Prevention in education focuses on proactively addressing potential problems before they escalate or become entrenched patterns. Maag (2017) explains, “The purpose of prevention is to reduce the future incidence of adjustment difficulties, academic skill deficits, and behavior problems.” Preventing problems from emerging is more effective and ethical than waiting to intervene until struggling students have fallen irreparably behind. The curriculum can be integral to this preventive approach if implemented intentionally and responsively. However, curricular demands that outpace students’ skills and resources can also trigger the problems prevention aims to avoid. Successful prevention requires careful curriculum alignment to students’ needs hierarchies while building the flexibility to differentiate instruction.
The curriculum contributes to students’ behavior challenges by failing to engage them as unique individuals. According to Maslow’s hierarchy, students will only be motivated to achieve academic goals once basic psychological needs for safety, belongingness, and esteem are met (McLeod, 2020). A rigid “one-size-fits-all” curriculum ignores these foundational needs, leading to boredom, frustration, and acting out. Curricula incorporating student interests, cultural backgrounds, creativity, and choice are inherently more engaging and preemptive of problems. Additionally, an inflexible pace or unrealistic expectations can set up struggling students to experience failure and negatively impact their self-concepts continually. By taking an individualized approach rooted in emotional safety and agency, the curriculum can foster self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation to learn instead.
Educators implementing preventive approaches ensure all students benefit from the curriculum through differentiation and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). As Blake and Krammer (2021) explain, differentiated instruction adapts “content, process, product, and learning environment” to diverse needs. Rather than expecting students to fit the curriculum, the curriculum fits each student. This includes presenting information in multiple ways, allowing choices in the expression of knowledge, and creating emotionally supportive classroom climates. Similarly, UDL builds options for “representation, action and expression, and engagement” into the curriculum so it is accessible to students across ability levels (Maag, 2017). Taking this inclusive design approach prevents students from developing behavioral issues borne of frustration, confusion, understimulation, or marginalization.
Targeted accommodations provide additional preventive support for students still struggling with the curriculum. Maag (2017) suggests accommodations be based on assessment data and consist of environmental adaptations, task modifications that maintain rigor, and direct skills training in deficit areas. For example, students below reading level might be permitted to use text-to-speech software to access grade-level content while receiving reading intervention instruction. Students lacking organizational skills could benefit from checklists, extended timelines, and frequent teacher feedback. The goal is to remove barriers while fostering skills so students can achieve legitimate curriculum goals, feeling empowered rather than defeated. Implemented judiciously on an individualized basis, such accommodations prevent students from acting out to escape situations exceeding their capacities.
Effective prevention starts with a curriculum designed to engage students’ higher needs in Maslow’s hierarchy before expecting academic achievement. Educators must differentiate instruction and offer accommodations to support students with legitimate learning differences. Taking this inclusive, student-centered approach prevents the alienation and frustration that often trigger behavioral issues in school. When the curriculum communicates safety, belonging, efficacy, and purpose, students become active partners in education, ready to realize their potential.
References
Blake, C., & Krammer, H. (2021). Differentiated instruction for social and emotional learning. Educational Leadership, 78(8), 14–20.
Maag, J. W. (2017). Behavior management: From theoretical implications to practical applications (3rd ed.). Cengage Learning.
McLeod, S. (2020). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
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