How do I configure a behavior system?

Behavior systems in Schoolrunner are configurable so that your school can record or treat behaviors the way you want. Start by setting up your behavior types on the Behavior Types page, accessed via the Configure page. Read on for an overview of the different parts of behaviors and behavior systems that all work together.

Detention Scale and Detention Values

If you are using detentions, make sure to turn them on on the Settings page, in the "Detention" section. There is a field labeled "Detention Scale". The number you enter here determines the number of detention values a student must earn before he or she is assigned a detention.

In order for students to accumulate detention values, and eventually detentions, values must be assigned to individual behaviors. In this example, any student assigned the behavior of "Excessive Tardies" will receive one detention value towards the five he or she needs to receive an actual detention.

"Demerit values" are completely separate from "detention values". If you want a behavior to apply towards earning a detention, it must have a detention value.

Merits and Demerits

Unlike detention values, merits and demerits don’t necessarily lead to a consequence. Merits and demerits simply serve as a tally or indicator of a student’s behavior. One of the ways you can set up your behavior system is to have the positive and negative behaviors create an overall balance. For example, if Michael received five negative points for a horseplay violation but then received five positive points for being prepared the same day, he would have a single balance of zero demerits for the day. To do this, use negative and positive numbers in the "Merit Value" field.

As you can see, you only enter numbers in the Merit value field. Behaviors you want to discourage ("Horseplay") are assigned a negative value, and good behaviors ("Prepared for class") are assigned a positive value. It's also possible to add demerit values, but these won't affect the overall balance.

Using a dollar sign along with a "Merit" value is optional, and can be toggled on or off via your Settings page. Turning it off simply displays merit counts as an integer.

Merits and Demerits – Count

If you want your demerits and merits to be counted separately you will use both the "Demerit value" and "Merit value" fields.