Let's take a look at some of PBIS's best practices to maintain and grow your behavior management program.
Now what? How do you maintain what you have built? How does your program withstand attrition? Do you need to constantly start over? Or can you build from your foundation?
Your behavior data saw immediate impact but has since leveled off? Or started to get worse? Let's take a look at some of PBIS's best practices to maintain and grow your PBIS behavior plan.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to behavior in your building. PBIS tiers are designed to differentiate between the level of support your students need.
But it isn’t a set it and forget it program.
Once you have built your program you cannot autopilot your way to a positive learning environment. School culture is a moving target. It’s fluid.
This is particularly true in schools. Students naturally move in and move on. Do your new students acclimate to the positive culture you have developed? Or do they make their own?
Not only do you get a new set of students each fall, but many schools have significant staff turnover from year to year. Unfortunately, this appears to be even more true in schools with a high need for behavioral support.
Let's look at some of the key components of a well-developed PBIS program and how you can keep that progress moving forward.
In the summer your admin team needs to look at who is on your PBIS Team. Did they all participate? Are there talents best utilized with PBIS or another committee? Are they staying? Are they staying in the same role?
If you have a great teacher who represented the 3rd grade on your team last year, is she still teaching 3rd grade? You should have a student and a parent representative on your team. Are they still associated with your school or did they graduate?
Sometimes we forget that parents graduate as well! Update your team.
You have updated your team. Now they need to discuss how to train your staff on the program. You likely have a mix of veterans at your school who know how it works, veterans who are new to your school and don’t know the details, and new teachers who may not know what PBIS is at all.
This is the part of the program that is the easiest to move past and it is the one that will negatively impact your data the most. If your staff is unfamiliar with your program, or don’t know how to implement it, or aren’t consistent you are seriously swimming upstream.
Your team needs a plan to train all the groups I mentioned above. My suggestion is to offer a few different levels of training. You need a “refresher” meeting for the vets, you need a “how we do things” meeting for the new recruits, and you need a “deep dive” training for your folks new to education.
Spread the work here, these are great leadership development opportunities for members of your team.
I taught the same standards for years. I had some lessons I held on to and looked forward to every year in my Physics course. But it rarely looked exactly the same year to year. I always made tweaks and added new ideas.
If for no other reason than to just keep the material fresh for me so I could deliver it with the proper gusto. Do the same with your PBIS Expectations. Look at ways to improve or tweak them so they can be delivered more efficiently or effectively.
Your team should be looking at data in some capacity each meeting. I would recommend a deeper look on a quarterly basis though.
As your building's occupants change, so will your building's habits and behaviors. Empower your PBIS team to offer solutions to problems. This will improve your discipline data, improve your culture, and create shared ownership of the success of your building.
As a PBIS Coach, I actually impacted more school policy decisions than I did as a Dean. This was because of our practice of looking at data from a solution mindset, we always talked about improvement.
Normalize an “after-action report” or debrief after you conclude a rewards cycle. Are 80% of your students meeting expectations?
If not, we need to look at Tier 1 practices and determine how we can meet that goal without lowering expectations. What levers do you have to pull that could improve your reward system?
Does Pepsi still run the Pepsi challenge commercials? Does Coke run the same Polar Bear commercial every December? Is the Taco Bell Chihuahua still on your TV? Does Nike still feature Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr. on their billboards?
Nope.
They update, they stay on brand, but they stay fresh to keep old customers and still appeal to new ones. We want to keep the momentum we built with returning students, but still need to acclimate new students to our school culture.
So make it a regular part of your team’s work to update signage and look at social media campaigns your school chooses to use.
This goes hand and hand with your data review. Do your existing policies align with the needs of your school? Charge your team with reviewing and proposing updates and changes to the existing policy every year.
A lot has changed in education in the last couple of years. Make sure the policies you have on the books reflect current best practices.
You are asking and expecting a lot out of your PBIS committee. You need to ensure they are trained in best practices and that they understand the concepts you expect them to share with your staff.
Allocate funds for professional development for this team, and/or schedule a retreat for them to organize for the year.
Trust your staff. Build your team and provide support so they can make long-lasting changes in your building. The work is never done. New students and new staff create new challenges.
I hope this post gives you a roadmap to PBIS strategies that will keep your program adaptable to your situation from year to year. Remember the goal: constant improvement and constant growth. To get there you can’t remain stagnant.
But you also can’t afford to start over every summer. So have a plan to update, adapt, and improve. Want to learn all you can possibly learn about PBIS? Check out our Complete PBIS Field Guide.
Looking for a place to start your school culture journey? Check out our free PBIS template where you can download a sample to get started.
To learn what other educators are saying take a look at our PBIS reviews. How do you unlock the full potential of PBIS? Check out our resources on harnessing the power of PBIS for your school district. Providing behavior support in today's schools requires that we address behavior problems holistically. Check out how The Dulles School of Excellence is doing just that by blending PBIS and SEL.
For more on PBIS tiers, check out episode 29 of our podcast!
Now what? How do you maintain what you have built? How does your program withstand attrition? Do you need to constantly start over? Or can you build from your foundation?
Your behavior data saw immediate impact but has since leveled off? Or started to get worse? Let's take a look at some of PBIS's best practices to maintain and grow your PBIS behavior plan.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to behavior in your building. PBIS tiers are designed to differentiate between the level of support your students need.
But it isn’t a set it and forget it program.
Once you have built your program you cannot autopilot your way to a positive learning environment. School culture is a moving target. It’s fluid.
This is particularly true in schools. Students naturally move in and move on. Do your new students acclimate to the positive culture you have developed? Or do they make their own?
