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Policy

Head Start of Lane County is committed to using positive guidance and evidence-based practices to promote children’s healthy social emotional development. Child guidance and classroom / bus management practices will help children develop self-control, self-direction, and respect for others. Classroom staff will design a physical environment and a schedule of activities that build trust; fosters independence; encourages self-control and respect for the feelings and rights of others; and supports each child’s home language, culture, and family composition.

Procedure

  1. All new classroom staff will receive training on positive guidance and the Pyramid Model during onboarding and during their first year of employment. The Pyramid Model includes universal classroom practices to promote social-emotional learning and prevent challenging behavior; universal and targeted instructional practices to promote social, emotional, and behavioral skill development; and classroom interventions to support children with social, emotional, and behavioral needs.
  2. In order to develop responsive relationships with and between the children in their classroom or on their caseload, with families, and with colleagues, staff will:
    1. Call children, families, and colleagues by their preferred name.
    2. Use positive descriptive feedback for children’s skills, behaviors, efforts, and engagement.
    3. Build positive interactions with children into daily routines (e.g., arrival, meals).
    4. Create opportunities for positive interactions between children
    5. Engage in bi-directional communication with families to share information and give families a way to share information with classroom teachers or home visitors.
  3. Classroom environments will be designed to support social emotional development, provide clear expectations, and provide consistency and predictability. To create supportive environments, staff will:
    1. Create and post a daily classroom schedule (see also Daily Schedule policy). Schedule should be written and posted for adults and a visual schedule should be created and posted for use by children.
      1. Classroom staff will teach the schedule to children and refer to it throughout the day.
    2. Create predictable routines within the daily schedule that are taught to children.
    3. Staff will plan for transitions, teaching children steps and expectations. Staff will give a whole class warning or cue prior to transitions.
    4. Plan engaging and developmentally appropriate activities (see Curriculum Planning Policy)
    5. Give clear directions that are simple, short, and specific. Directions will be phrased positively (telling children what to do rather than what not to do).
    6. Identify a small number of rules for the classroom, activity, or setting (e.g., center time or outdoor play) that are positively stated.
      1. Classroom rules should be posted visually for children.
      2. Classroom staff must provide instruction to children on the posted rules.
      3. Develop classroom rules with children and families when possible. Review and update as needed
    7. Supervise actively, engaging in ongoing monitoring and taking steps to prevent problems before they occur (see also Active Supervision policy).
  4. Staff will utilize Social Emotional Teaching Strategies:
    1. Encourage autonomy by providing children with appropriate choices and opportunities for leadership and responsibility
    2. Provide instruction to aid in the development of social skills such as taking turns, cooperation, waiting, how to join play, and problem solving (i.e., 2nd Step).
    3. Promote identification and labeling of emotions in self and others
    4. Create a planned approach for problem solving processing within the classroom (i.e., Solution kit, problem solving unit in 2nd Step)
  5. Only staff shall provide guidance to a child in the classroom.
  6. When children are not following classroom rules and expectations, staff will use developmentally appropriate strategies such as redirection, distraction, or giving positive attention to peer models in response.
  7. Staff will respond to children’s agitation by remaining calm, helping the child identify their feelings, and offering strategies to calm down.
    1. Staff will focus on the safety of the child and other children in the classroom if the behavior escalates and becomes unsafe. Staff will stay calm and support safety and de-escalation.
    2. Staff will wait until the child has started to de-escalate before engaging in problem solving or re-joining play.
    3. Staff will use cross talk to communicate with other adults in the room
  8. The use of corporal punishment or seclusion is strictly forbidden. Use of such methods will result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.
  9. Withholding food, access to the bathroom, or mental/emotional punishment including but not limited to name calling, ridicule, yelling, or threats is strictly forbidden. Use of such methods will result in disciplinary action.
    1. Food and/or physical activity may not be used as a punishment or reward.
  10. The HSOLC Code of Conduct requires staff to intervene and report if they observe other adults using prohibited strategies.
  11. Staff will share behavior concerns with families in a respectful and timely manner and will work with families to develop strategies and interventions. Individualized, Intensive Interventions will be developed as needed (see Preventing Suspension and Expulsion policy).
  12. Staff will access Early Childhood Education Coordinator (ECEC) as needed for behavior observations in the classroom and classroom-wide behavior support strategies.
    1. ECEC will work with family and teaching staff to obtain a mental health consultation.
    2. If appropriate, ECEC will work with family and teaching staff to refer the child for mental health services and/or special education evaluation.
    3. ECEC will work with RM to notify the Consultant Coordination Team for a staffing and review of the case.
  13. Occasionally, staff may be unaware of a child’s potential for unsafe behavior, which may occur very quickly and with little warning. Each classroom will develop (or update) a Site Plan for Unsafe Child Behavior before children return to school in the fall. The plan will include the following:
    1. A designated safe and appropriate place in the classroom and outside the classroom where an adult can take a child to be away from peers for the purpose of assisting the child to calm and self-regulate.
    2. A procedure for quickly exiting the children from the classroom away from the dangerous behavior. A staff member will remain with the child at all times; children will not be placed in seclusion (involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room from which the student is physically prevented from leaving.
    3. Ways of quickly communicating to the rest of the team (including regular parent and community volunteers) with a signal word so that the plan can be quickly implemented without a lot of discussion.
    4. A plan for when dangerous behaviors occur on the bus (see also, Child Guidance on the Bus)
    5. A plan in case staff are unable to de-escalate the situation after 30 minutes.
    6. DST will submit their plans to their RM at the beginning of the program year and update it as needed. For the safety of the child and staff, the crisis intervention for the child will not exceed gentle but firm physical guidance/direction, holding a child only long enough to get them to a safe space to calm down.
    7. When dangerous behaviors occur, staff will contact the child’s parent/caregiver to debrief the incident. Team (teachers, family, Regional Manager, Early Childhood Education Coordinator, Family Support Coordinator, FSI) will meet to discuss potential referrals for additional services. A root cause analysis will be conducted if applicable (see also Incident Response and Reporting Policy).
  14. Challenging behavior concerns and responses will be documented in the child’s electronic file making use of the Behavior Support Log, Acuity, etc. The Behavior Incident Reporting System (BIRS) may also be used when appropriate.

This policy complies with Head Start Performance Standard 45 CFR 1302.21, 1302.45 and Childcare Licensing Regulation 414-305-0700

It was approved by Policy Council: August 2013, August 2025, August 2026

Updated: July 2017, November 2019, May 2021, July 2022, July 2025, August 2026 

Reviewed: May 2021, July 2022, July 2025, August 2026