Overview 

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.” 

― Haim G. Ginott, Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers

Changing the approach of addressing student behavior from a reactive to proactive process can make a huge impact on a school's culture and climate, for both students and staff. It can also be one of the biggest shifts in practice that a staff has to make to fully implement PBIS. 

This shift begins by incorporating proactive, instructive, and restorative approaches to student behavior into school policies and handbooks. Documenting them in this manner not only clarifies expectations and actions for stakeholders, but can also be used in the measurement of fidelity of implementation. 

To foster this fidelity, continual professional development is necessary for full implementation by staff. Training of these processes can not be a "one and done" instance of professional development. Rather, it should be ongoing and consistent to support staff in their own cultural shift. Many times, there is professional development for this feature conducted at every staff meeting. Some specific strategies to train staff on are outlined here, such as active supervision, but strategies should be selected to meet the needs of the school and staff.