Kent School takes the lead on researching behavior coaching for young children

Four-year-old Jas’meir English can act up from time to time and she’s capable of disrupting a classroom.

But what if we paired young students, like Jas’meir, with behavior coaches? Would they learn proper behavior in the classroom and retain it for the rest of their school careers. The University of Louisville has received a first-of-its-kind federal grant to find out.

“The purpose of it is to understand whether or not the First Step Next early intervention is effective for young kids at risk for academic failure due to behavioral, social or emotional concerns” said Andy Frey, a researcher in the Kent School of Social Work and principal investigator on the grant.

Forty 4-year-olds in Jefferson County Public Schools’ early childhood program are part of the study. Jas’meir’s behavior coach is Blake Skidmore who says “we really focus on using positive reinforcement to teach kids what we want to see them doing versus what we tend to slip into which is negative attention when they’re misbehaving.”

See more in the video below: