Frequently Asked Questions

Is Positive Behavior Supports a program to targeted students who misbehave?

PBIS is not a set program or an established curriculum. It is a framework of thinking about discipline and behavior for all students built around the themes of defining expectations, teaching students expected behaviors, systematically rewarding positive behavior, using clear and consistent consequences for misbehavior, and use of data to making decisions about school-wide discipline and individual student problems. PBIS is built around multi-tiered systems of supports that include:

Tier 1 - Primary/Universal PBIS (School-Wide and Classroom): These systems and strategies are intended to support all students in the building.

Tier 2 - Targeted/Secondary PBIS: These strategies are designed to build on Tier 1 strategies to support groups of students who are displaying high rates of misbehavior or those that may be considered at-risk.

Tier 3 - Intensive/Tertiary: Systems and strategies are designed to provide individual behavioral supports through systematically planned functional assessments and behavior support plans

Why should our school consider getting involved with PBIS?

Managing student behavior problems is a major concern of most schools, whether it is a few students with significant behaviors or many students displaying minor behavioral disruptions. Research shows that schools that build discipline systems primarily on punitive strategies continue to experience high rates of disruptive and destructive behaviors. The framework of PBIS is built around research on strategies that have proven to be successful in increasing desired behavior while reducing problem behaviors in schools. Decreased behavioral problems results in more time for instruction and improved academic performance.

If there is a relatively small group of students causing most of the problems at our school, why should we start with a school-wide intervention for all students?

Every school has a group of students who are more challenging to work with than the general student population. These at-risk students can take up a disproportionate amount of time and staff resources, yet focusing our initial intervention efforts here seldom creates the kind of safe and positive school environment that improves the likelihood that we can be more successful with these students. It is often the case that well-intentioned efforts designed to deal with the most difficult students can backfire and cause more serious behavior problems. Creating safe and positive school environments is done by first implementing “universal” interventions to create the desired culture and communicate to students what kind of behavior will be valued and acknowledged. The educational research being collected on PBIS often reports that educators are quite pleased at how much impact this actually has on all students in their school. Although they are necessary for all students, universal interventions alone are not likely to be sufficient in addressing the needs and issues of the at-risk and high-risk students in a school. Once the school-wide system has been developed and put into place, the schools then adds selected small group targeted interventions for at-risk students. Interventions become more individualized and more intensive for the most at-risk students in a building. Once a strong continuum of behavior supports is established the PBIS leadership team continues to work to monitor and improve PBIS systems and practices.

How is PBIS proactive?

Using discipline data helps the team to identify patterns and possible causes of inappropriate behavior. This information is then used to develop effective interventions (school-wide, classroom, individual) to decrease inappropriate behavior and increase desired behavior. The use of annual, monthly, or weekly data sets helps to prevent the patterns of inappropriate behavior from reoccurring and assists the PBIS Leadership team evaluate the effectiveness of their systems and practices.

What kind of training do the schools receive?

The Schools 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 from the Iowa Department of Education.

In the implementation process teams focus on developing a continuum of school-wide 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 different way, based on why problem behaviors occur.

What will a school do as a result of the PBIS training?

• State School-Wide and Classroom 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 behavioral data to guide decision-making for more efficient problem solving.
• Develop a continuum of behavioral supports to address the needs of all students

What success have schools had?

Intensive research shows that School-Wide PBIS is widely accepted by educators and that it dramatically decreases the number of office discipline 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 of implementation. 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.

• Luiselli, Putnam, Handler, & Feinberg (2005). Whole-School Positive Behaviour Support: Effects on student discipline problems and academic performance. Educational Psychology, Vol. 25, Nos 2-3 pp 183-198.
• Lassen, Steele, & Sailor (2006). The relationship of school-wide positive behavior support to academic achievement in an urban middle school. Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 43, pp 701-712.
• Putnam, Horner, & Algozzine (2006). Academic achievement and the implementation of school-wide positive behavior supports. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Newsletter, Vol 3, Issue 1
• See article listed in the file below for a summary of some of the PBIS research.