Turning Peer Pressure into Model Behavior

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First Lady and former schoolteacher Laura Bush is getting tough on youth violence. She recently became head of the $150 million "Helping America?s Youth" initiative, as announced by her husband during his State of the Union address. She got off to a quick start last week, visiting Baltimore's George Washington Elementary School. Her visit provided some good PR for the "Good Behavior Game," a simple but effective model used by the school for improving children's behavior in the classroom. Children are divided into teams to complete an exercise, and any child who acts out earns the entire team a check mark for bad behavior. "This team-based structure uses peer encouragement to help children follow rules and learn how to be good students," Bush said. "The students quickly learn their success is tied to their team."