ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF SCHOOLS USING POSITIVE

BEHAVIOR SUPPORTBrief Faculty Introduction

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School-widePositive Behavior Support

• The application of evidence-based strategies and systems to assist schools to increase academic performance, increase safety, decrease problem behavior, and establish positive school cultures.

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School-wide PBS• A collaborative, assessment-based process to

developing effective interventions for problem behavior

• Emphasizes the use of proactive, educative, and reinforcement-based strategies to achieve meaningful and durable behavior and lifestyle outcomes

• Aim is to build functional, effective environments in which appropriate behavior is more effective than problem behavior

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Levels of PBSAdapted from Levels and Descriptions of Behavior Support

(George, Harrower, & Knoster, 2003)

• School-wide/Universal – intended for all students and staff in all settings across campus

• Classroom –school-wide expectations for student behavior coupled with pre-planned strategies for classrooms setting

• Target Group –addresses behavioral issues of groups of students with similar problem behavior or behaviors that seem to occur for the same reasons (i.e. attention seeking, escape)

• Individual Student –school-wide expectations for student behavior coupled with team-based strategies to address problematic behaviors of individual students

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The PBS Team• Approx. 6-8 participants form the PBS team• Representative of all faculty on campus• At least one administrator serves on the team• These team members will assist your school in

implementing and maintaining PBS efforts• The team will meet monthly to go over data

and plan PBS activities and action plans • The team will share discipline data with the

staff and ask for staff input on PBS efforts

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The PBS Team

• PBS Team Introductions

– Who are you?– What is your role on the PBS Team?– What is your personal goal for PBS this year?

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What will PBS look likein our school?

• Data will be used to help track progress and identify areas to target for intervention

• Discipline referral Processes & Procedures will be Consistent throughout the school

• The school will develop and use school-wide Expectations & Rules in settings across campus to Teach students appropriate behavior

• A Reward System will be used to encourage and model appropriate behavior and Effective Consequences will be developed and used to discourage inappropriate behavior.

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“If a child doesn’t know how to read, we teach.”

“If a child doesn’t know how to swim, we teach.”

“If a child doesn’t know how to multiply, we teach.”

“If a child doesn’t know how to drive, we teach.”

“If a child doesn’t know how to behave, we……teach? …punish?”

“Why can’t we finish the last sentence as automatically as we do the others?”

(Herner, 1998)

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How Do Schools TypicallyRespond to Problem Behavior?

• Reactive/Consequence Strategies• Office referral, detention, suspensions, etc.• Consequences will not teach the “right way”• Consequences may actually reinforce the

behavior of concern• Restrictive and segregated settings• Individual counseling and therapy• Implement packaged programs

Impact of School-Wide PBS

80%

10-15%

1-5%

School-wide PBS should be effective for 80% of your students A small percentage of

students will still need targeted, classroom or individual supports

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What About the Top 20%• School-Wide PBS is the first step in the process• For the top 20%, the “high flyers” your next

steps would be…• Targeted Group PBS

• Classroom PBS

• Individual Student PBS

• These Next Steps interventions are available to you after SWPBS is fully implemented

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How Will theDATA Make a Difference?

• Easy to read and interpret (graphs)• Discipline data will be reviewed monthly by the PBS

Team and shared with staff• Helps to quickly identify problem areas in need of

change• Working Smarter, not Harder

• Helps to identify what is working well • Celebrate success

• Lets us know if our interventions are working

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School Months

Office Referrals per Day per MonthLast year

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Types of Problem Behavior

Referrals per Problem Behavior

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School Locations

Referrals by Location

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Students

Referrals per Student

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7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30

Time of Day

Referrals by Time of Day

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Do We Need PBS•Is there an active school-wide behavior management program in place? If so, is it working?•Is there a high rate of positive feedback to our students? 4 positives to 1 negative? •Are consequences based on school rules and are they delivered consistently across campus?•Does our school have a high rate of office discipline •referrals? Is there room for improvement?•Do staff anticipate problems and intervene early?•Is behavior taking away from your teaching time?

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Time Cost of a Discipline Referral(45 minutes per incident)

3000 Hours1500 HoursTotals

1500 Hours750 HoursStudent Time

500 Hours250 HoursTeacher Time

1000 Hours500 HoursAdministrator Time

2000 Referrals/yr1000 Referrals/yr

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Questions for Individual Staff

• Am I open to change in order to reach academic and behavior goals?

• Am I committed to learning new strategies and participating in implementing them across campus?

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Staff Survey

• Do you want to decrease office discipline referrals?

• Do you believe our school would benefit from PBS?

• Do you agree to be an active participant in school-wide PBS implementation?

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Contact Information

– Heather Peshak George, Ph.D.• Project Co-PI & Coordinator

– Florida PBS Project • Phone: 813-974-6440• Email: flpbs@fmhi.usf.edu• Website: http://flpbs.fmhi.usf.edu

– OSEP Center on PBIS• Website: http://www.pbis.org