Student achievement is one of the most important aspects of school life. With the rise in current standards and the pace to which teachers and students are expected to conduct their lessons, teachers must find ways to improve student behaviors by nonpunitive discipline techniques. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a form of classroom management that focuses on the good behavior rather than the bad behavior. A rural school in Mississippi took on such an initiative by implementing PBIS as a schoolwide discipline management plan after the 2011-2012 school year. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of the implementation of PBIS on the number of discipline referrals and conduct trend analysis of the number of discipline referrals after the schoolwide implementation of PBIS. Further, the study sought to determine if there were statistically significant relationships between the number of discipline referrals and English language arts score and the number of discipline referrals and mathematics scores. An existing database from a rural school in Mississippi was compiled and analyzed for the purpose of the study. Data were analyzed for a year before PBIS implementation and seven years following PBIS implementation. The findings of the study indicated there was a statistically significant difference in the number of discipline referrals before PBIS implementation when compared to the first year following full implementation. The trend data indicated that Black males consistently had the highest number of discipline referrals and had the lowest test scores in ELA and mathematics. Further, the findings showed there were consistently negative relationships among the number of discipline referrals and ELA scores and the number of discipline referrals and mathematics scores.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify critical incidents that helped or hindered the sustainment of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in schools with five years or more of implementation in one school division. This study highlighted information related to PBIS because of its comprehensive approach to school discipline. The research sought to answer the following questions: 1. What critical incidents do building-based leadership team members indicate have helped the sustainment of PBIS? 2. What critical incidents do building-based leadership team members indicate have hindered the sustainment of PBIS? Participants of this study included one representative from five different building-based PBIS leadership teams from a school division in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Data were collected and analyzed to determine the building-based PBIS leadership team member's perception of what constituted the sustainment of PBIS, connection between a school's Tiered Fidelity Inventory score and sustainment, key components of implementing PBIS with fidelity, importance of implementing PBIS with fidelity, most challenging sustainable elements of fidelity, and least challenging sustainable elements of PBIS. This research will further contribute to the existing body of literature through a thorough description of critical incidents that have helped or hindered the sustainment of PBIS. Matthews, McIntosh, Frank, and May (2013) stated fidelity is the degree to which a new initiative is delivered as intended in order for PBIS to be sustained. The research identified a need for establishing a stronger understanding of core components of fidelity, establishment of a leadership team, staff buy-in, data driven decisions, and building capacity. Participants also indicated the essentialness of consistency in establishing and utilizing school-wide expectations. Leadership team members emphasized the importance of administrative support from initial stages of implementation through sustainment. In addition, the study found resources to be a vital component to the reward system of PBIS. Participants discussed struggles they endured without proper resources. Ongoing training was also designated as a critical component of sustaining PBIS. Participants similarly indicated the consistent use of data was essential to setting goals and action planning. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify critical incidents that helped or hindered the sustainment of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in schools with five years or more of implementation in one school division. For purposes of this study, critical incidents are those key factors – both positive or negative – that impact the sustainment of PBIS. Educators often times adopt new practices that fail because the root of the concerns were never identified and addressed. PBIS' comprehensive approach to behavior adds value to the school climate, however, there is not much research about sustaining PBIS. The researcher sought to identify these incidents as a means of helping educators sustain PBIS beyond a five-year period. The data from this study could be used to develop guidelines for sustaining PBIS. The researcher interviewed one building-based leadership team member from five different schools to gain an understanding of what constituted sustaining PBIS, key components of fidelity, purpose of the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) score, and challenges of implementing PBIS with fidelity. This study sought to answer the following research questions: 1. What critical incidents do building-based leadership team members indicate have helped the sustainment of PBIS? 2. What critical incidents do building-based leadership team members indicate have hindered the sustainment of PBIS? Participants of this study included one representative from five different building-based PBIS leadership teams from a school division in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Data were collected and analyzed to determine building-based PBIS leadership team members' perception of what constituted the sustainment of PBIS, connection between a school's TFI score and sustainment, key components of implementing PBIS with fidelity, importance of implementing PBIS with fidelity, most challenging sustainable elements of fidelity, and least challenging sustainable elements of PBIS. The TFI is an assessment tool used to determine the level of fidelity school personnel are applying the core features of PBIS (VTSS, 2018). This research will further contribute to the existing body of literature through a thorough description of critical incidents that have helped or hindered the sustainment of PBIS. Matthews et al. (2013) stated fidelity is the degree to which a new initiative is delivered as intended in order for PBIS to be sustained. This research found a stronger understanding of core components of fidelity needed to be established. Participants also indicated the essentialness of consistency in establishing and utilizing school-wide expectations. Leadership team members emphasized the importance of administrative support from initial stages of implementation through sustainment. In addition, this study found resources to be a vital component to the reward system of PBIS. Participants discussed struggles they endured without proper resources. Continuous training was also designated as critical component of sustaining PBIS. Participants similarly indicated consistent use of data was essential to setting goals and action planning. These identified critical incidents could be used to create guidelines to help educators sustain PBIS beyond a five-year period.

