Teams

Tiered Fidelity Inventory Item: 1.1 Team Composition

The Tier I team focus is to develop school-wide behavioral expectations that include clear, identifiable behaviors, how the behaviors will be taught, and how the behaviors will be consistently and systematically encouraged and acknowledged. The Tier I Team meets monthly, attends training, problems solves based on data, and provides support to staff regarding PBIS/MTSS.

The process recommended for effective school improvement is based on strong leadership, shared decision-making and consensus building among all school staff. This team will assist their staff in the continual process of developing and maintaining a positive school environment where students behave responsibly.

Staff members who serve on the Tier I Team will have the opportunity to play a key role in shaping the school climate. Assigned to provide leadership, this team is not to assume sole responsibility for developing a school action plan. Instead, they will thoughtfully involve the entire staff in rethinking their beliefs about student behavior, reviewing existing procedures, and developing more effective practices and policies. When everyone has a hand in developing school-wide discipline procedures, ownership is increased, consensus is more readily obtained, and consistent staff implementation of procedures is ensured.

This team should look at academic and attendance data as the school moves towards a MTSS model. This includes RTI and Chronic Absences and working with the staff to ensure all students are receiving the highest education experience possible.

Resource: Information on Chronic Absence

Team Responsibilities

The Tier I Team is a standing committee responsible for developing and maintaining effective discipline procedures that reflect the unique needs of the school and its community. In most cases this is not wholesale change of the way the school does business, but instead "tweaks" to the current culture and review of those tweaks to ensure expected outcomes are met.

This includes:

• Initially gathering input from staff, families, and students as well as other data sources to evaluate the effectiveness of current policies and practices.
• Using that information to gain staff commitment to the needed changes and developing a common philosophy of discipline.
• Assisting staff to understand best practices for developing responsible student behavior and the elements of an effective school discipline policy.
• Guiding staff through a procedure development process to improve less effective practices and to protect effective practices by clarifying them and putting them in writing.
• Once practices are developed and protected in writing, this team is responsible for overseeing the implementation, maintenance, and revision of procedures. This includes:
  1. reviewing procedures with staff (especially new staff) at the start of the year to ensure consistency,
  2. coordinating dissemination of information to parents and students,
  3. organizing schoolwide discipline-related instructional activities,
  4. bringing staff concerns to the team, and
  5. reviewing ongoing data to determine successes and continuing needs for in-service or modification of procedures.

Team Composition

School-wide discipline planning is a collaborative venture with administration and staff working together. Therefore, it is essential that the team include a building administrator and full representation of the building staff.

The nature of the work of this committee, along with the need to ensure that practices are in line with board policy and legal stipulations, requires that an administrator be directly involved. Participation of the principal or assistant principal on this team is crucial.

Efficient teams are comprised of six to ten members. While it is important to keep the group small to ensure productivity, it is equally as important that all staff feel someone represents them on the committee. Broad representation leads to a greater assurance that all staff’s views will be shared and that the committee’s work will be widely accepted and the procedures widely implemented by all teachers, paraprofessionals, specialists, and administrators.

Resource: Team Composition

Resource: Team Configurations

Resource: Team Template

Selecting Team Members

The method for designating team members should be given careful thought. To be successful, the team should include staff members who are “doers,” held in high esteem by their colleagues, and team players who focus on solutions and are positive and persuasive in their interactions with staff, students, and families. Team members will be responsible for planning and leading the many activities related to this school improvement effort (e.g., presenting data, facilitating planning and decision-making meetings, providing skill training, modeling, guiding, and encouraging others). The method for deciding who will serve on the team will need to be determined by the administrator based upon the school culture. Methods for selecting team members could include:

• Appointment by administration: This method allows the principal to recruit people known to possess the above qualifications. While appointment to the team has obvious advantages, it can be divisive if staff somehow views those chosen as the administrator’s “select” or favored group.
• Volunteers: Some staff may respond best to a volunteer approach. The administrator can describe the role and responsibilities of the team and the desired composition and allow individuals to submit their name for consideration. The administrator will likely need a process to make final selections when more than one person from a representative group volunteers.
• Election: Representative groups can elect a constituent to represent them on the team. This election process might enhance staff consensus by ensuring that each group feels a personally selected staff member is sharing their interests. However, this process can feed into an already divisive staff by contributing to a tendency to form power blocks.

Length of Term

Participation on the PBIS/MTSS team over time should be shared or open to interested staff and therefore the membership rotated as needed.

The amount of time served on the team will depend on the school’s size, other committee responsibilities, the interest and willingness of staff to participate, staff turnover, etc. A two or three-year term is recommended, with the administrator serving continuously. Rotating a portion of the team each year will allow for the continuity required to maintain effectiveness and productivity while providing shared participation, new ideas and perspectives. While rotation of specific staff occurs, the representation (the staff position) remains constant (i.e., when a specialist rotates off, a specialist joins the team). Members whom have their term expiring are able to continue to serve in the same capacity or another position as they desire and positions are available. Length of terms is not to be construed as term limits.

Team Leadership in the Wake of Administrative Turnover

School personnel perceive administrative leadership as singularly important to sustained implementation of effective practices (McIntosh, et al., 2014). While administrative leadership is a driver, the turnover of administrative leadership becomes a chronic barrier to implementation. Team member actions in the face of administrative turnover should include steps to ensure the team is representative, plan proactively for sustainability (e.g. team rotation and PD for all), develop policies, create a staff practices handbook, collect and show data documenting effectiveness and acceptability, meet with incoming administrator, and recruit district support (Strickland-Cohen, McIntosh, & Horner, 2014).

Planning ahead for an effective process is essential if a collaborative policy is to be developed. A clear understanding of the role, functions, and time commitment of this PBIS/MTSS team promotes informed participation by individual team members, communicates the earnestness of this school improvement process to the other staff, and avoids any possible misunderstandings among all.

Resource: Tier I Team and Tier II Team Responsibilities Compared

Resource: Tier I Team Roles & Responsibilities

Resource: Tier II/III Team Roles & Responsibilities

Additional needed assignments for individuals on the PBIS/MTSS Team, using TIPS Meeting Agenda Form:

Minute Taker/Recorder: Prepares meeting agenda form, completes meeting agenda form during team meeting

Timekeeper: Monitors the amount of time available & keeps the team aware of time limits

Data Analyst: Provides data summaries to the team for data based decision making

• Teams may vary slightly between schools. This team meets to review data for students who are identified as needing additional supports.
• Team will help to support plans for identified students and review Request for Assistance forms/recommendations for students to participate in Tier II or Tier III Interventions.

Resource: Action Plan Template

Resource: Managing Complex Change

Resource: Team Implementation Checklist (TIC)