PBIS - Is It Working?

Introduced to Masterman roughly a month ago, PBIS is a system that rewards positive behavior in the school. PBIS stands for Positive Behavior in Schools. PBIS recognizes students who exhibit positive behavior and achieve through nominations from teachers. Ideally, each week, every teacher nominates two students for positive behavior, but unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case around the school.

Currently, some teachers forget to nominate students, while others have no intention of doing it at all. A key reason for this is that teachers struggle with whom to nominate and, at times, are overwhelmed with more pressing tasks — such as grading. A teacher interviewee said, “The reality is that it’s so hard to keep identifying, and there are so many kids with good behavior to pick only two kids each week.” Additionally, identifying and selecting students isn’t at the top of a teacher’s heavy workload, and to some, it isn’t necessary. In an interview, a teacher said, “I'm using positive reinforcement; just because I'm not filling out a form doesn’t mean that positive reinforcement isn’t happening.” 

Some students think that PBIS’s nomination system may lead to inconsistencies. Not only are nominations for PBIS anonymous, but they count toward the student’s advisory, not the student themselves. This means teachers don’t know whether they have already nominated that student or whether another teacher has. It also means an exceptional student would not be recognized if their advisory doesn’t receive as many nominations. This challenges the idea that each student will be nominated or recognized once. In an interview with Kayra Bazuki (‘27) after her PBIS advisory win, she said, “I appreciate the treat and the thought behind it. And I think it incentivizes people to be even more positive… which never hurts.” Junior Bruno Beckman said, “I like to be recognized, and the pretzel was good. While I get the point that PBIS hasn’t recognized and rewarded everyone, PBIS just started, and everyone at Masteman is good, I am sure everyone will benefit eventually.” Zoe Jackson (‘27) said, “I think PBIS as a whole is bound to be inconsistent because every teacher and the motivations behind their nominations are different … but having PBIS and its resources is better than having no PBIS at all.” 

In a meeting with the administration, Mr. Gilken stated, “We understand that teachers are asked to do an additional thing, but [PBIS] provides resources and structure to do things that we haven’t been able to do… That’s why we’re implementing this.” Gilken highlighted that Masterman does not need a program like this, as most students consistently display positive behavior; however, PBIS provides funds and opportunities that Masterman could use rather than having those funds sit idly.

The concept of PBIS is admirable. It shifts the focus from only punishing bad behavior to rewarding good behavior, thereby motivating positive behavior.  While it isn’t perfect, it is attempting to do good. As the year progresses, we look forward to seeing what PBIS brings and whether any changes will be made.