Positive Behavioral Intervention & Supports
What is PBIS?
Philosophy:
PBIS is a team based, systematic approach in teaching behavioral expectations throughout the school. It is based on a proactive model which teaches the behaviors, reinforces and recognizes students who are able to model these behaviors and has systems in place to support students who have a difficult time or may present with more challenging behaviors. The team approach is what truly makes this system work. We really need every family’s support to help our school community be successful.
Approach:
Instead of using a group of mismatched individual behavioral management plans, we have moved to a school-wide discipline system that addresses the entire school, the classroom, areas outside the classroom ( such as hallways, restrooms, office, cafeteria, gym, busses, school grounds etc.)
Every person who works in the school is aware of the behavioral expectations and works to ensure all students are consistently getting the same message, regardless of the setting they are in or the adult they come in contact with.
Our faculty and staff have been developing a more positive approach to the school environment by defining, teaching, monitoring and rewarding positive behavior, while still holding students accountable for their actions.
Implementation Plan:
DCMS began working to implement PBIS in 2010 with the selection of our character pillars. The faculty, students and staff voted on the three characteristics we wanted as our focus. A team of teachers and staff were trained and in turn trained the remaining staff. The process has been a positive journey.
We are very proud of our progress but keep working to improve our success. In order to accomplish this task, several components are in place.
They are as follows:
- Behavioral Expectations are Defined. A small number of clearly defined behavioral expectations are simply stated in positive terms on our Matrix. Behavior Expectations are posted in all classrooms, hallways, restrooms, cafeteria, gym and outdoor campus areas.
- Behavioral Expectations are Taught. Behavioral Expectations are defined for each setting on campus. The behaviors are taught to all students in the school through direct teaching with the help of our staff.
- Appropriate Behaviors are Acknowledged. Once appropriate behaviors have been defined and taught, they are acknowledged in various ways on a regular basis.
Examples: Lion Loot, P-200 hundred Club, Cafeteria Drawings. - Data Collection: Campus Discipline data is collected on school-wide behavior and a team reviews the data regularly to determine when and where the problems are occurring. The committee then brainstorms ways to proactively address the problems and to re-teach and reinforce positive behaviors.
- Individual Support is Provided for Students NOT Responding to the School-Wide System: Our campus and district operates on a 3-Tier System of Supports. Each Tier has specific behavioral adjustment plans in place.
- Active Support by ALL Stakeholders: The entire school community is needed to be actively involved in order to make the system successful. PBIS is a districtwide system for establishing a positive culture on each campus.
Benefits of PBIS (researched based):
- Increases attendance
- Student self-reports of a more positive and calm environment
- Teachers reports of a more positive and calm environment
- Reduction in the proportion of students who engage in behavioral disruptions
- Reduction in the number of behavioral office referrals
The PBIS Process
Establish Commitment and Maintain Team
Establish a PBIS Leadership Team with strong administrative support and school-wide representation on the team. Team attends all trainings. Get a school-wide agreement and support. 80% staff buy-in is needed to be a successful PBIS school.
Where We Are:
We have an established PBIS team of teachers, staff, PTO parents and students. All faculty and staff have been trained as well as current students.
Establish An On-Going System of Reward
Acknowledge expected behavior and use tangible rewards and acknowledgements (Lion Loot) and social recognition (i.e. bulletin boards, name in newsletter, on announcements or marquee).
Where We Are:
DCMS has several ways for students to be recognized and they all begin with Lion Loot. Students are rewarded weekly through drawings in the cafeteria and on morning announcements. The Principal’s 200 club, quarterly drawings and the yearend assembly are several other methods of positive recognition.
Establish System For Responding to Behavioral Challenges
- Develop an agreement for which behaviors are handled in the classroom and which result in an Office Referral
- Use verbal redirections, teacher consequences, and/or office referral.
- Use pre-correction and restatement of expected behaviors.
Where We Are:
Teachers administer consequences for classroom infractions and reteach the behavior. Teachers may also issue a Behavior Adjustment Form which states the infraction and requires parent contact and signature. For more intense or chronic behaviors, office referrals are completed and the assistant principal or principal becomes involved in determining the consequences according to the District Code of Conduct. The administrator is responsible for reteaching the appropriate behavior. All DCMS staff and faculty take a proactive stance by pre-correction and on the spot reteaching. Teachers and students work together regularly through the afterschool PBIS Video Club to produce videos that remind and instruct students in proper behaviors.
