This school year, Alliance Elementary School (AES) has launched an innovative Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) initiative called "Aviator Bucks," where students earn a weekly paycheck based on meeting building and classroom expectations. The program is designed to encourage positive behavior while teaching essential financial literacy concepts to all second and third grade students.
The new system builds on AES’s existing behavior tracking system called Kickboard and expands it into a full monetary and banking system.
"Our goal as a PBIS team at AES was to create a structured yet engaging method to reward good behavior, responsibility and effort," explained Assistant Principal Taylor Logothetides. “The system uses Aviator Bucks as a form of school currency that students can earn by demonstrating positive behaviors such as being a role model, giving their best effort or showing kindness.”
The previous system, which utilized percentages to earn rewards, was difficult for the students to understand. The paycheck system not only puts it into a real world scenario, but it also assists the students with financial literacy by encouraging them to think about how much they have to spend and or need to save if they want to attend one of the big quarterly incentives.
While this is the first year the new behavior program has been implemented school wide, a third of the students and staff piloted the program last spring and found great success with it.
“The students have responded enthusiastically,” Logothetides said. “They love the opportunity to earn and spend their Aviator Bucks. Many have started setting savings goals, deciding whether to purchase their ticket for an event early on or save a little and spend a little each week. Students are also becoming more aware of how their attendance impacts their earnings, as they know arriving on time and staying until the end of the day helps them earn a full weekly paycheck.”
The new system has been a huge benefit for the students and staff because it reinforces positive behaviors through immediate feedback and rewards that students can earn weekly or quarterly. The students enjoy the variety of rewards they can earn, some of which include sitting in the teacher’s chair for the day, classroom privileges, Croc charms, stickers, school supplies, small snacks and participation in the bigger incentives and events.
“The structured nature of the system creates a predictable and fair environment that supports the district’s PBIS and R Factor frameworks, emphasizing how students' responses to situations directly impact their learning and outcomes,” Logothetides explained. “This initiative not only rewards good behavior, but also prepares students with practical life skills. Our hope is that it continues to evolve and serve as a model for integrating behavioral and academic development and creating a positive and supportive school culture where every student feels valued and motivated.”