What do PBIS schools experience?
“When schools take the the time to develop
sustainable systems to support Positive Behavior
Intervention
and Supports
practices, we
have found
that they can
effectively
modify or
completely
change their
approach to
school-wide discipline, which impacts the
learning opportunities for all students in the
school,” says Jerome Schaefer, a positive behavior supports consultant at Northwest AEA, who
has helped many schools change their climates
with this model.
“The less time teachers and administrators have
to deal with behavioral issues, the more time
they have to teach, and the less students are
disrupting the classroom or sent out of classrooms for behavioral issues, the more time they
have to be engaged in learning.”
At the West Sioux Elementary Schools in
Ireton and Hawarden, elementary
principal Ryan Kramer says since
implementing School-Wide PBIS, referrals
to the principal’s office have dropped by
75 percent over a three-year period.
To learn more about PBIS, contact:
Jerome Schaefer at Northwest AEA
800/352-9040 ext. 6338 or 712/222-6338
[email protected]
Northwest AEA
Sioux City Office (Administration)
1520 Morningside Ave.
Sioux City, IA 51106
800/352-9040
Sioux Center Office
1382 4th Ave., NE
Sioux Center, IA 51250
800/572-5073
Battle Creek Service Center
600 Chestnut
Battle Creek, IA 51006
888/472-6052
Positive Behavior and
Intervention Supports
Cherokee Service Center
2020 Hwy 3 Bypass
P.O. Box 202
Cherokee, IA 51012
888/472-6036
Denison Service Center
2008 Hwy 59 S.
Denison, IA 51442
888/472-6050
Le Mars Service Center
940 Lincoln St., SW, Ste. 300
LeMars, IA 51031
888/472-6054
Onawa Service Center
801 10th St., Ste. A
Onawa, IA 51040
888/472-6037
Northwest Area Education Agency does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national
origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation,
gender identity, disability, veteran status or as otherwise
prohibited by law in its educational programs, services
and employment practices. Questions or grievances
related to this policy may be addressed to: Sally Hudek,
Equity Coordinator, 1520 Morningside Ave., Sioux City,
IA 51106-1716, 712/222-6114.
Creating and sustaining a
positive school climate
www.nwaea.k12.ia.us
800/352-9040 ext. 6338
712/222-6338
What is Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports?
Why Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports?
Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) is a system for creating and sustaining a positive
school climate by achieving important social and learning outcomes. Extensive research shows that
school-wide PBIS is largely accepted by educators, and it dramatically decreases the number of office
referrals within a school. Typically, the number of discipline referrals to the principal’s office is reduced
by half in the first year of PBIS implementation and then shows further decreases over subsequent years.
Research is also beginning to link reading proficiency to PBIS, suggesting that schools that are implementing PBIS also see increases in the number of students who are reading at levels considered proficient.
Implementation of PBIS enables schools to:
[
1. establish a positive behavioral culture in which all students can experience success;
2. reduce behavioral disruptions in the school; and
3. create a safe and effective learning environment to enhance student achievement.
]
How does PBIS do this?
• clearly defining the behaviors expected of students in all school settings;
• actively teaching students the expected behaviors and purposefully modeling expectations;
• using a system to acknowledge students’ appropriate behavior with tangible and natural reinforcers;
• establishing consequences for disruptive behaviors that are consistent across school settings;
• providing additional support for students with more intensive social and behavioral needs; and
• using a data collection system to help guide decision-making regarding issues of discipline.
Who serves on the local PBIS Leadership Team?
The first commitment to becoming a PBIS school is to develop a local PBIS leadership team.The local
PBIS Leadership Team consists of a school administrator, an internal coach, representatives of school staff
(teachers and support staff), an external coach (identified by the AEA), and non-staff parent(s). Teams can
also include community members and, where appropriate, schools are encouraged to include students on
the team or develop a PBIS Youth Leadership Team. The local PBIS Leadership Team members share the
information from trainings with the rest of the school staff, students and community members.
What kind of training training do the teams receive?
The local PBIS Leadership Team is trained over a three-year period using curriculum developed at the
Office of Special Education Program’s Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions
and Supports at the University of Oregon, along with material provided through the Iowa Department
of Education. Training is provided to guide teams in the implementation process focusing on developing
school-wide, or universal level, supports; targeted level supports for at-risk students; and intensive supports for students with chronic and complex social, emotional and behavioral needs. Through this process,
schools learn to think about behavior in a new way, based on why problem behaviors occur.
What do PBIS schools do differently?
PBIS schools:
• state behavioral expectations positively.
teach behavioral expectations throughout
the school year.
• monitor
and acknowledge
students
frequently
for engaging in
appropriate
behavior.
• provide
consistent consequences for
negative/disruptive behaviors.
• use data as a means to gather information
to guide decision making and to more
efficiently problem solve.
• develop a continuum of behavioral
supports to address the needs of all students.
“Positive Behavior Supports helped us
realize that we need to acknowledge more
of the wonderful things our faculty and
students are doing on a daily basis in our
building. By acknowledging students and
faculty more, our discipline referrals have
been drastically reduced because they are
excited to receive positive acknowledgement.”
— Brenda Ferrie, principal
Bishop Heelan Sacred Heart School