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The purpose of this study was to explore specific activities school psychologists performed related to both testing and placing within a medical model and prevention within a public health model. Spurred by landmark legal mandates, school districts are moving toward preventative practice within a framework consistent with tenets of a public health model or Response to Intervention (RtI) framework. These activities are counter to traditional test-and-place activities performed by school psychologists associated with a medical model of service delivery. School psychologists assigned to 41 elementary schools in the northwest corner of Oregon completed a survey that included activities associated with testing-and-placing students typified by a medical model and those activities akin to a public health model. All schools participating in this study implemented Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). PBIS is a widely implemented evidence-based practice in education that emphasizes prevention, and is a reflection of RtI or the public health model. Although PBIS was a common denominator across all schools, there were differences in overall implementation effectiveness as measured by the School-wide Evaluation Tool (SET). This study investigated the degree to which activities performed by school psychologists impacted PBIS implementation in their buildings. School psychologists estimated the frequency devoted to these activities. Frequency served as a proxy for priority and also defined the service models that guided their practices. In addition to this descriptive statistical analysis, inferential statistics were used to measure the correlation between the School Psychologist Survey, the SET-General Index scores, and the SET-Behavior Expectations Index scores. A multiple-regression analysis was also conducted to determine which variable (i.e., SET-General Index or SET-Behavior Expectations Index) was the best predictor of outcome data from the School Psychologist Survey. These data were also entered into scatterplots to provide interpretations of meaningful statistical significance for an in-depth analysis of the School Psychologist Survey, SET-General Index, and SET-Behavior Index scores. This study is important because it potentially provides school psychologists with specific preventative activities they can perform within a public health model of service delivery to make contributions for improving the overall school environment for students.

Multi-tiered systems of behavioral support are a promising approach for schools looking to maximize their resources while at the same time ensuring that every student's social and behavioral needs are being met. A commonly used Tier II intervention is Check-in/Check-out (CICO), wherein students check in with an adult before and after school and then receive feedback from their teachers throughout the day using a point card. Although CICO has been well supported through previous research, the intervention does require a fair amount of teacher time after each class period, and it also leaves students entirely reliant on the teacher for feedback regarding their behavioral performance throughout the day. The current study therefore examined the effectiveness and feasibility of integrating self-monitoring into CICO, called Student-Guided CICO (SG-CICO). Three elementary students were taught how to self-monitor their behavior after each class and then compare their ratings to those provided by the teacher. Teacher accuracy checks were faded back once students became consistently accurate with their self-ratings. An ABABC single subject design was used to evaluate the effect SG-CICO had on each participant's on-task and disruptive behavior. Each participant displayed (to varying degrees) increased on-task responding and reductions in disruptive behavior following implementation of SG-CICO. Students reported enjoying their participation in SG-CICO, however the acceptability of SG-CICO was met with mixed reactions from staff. Conceptual implications of these results along with a description of study limitations and directions for future research are provided.

The purpose of this grant proposal is to develop a toolkit to support school teams in the development and implementation of culturally responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). The toolkit is necessary to help school teams address lingering disparities in discipline and to improve school climate. Exclusionary discipline, such as out of school suspensions and expulsion, disproportionately affects ethnically and racially diverse students, and has a devastating effect on student outcomes, including academic achievement, attendance, and graduation. Ethnically and racially diverse students are also more likely to be given a disciplinary consequence for behaviors that require a subjective interpretation of the student’s behavior, which can be influenced by implicit bias. In schools that have implemented PBIS, exclusionary discipline has been shown to decrease overall, but disproportionate discipline persists. The development of a culturally responsive toolkit will support the efforts of school PBIS teams to decrease disproportionate discipline outcomes. The toolkit will assist school teams with the cultural adaptation of core features of PBIS by providing a process for addressing contextual fit of the school and soliciting feedback from the school community. The methodological approach for this project includes both qualitative and quantitative processes. An expert panel will be convened to address the complexities of implementation and cultural adaptation within the context of PBIS. The culturally responsive PBIS toolkit will consist of a comprehensive series of recommended practices, contextual considerations, evaluation tools, and resources, to be used concurrently with analysis of schoolwide data. The toolkit will be piloted in schools in the Pacific Northwest and then disseminated.

Residential care has evolved overtime from a system of supporting indigent children to care for those youth with mental health, behavioral, or medical disability diagnoses. Currently, in the United States there are 57k children involved in the child welfare system with approximately 14% residing in residential care. These systems have a long history of utilizing punishment-based, coercive techniques for managing problem behavior. Although these methods are thought to be further traumatizing for youth who have already been traumatized throughout their lives, the punishment-based techniques are ubiquitous throughout residential care. This study sought to evaluate the feasibility of adopting the School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) model to residential care for youth involved with the Florida child welfare system. During this study, two cottages at the facility met high PBIS fidelity and experienced a decrease in reported inappropriate behavior across daily behavior scores and incident reports. The results are promising and suggest PBIS can be adopted and implemented within residential facilities. Limitations and future research is discussed.

No description available.

This qualitative study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) on students with Behavior Intervention Plans. This study used qualitative research methods to obtain the perspectives of teachers who had implemented PBIS on students with behavior plans. The study relied on semi-structured interviews using questions established by the researcher. The results of the study indicate that most of the teachers interviewed feel that PBIS is effective for students with PBIS because it acts as a motivational tool, gives students something to work towards, decreases negative behaviors, and increases positive behaviors. Additionally, the study indicates that teachers believe PBIS effectively reduces behavior infractions in the classroom.

No description available.