedback
• School- or program-wide consistency: effects are strongest when the same expectations are reinforced across classrooms, home, and community settings
• Opportunities for learners to set and pursue personal goals, with progress made visible

Constraints¶

• One-off lessons without school-wide reinforcement produce weak and decaying effects; program fidelity and dosage matter [~S]
• Requires sustained adult modeling — staff who do not practice the behaviors undermine instruction [-M]
• Learners with significant self-regulation deficits need additional scaffolding before the standard lesson sequence works [~M]
• Effects on distal outcomes (achievement, long-term behavior) emerge over multiple years, not weeks [-W]

Implementation Variability¶

• Whole-class lesson delivery vs. small-group or advisory formats
• School-wide climate implementation (Positive Action's full model) vs. classroom-only delivery
• Integration into academic content (e.g., discussing honest behavior in literature) vs. standalone SEL blocks
• Family involvement components that extend the same language of positive actions to the home

Target Learners¶

• K–12 students, with the strongest documented effects in elementary populations [~S]
• Students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who show larger gains in achievement and discipline outcomes [+M]
• Learners with weak self-management repertoires benefit most from the explicit instruction; Self-monitoring improves self-regulation. [+M]

Target Learning Goals¶

• Social-emotional skills: emotion regulation, cooperation, conflict resolution
• Character and ethical behavior: honesty, responsibility, fairness
• Self-management and metacognition: goal-setting, time and energy management Self-monitoring improves self-regulation. [+M]
• Health behaviors: nutrition, exercise, sleep habits
• Self-concept and motivation: building the sense of efficacy that sustains persistence Self-efficacy predicts academic persistence. [+M]

Instructions¶

1. Introduce the positive action for the unit with Direct Instruction — name the behavior concretely ("taking responsibility means fixing your mistake instead of blaming") and connect it to how it makes you feel about yourself.
2. Model the behavior through role-play or worked scenarios so learners can observe it performed, following the logic of Social Learning Theory.
3. Provide structured Practice through role-plays, class meetings, and real classroom situations, with immediate feedback on the behavior Feedback is most effective at task and process levels. [+S].
4. Have learners set personal goals using the positive action and track progress, building self-monitoring routines.
5. Reinforce the same actions school-wide — in academic lessons, discipline interactions, and family communications — so the behavior is practiced across contexts.

Related Strategies¶

• Class Discussion — class meetings are the primary vehicle for processing positive-action lessons
• Case Studies — realistic dilemmas let learners rehearse deciding on the positive action before facing the real situation
• School-level strategies for improving school climate

Examples¶

• Positive Action — A commercial PreK–12 curriculum with over 100 lessons per grade, school-climate kits, and family components; evaluated in randomized trials in Hawaii and Chicago.
• A fifth-grade teacher runs a weekly lesson on self-management in which students identify a time-wasting habit, set a one-week goal, and report back in a class meeting — pairing instruction with goal-tracking practice.
• A school adopts the "positive action" language in its discipline conversations: instead of only naming the misbehavior, staff ask "what would the positive action have been?" and have the student rehearse it.

Key Sources¶

• Flay, B. R., & Allred, C. G. (2003). Long-term effects of the Positive Action program. American Journal of Health Behavior, 27(Suppl 3), S6–S21.
• Beets, M. W., Flay, B. R., Vuchinich, S., Acock, A. C., Li, K.-K., & Allred, C. (2009). School contextual factors and program effects: A multilevel analysis of a school-wide positive youth development program. Prevention Science, 10(3), 222–234.
• Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
• Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Prentice Hall.
• Flay, B. R., Allred, C. G., & Ordway, N. (2001). Effects of the Positive Action program on achievement and discipline: Two matched-control comparisons. Prevention Science, 2(2), 71–89. doi:10.1023/a:1011591613728