Question 1:What are teacher, parent, and student perceptions of a

school-wide praise note intervention?

Question 2:How do parents, students, and teachers

differ in their perceptions of praise notes?

Question 3:How can school-wide praise note

interventions be improved?

Qualitative ResultsWhat was most liked about praise notes?

Quantitative ResultsPercentage of participants who agreed with selected survey items

Theme Teacher Parent Student

Student's appropriate behavior is reinforced 46.70% 56.50% 32.10%

Teachers like the form 26.70%

Students like Eagle Coins 20.00%

Student feels positive emotions 21.00%

Student receives prizes 37.40%

Theme Teacher Parent Student

Praise notes take time 41.70%

Teacher dislikes the procedure 33.30% Praise notes lose effectiveness 25.00% Student should receive more praise notes

20.00% 22.00%

Student wants more prizes 22.00%

Student did not receive deserved praise notes

20.00%

Items Teachers Parents Students

Students should be praised for appropriate classroom behavior. 100.00% 93.10% 98.50%

Praise notes should continue to be used next year. 81.80% 93.10% 92.20%

Praise notes help students improve their classroom behavior. 81.80% 82.30% 88.70%

Praise notes are an important way of communicating teacher expectations to students. 65.20% 91.50%

Praise notes help strengthen teachers' relationships with students. 65.20% 76.20%

Praise notes helped parents and children talk to each other about school. 79.60% 72.40%

Praise notes take too much time. 39.10%

Parents praise their child when praise notes are brought home. 95.00%

Praise notes improved parent’s relationship with their child's teacher. 61.90%

Students try to earn praise notes at school. 94.50%

The following trends were found based on quantitative and qualitative results:

Participants viewed praise notes positively:• All groups liked praise notes and the focus on positive behavior

Participants reported that praise notes improved:• Relationships, communication, and student behavior

Results suggested that praise notes are sustainable:• Teachers put in most of the effort, but still had positive perceptions and wanted praise noted to continue

*p ˂ .05. *** p ˂ .001. 

Stakeholder differences for overlapping Survey Items (N=429)

ItemTeacher Parent Student

F M (SD) M (SD) M (SD)

Praise notes help students improve their classroom behavior. 4.09 (0.68) 4.19 (0.84) 4.39 (0.86) 3.52*

Parents like it when their children receive praise notes. 3.52 (0.85) 4.57 (0.70) 4.62 (0.73) 24.43***

Students should be praised for appropriate classroom behavior. 4.83 (0.39) 4.59 (0.67) 4.73 (0.56) 10.90***

Praise notes are an important part of communication with parents. 3.09 (1.13) 3.92 (1.01) 13.52***

Praise notes are an important way of communicating teacher expectations to students. 4.00 (0.85) 4.59 (0.68) 14.64***

Students received enough praise notes this year. 3.99 (0.98) 3.75 (1.26) 4.31*

Differences were found based on quantitative and qualitative results:

• Parents and Students: Extremely positive views of praise notes• Teachers: Less aware of parents’ enthusiasm

• Parents: Praise notes helped improve home-school communication• Teachers: Less aware of improved communication

• Teachers: Some thought students became bored with praise notes• Parents and Students: Indicated praise notes remained motivating

Help teachers become more aware of others perceptions • Parents and students extremely positive about praise notes• Praise notes can help convey classroom expectations and

improve home-school communication

Improve praise note procedures• Create simple praise note forms• Make praise notes easily accessible to teachers• Provide teachers with parent and student feedback

Social Validity of Teacher-Written Praise NotesAngela Howell, B.S., School Psychology Ed.S. CandidatePaul Caldarella, Ph.D., Byran B. Korth, Ph.D., K. Richard Young, Ph.D.

Praise notes have been associated with decreases in:• Tardiness

• Social Withdrawal • Office Discipline Referrals (ODRs) • Disruptive Lunchroom Behavior

Social Validity• Interventions need to have social validity - Be accepted and viewed as important• Few studies have examined the social validity of praise

Introduction MethodParticipants• 23 teachers, 203 parents, and 203 students• Title I elementary school• School statistics:

Procedure• Social validity survey completed at end of school year• 5-point Likert rating scale• 13 items, 2 open-ended questions

What was most disliked about praise notes?

• 61% Hispanic Free and Reduced Price Lunch: 88%• 37% Caucasian English Language Learners: 53%• 2% Other

Sample Praise Note