Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS)

What is PBIS?

Positive behavior interventions and support is a system that is developed by a school for improving student behavior.

It is used:

• with all students across all environments in school (classroom, lunchroom, restroom, all school grounds)
• to help schools to create effective learning environments

Why does a school choose to use PBIS?

Schools that implement school-wide positive behavior interventions and support are schools that are interested in:

• Identifying and teaching expected student behaviors.
• Finding ways to reinforce and reward those behaviors.
• Enforcing consistent meaningful consequences when violations occur.
• PBIS is a planned way to meet the behavioral needs of students in a school. Parents are important in the success of PBIS, and many choose to use a similar system at home. PBIS consists of three steps:

Step 1: Identify and Teach Expected Behavior

• Identify expectations across all environments, particularly those areas where data supports there are improvements needed.
• Provide examples of what behaviors are expected, including for the cafeteria, bus, and social     areas such as the gym or playground/ball field.
• Post the expectations throughout the building.

Teaching the behavioral expectations means that the school PBIS team must identify what the expectations are in different locations across the school day. The team will develop a teaching matrix of the behaviors expected. Behavioral expectations will be different in different environments.

Step 2: Positively Reinforce and Reward Expected Behaviors

When students meet school-wide expectations, school staff will note their success with positive reinforcement. This might include praise, punch cards, coupons, or another system that can be used for student incentives. It might include weekly drawings for rewards, special privileges, or recognition during student assemblies. All staff (principal, teachers, lunchroom staff, bus drivers, librarians, janitor, etc.) would use the system.

Step 3: Enforce Meaningful Consequences for Violations

In addition to teaching and rewarding positive behaviors, the school will identify a consistent way to respond to problem behavior when it occurs. This will help everyone to know what behaviors violate the expectations. Problem behaviors typically fall under the categories of minor or major problems.

• Minor behaviors are dealt with by building staff or the classroom teacher
• Major violations are managed by administrative staff.

Levels of School-Wide Support

Schools that use PBIS create and maintain supports to meet the needs of all students. These supports are based on the understanding that specific behaviors need to be taught, not just expected. However, even with PBIS in place, about 5-10% of students will need additional support to be successful. A continuum of support is described below.

1. Universal systems of support (school-wide behavior support): Behavioral support is provided for ALL students throughout the school. These supports might include:
   • Social skills instruction
   • Positive discipline that is proactive
   • Behavior expectations that are taught
   • Active supervision and monitoring
   • Fair and corrective discipline
   • Parent collaboration

2. Small group systems of support: This level of support provides additional help for 10-15% of students who need more support. Interventions are more intensive and are for a smaller number of students. They are often provided in small groups, and include:
   • Social skills groups
   • Conflict resolution
   • Self-management programs
   • Adult mentors (checking in)
   • Small group instruction

3. Targeted systems of support (focused on the individual child): Intensive, individual supports for a few students with problem behaviors. These supports are used when universal and group/classroom supports are not effective in teaching behavioral skills in all settings. About 5% of students need this more intensive level of support. It might include:
   • Individual academic support
   • Intensive social skills instruction
   • Functional behavior assessments (FBA)
   • Behavior intervention plans (BIP)
   • Supervision and monitoring
   • Interagency collaboration  
   • Intensive collaboration with family
   • Intensive family-based interventions, when appropriate

Family Involvement in PBIS

Teaching a behavior that schools expect to see works best when there is consistency across home and school settings. When a student has challenging behavior at school, a strong partnership between the school and family is important. Family involvement is a key feature when developing positive behavior support plans for students with special needs. Positive behavioral interventions and support is a school-wide approach to helping all students learn to self-manage behaviors. However, parent involvement is really important in all aspects of PBIS. When parents are involved, outcomes for children are better.