PBIS

(b) The data for this study came from a sample of 6,988 children enrolled at 21 elementary schools that participated in a randomized trial of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS). This trial specifically included data on instances of

It is hard to clearly define PBIS because is a framework or practicum to help manage student behavior and assist in further prevention of unacceptable behavior like violence or uncheck disrespect. PBIS is an acronym for “Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports. Congress began to introduce practices for behaviorism before more evidence-driven approaches like PBIS. Fixing the preexisting Individuals with Disabilities Education Act both in 1997 and in 2004, Congress recognized the potential of PBIS to prevent exclusion and improve educational results (Marzano n.d.). This is now one of the soundest bases for managing student behavior in the school-wide basis.

One of the main strategies to meet this goal is the PBIS implementation. According to the PBIS committee leader at Flat Rock Middle School, PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Intervention and Support. It is a proactive and social culture strategy and needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional, and academic success. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining primary, secondary, and tertiary systems of support that improve the lifestyle results (personal health, social, family, work, recreation) for all youth by making targeted misbehavior less effective, efficient, relevant, and desired behavior more functional. Even though, PBIS has made a positive impact on the percentage of disciplinary incidents within the school.

Welcome parents and student to Franklin County Elementary. Our superintendent of education has recently decided to implement a school wide positive behavior support. This approach to discipline includes school-wide, targeted, and individualized strategies for achieving social and learning outcomes while preventing problem behavior with all students. It involves modifying our processes and procedures to help decrease problem behaviors. You will see that we have added reminders throughout the school (in the classrooms, hallways, lunchroom, bathrooms, etc.) as a friendly reminder of the rules to encourage good behavior. Our goal is to get more remarks for positive behavior than incident reports for negative behavior every week. The remainder of this paper will outline our School Wide Positive Behavior Support, explaining behavior expectations, rewards, error correction procedures, and data collection procedures.

The public schools of the United States, despite their proud past, are currently experiencing many difficulties. They seem to be under constant scrutiny and pressure to produce higher academic achievement and at the same time are being criticized by large segments of society. It is no secret that the environment which students experience in the public schools has changed greatly over the past twenty to thirty years, but there are many possible reasons for this; most of these explanations do not place the blame squarely on the schools themselves. Public schools are responsible for one thing, however, and that is the manner in which they react to the changes that take place. Prompted by increased discipline problems within school halls,

The PBIS framework provides behavior supports through essential strategies that enhance academics and social outcomes in schools, (Responsive Classroom and PBIS Can Schools Use Them Together, n.d). According to the Office of Special Education Programs Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, OSEP TA Center on PBIS (2013) it is reported that school-wide PBIS has been implemented in 50 states and over 19,000 schools across the United States. Hence, the PBIS framework is a structure that provides a strong foundation in positive discipline. Using positive discipline and positive reinforcement centers the attention on desired outcomes and redirection. Some of the strategies include a focus on skill teaching, the use of positive statements through respectful practices, data-based decision making and the implementation of three tiers of positive behavior support to meet the variety of student needs. Tier one is intended to support all students in all situations (Responsive Classroom and PBIS Can Schools Use Them Together, n.d). This is done through the use of common language, positive reinforcements, frequent verbal connections of behavior to expectation, morning and closing classroom meetings, logical consequences and problem-solving

We have an organized system in place through PBIS to address behavior. However, we feel there are small areas that need to be adjusted to improve our learning environment. According to our SWISS data, our number of minor and major behavior referrals has been declining. However, we realize that a majority of the referrals being reported are from repeat students. We feel that we are not properly equipped to deal with specific behaviors. Each month, grade level PBIS representatives meet with the teachers of students who have at least two minor or major referrals. The students’ disruptive behavior and what the classroom teacher’s behavioral interventions are discussed. The grade level PBIS representative then reports back to the school level PBIS committee. In this committee, they discuss the students and the offenses, if the students are on RTI tier 2 or 3 for behavior, and ideas of how to help the students. The school level PBIS team provides support as needed to individual classroom teachers. However, information from the school level PBIS committee meeting is not consistently shared with other school staff members involved with these specific students. This will allow faculty members to work together as a team to improve students’ behavior. Many positive rewards are being given to the students with behavioral issues, when they choose to make the

How should an educator deal with behavioral disturbances? “Effects of Positive Unified Behavior Support on Instruction,” written by Scott, White, Algozzine and Algozzine (2009) discussed this topic. The article discussed teachers use of Positive Behavior Support, PBS, as a means to help minimize behavior problems, as well as improve social and learning outcomes.

