A clip chart is the version most children meet first: a card on the wall, every name on a peg, and the peg moves up or down through green, yellow and red as the day goes on. It is the most common behavior system in primary schools and it is the one teachers most often quietly abandon.
What it actually publishes
The chart's stated job is to guide behavior. Its actual output is a public league table, updated live, in front of the audience whose opinion matters most to a seven-year-old. That changes what the numbers mean.
| Child | What the chart is for | What it does instead |
|---|---|---|
| The one who is always on green | Recognition | Nothing new. They were going to do it anyway |
| The one who is usually fine | A nudge | Anxiety about the peg rather than about the work |
| The one who is often on red | Correction | A label, said out loud, every day, in front of everyone |
The child the chart is aimed at is the one it teaches the least. By about the third week, being the red one has stopped being news and started being an identity, and an identity is not a thing you try your way out of.
The part that carries over to home
Two things break a chart, and a clip chart has both. It goes down, so the score is losable and a losable score is safer to protect than to risk. And it is visible to other people, so a bad morning is not private.
You can keep a home chart clear of both without much effort. Nothing comes off, and nobody but the two of you sees it. That is most of the difference between a chart that is still going in March and one that is behind the microwave.