Establish A Data System To Monitor Progress & Aid In Decision Making
- Discipline Data is recorded internally by monitoring the number of Behavior Adjustment Forms given to each student.
- District compiles all Office Referral Data and provided a monthly report to each school in the form of Big 5 Data.
- PBIS team and faculty/staff to review all data and make a concerted effort to reteach those behavior expectations identified as chronic. Catch more students being good in the areas identified and reward them often.
Where We Are:
We are recording and sharing the number of internal infractions per student on a regular basis. The team is meeting and discussing behaviors. The district has begun to collect and share Big 5 Data with schools on a monthly basis. We will be reviewing this data with all faculty at our monthly faculty meetings this year and establishing a routine of reteaching the expectations. Fine tuning our Tier 2 and Tier 3 Support System. Establishing new reward activities that will be school wide as well as individual.
Encourage Family Involvement
Building a strong, caring partnership takes time and effort. All families want their child to succeed. Many families do not know how to make that happen and to approach the school for assistance. School staff are often hesitant to ask for parental support. Families/Parents/Caregivers are important parts in creating a successful program. Everyone’s involvement is essential to a child’s success.
Family involvement can be as simple as learning the schools expectations and reminding your student(s) about them each day and showing them how they apply to your family and the community. It can be as easy as volunteering at school or to help the PBIS team, finding assistance for your student(s) with homework or just joining the PTO. Family involvement shouldn’t be complicated. Parents know their children better than anyone. PBIS uses that to the child’s benefit.
Where We Are:
We continue to have PTO/parent representation on the PBIS Team. Now that we have become more comfortable with the PBIS initiative, we will begin to share our knowledge of PBIS with parents. We will have a Parent Handbook with our School-Wide Expectations as well as other important information about DCMS. We will establish and keep a link on our website to an active PBIS web page to keep parents informed. In addition, the PBIS Video Club was an afterschool activity that brought the Elementary and Middle School Campuses together by working collaboratively with both teachers, students and parents to produce PBIS teaching videos for both campuses.
BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS
The students at DCMS have been practicing PBIS which is a school-wide systematic approach in teaching behavioral expectations. Our campus has specific rewards and interventions it uses to which reinforces and recognizes students who are able to model the behavior expectations and has systems in place to support students who have a difficult time or may present with more challenging behaviors.
The three school-wide expectations are: Be Caring, Be Respectful and Be Responsible.
Reinforcement and Recognition
P.A.W.S Rewards – Tickets that teachers give students for modeling one or more of the expectations. Students place these tickets in grade level bins located in the cafeteria. PAWS Rewards are gathered each Friday for a drawing by grade level. Five names are pulled from each grade level bucket for an Ice Cream Treat. The PAWS Rewards are then saved for future quarterly drawings and the year-end celebration assembly.
P-200 Club – The Principal’s 200 Club is a drawing that happens weekly or bi-weekly on the Friday Morning Announcements. Five names are selected from each grade level bucket. The students receive a school lanyard as recognition. Their name is also placed on the Bingo Board in the office. Once a row is completed or a Bingo occurs, those students are recognized with a breakfast with the principals. There is also a separate drawing at the breakfast. The winning student receives a drawstring nylon sports bag with the school emblem.
Quarterly Awards
The PBIS Team has a quarterly recognition program that is implemented at the end of each quarterly marking period. End of Year Awards Assembly – The last week of school all students assemble in the school gym for a PBIS Celebration. All PAWS Rewards have been saved from the beginning of the school year and brought to the school-wide assembly. The PAWS rewards are then emptied into a large container in front of the student body. The PBIS Team, PTO and parents have been collecting prizes in the form of gift cards to local establishments, candy bouquets and school spirit wear. In addition to those prizes there is one grand prize. PAWS Rewards are pulled from the large container until all prizes have been awarded. In the past two years we have given away 60 to 90 prizes at this assembly.