Response to Intervention (RtI) is an academic framework that has been adopted by school districts across the country to help create a structure in which all students receiving the supports they need to be successful in school. The RtI Action Network defines RtI as “a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs.” (http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti) An RtI framework addresses both academic concerns and behavior concerns. The behavior framework of RtI is often called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports or PBIS. RtI has three tiers in which to address the academic and behavioral needs of all students. Tier 1 consists of high quality instruction to all students, including differentiation, and subsequent screening of all students to determine who is in need of further support. Tier 2 are targeted interventions for those students who are screened and it has been determined these students are in need of greater support than what is provided in Tier 1 alone. Tier 3 consists of intensive interventions for those students who have shown little or no progress with tier 2 interventions and school personnel have determined the student needs more intense and individualized support. As a school counselor I will be very involved with both RtI Academics and PBIS as a framework to work with all students and determine the level of support each individual student will need.

As educators is it important for us to teach necessary skills for our students to thrive in society and our curriculum should be based on these skills. In my current position I implement Positive Behavior Support Plans (PBIS) in schools, by having PBIS I feel we are teaching student’s the specific skills they need to be successful and helping teachers reflect on the positives. We have to strive to provide our students with skills that will not only enable them to obtain a career but also develop the skill in maintaining their career; we must also instill a sense of human decency, compassion, acceptance, respect, and global awareness. PBIS will help students know specific expectations and learn and understand that in life we have specific guidelines that we need to learn in order to receive the rewards of success.

There seems to be more challenges associated with PBIS implementation at the high school level. When implementing PBIS in high schools the following contextual influences need to be taken into consideration; the culture and size of the school, and the developmental level. Research also shows that for high schools to be successful in PBIS they must focus on data, leadership, and communication. These systems will impact weather or not high schools can successfully implement PBIS (Flannery, Frank, Cato, Doren, & Fenning, 2013).

A “problem behavior” is any behavior that disrupts learning in the class or poses a threat to the student or any student’s physical, emotional, or mental well-being. Such a behavior can manifest in the classroom physically and/or verbally. Behaviors should be addressed based on severity with immediate threats to any student’s physical safety attended to right away. Following the Positive Behavior Support Plan, students’ behaviors should be addressed on first on Tier 1, a universal level with standard classroom rules and consequences to address all students behaviors, and if behavior is not addressed with universally support, provide more comprehensive support under Tier 2 including reevaluating classroom management and content to ensure appropriateness for the student’s developmental and skill level. If a student’s behavior is not extinguished or improved through Tiers 1&2 intervention, extensive individualized support is provided under Tier 3 in which an Individualized Education Plan is created and a Functional Behavioral Assessment is conducted.

Creating and maintaining effective environments for student learning can be a highly difficult task for classroom teachers in moderate to severe special education classrooms. When you have students of various levels of academics, social skills and behavior needs it is challenging to know where to start and where to begin in creating a behavior management system. During my time at Brandman we focused a lot on how to create a positive classroom culture and how to create effective classroom environments. I had opportunities at Brandman to learn to create individual behavior plans and how to track student behaviors while targeting specific behavior and social skills goals. It is my personal belief that students learn best by having a positive environment where they are able to feel supported, respected and safe. The demographic of my student population also creates a large need for my students to have structure and feel safe as they do not always get that support outside of the classroom. For many our school and classroom is their safe place where they receive the attention that they need and deserve. Through my classes at Brandman I learned that establishing clear behavioral expectations, reinforcing positive behaviors, and creating routines and procedures for structure and safety, you will then establish a classroom environment where students can reach their highest potentials and will thrive in a secure safe environment. I always base our classroom goals from our school motto

The purpose of this study was to explore the links between implementation of School-wide positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) and (1) academic, (2) attendance, and (3) behavior outcomes in 883 high schools (Freeman, et al., 2016).

Since the 1970’s the concept of special or exceptional education has improved exponentially. New rules and laws have been created to offer the same opportunities to students with special needs as students in general education classrooms. With the advancement of technology and more specific training for special education teachers, a student and his/her family can now look forward to a more equal opportune education and positive behavior modifications. Methods in which the school system implements behavior based interventions and reward systems can determine the success of the students system wide. Therefore, a dependable, transportable, and systemic program must be applied (Sugai, 2014).