Not only do you get a new set of students each fall, but many schools have significant staff turnover from year to year. Unfortunately, this appears to be even more true in schools with a high need for behavioral support.
Let's look at some of the key components of a well-developed PBIS program and how you can keep that progress moving forward.
In the summer your admin team needs to look at who is on your PBIS Team. Did they all participate? Are there talents best utilized with PBIS or another committee? Are they staying? Are they staying in the same role?
If you have a great teacher who represented the 3rd grade on your team last year, is she still teaching 3rd grade? You should have a student and a parent representative on your team. Are they still associated with your school or did they graduate?
Sometimes we forget that parents graduate as well! Update your team.
You have updated your team. Now they need to discuss how to train your staff on the program. You likely have a mix of veterans at your school who know how it works, veterans who are new to your school and don’t know the details, and new teachers who may not know what PBIS is at all.
This is the part of the program that is the easiest to move past and it is the one that will negatively impact your data the most. If your staff is unfamiliar with your program, or don’t know how to implement it, or aren’t consistent you are seriously swimming upstream.
Your team needs a plan to train all the groups I mentioned above. My suggestion is to offer a few different levels of training. You need a “refresher” meeting for the vets, you need a “how we do things” meeting for the new recruits, and you need a “deep dive” training for your folks new to education.
Spread the work here, these are great leadership development opportunities for members of your team.
I taught the same standards for years. I had some lessons I held on to and looked forward to every year in my Physics course. But it rarely looked exactly the same year to year. I always made tweaks and added new ideas.
If for no other reason than to just keep the material fresh for me so I could deliver it with the proper gusto. Do the same with your PBIS Expectations. Look at ways to improve or tweak them so they can be delivered more efficiently or effectively.
Your team should be looking at data in some capacity each meeting. I would recommend a deeper look on a quarterly basis though.
As your building's occupants change, so will your building's habits and behaviors. Empower your PBIS team to offer solutions to problems. This will improve your discipline data, improve your culture, and create shared ownership of the success of your building.
As a PBIS Coach, I actually impacted more school policy decisions than I did as a Dean. This was because of our practice of looking at data from a solution mindset, we always talked about improvement.
Normalize an “after-action report” or debrief after you conclude a rewards cycle. Are 80% of your students meeting expectations?
If not, we need to look at Tier 1 practices and determine how we can meet that goal without lowering expectations. What levers do you have to pull that could improve your reward system?
Does Pepsi still run the Pepsi challenge commercials? Does Coke run the same Polar Bear commercial every December? Is the Taco Bell Chihuahua still on your TV? Does Nike still feature Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr. on their billboards?
Nope.
They update, they stay on brand, but they stay fresh to keep old customers and still appeal to new ones. We want to keep the momentum we built with returning students, but still need to acclimate new students to our school culture.
So make it a regular part of your team’s work to update signage and look at social media campaigns your school chooses to use.
This goes hand and hand with your data review. Do your existing policies align with the needs of your school? Charge your team with reviewing and proposing updates and changes to the existing policy every year.
A lot has changed in education in the last couple of years. Make sure the policies you have on the books reflect current best practices.
You are asking and expecting a lot out of your PBIS committee. You need to ensure they are trained in best practices and that they understand the concepts you expect them to share with your staff.
Allocate funds for professional development for this team, and/or schedule a retreat for them to organize for the year.
Trust your staff. Build your team and provide support so they can make long-lasting changes in your building. The work is never done. New students and new staff create new challenges.
I hope this post gives you a roadmap to PBIS strategies that will keep your program adaptable to your situation from year to year. Remember the goal: constant improvement and constant growth. To get there you can’t remain stagnant.
But you also can’t afford to start over every summer. So have a plan to update, adapt, and improve. Want to learn all you can possibly learn about PBIS? Check out our Complete PBIS Field Guide.
Looking for a place to start your school culture journey? Check out our free PBIS template where you can download a sample to get started.
To learn what other educators are saying take a look at our PBIS reviews. How do you unlock the full potential of PBIS? Check out our resources on harnessing the power of PBIS for your school district. Providing behavior support in today's schools requires that we address behavior problems holistically. Check out how The Dulles School of Excellence is doing just that by blending PBIS and SEL.
For more on PBIS tiers, check out episode 29 of our podcast!
Jordan resides in Lexington, Kentucky. He has experience in Public Education as an Administrator, Science Teacher, and as a Coach. He has extensive experience with School Discipline, PBIS, SEL, Restorative Practices, MTSS, and Trauma-Informed Care.
Now what? How do you maintain what you have built? How does your program withstand attrition? Do you need to constantly start over? Or can you build from your foundation?
Your behavior data saw immediate impact but has since leveled off? Or started to get worse? Let's take a look at some of PBIS's best practices to maintain and grow your PBIS behavior plan.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to behavior in your building. PBIS tiers are designed to differentiate between the level of support your students need.
But it isn’t a set it and forget it program.
Once you have built your program you cannot autopilot your way to a positive learning environment. School culture is a moving target. It’s fluid.
This is particularly true in schools. Students naturally move in and move on. Do your new students acclimate to the positive culture you have developed? Or do they make their own?
Not only do you get a new set of students each fall, but many schools have significant staff turnover from year to year. Unfortunately, this appears to be even more true in schools with a high need for behavioral support.
Let's look at some of the key components of a well-developed PBIS program and how you can keep that progress moving forward.
In the summer your admin team needs to look at who is on your PBIS Team. Did they all participate? Are there talents best utilized with PBIS or another committee? Are they staying? Are they staying in the same role?
If you have a great teacher who represented the 3rd grade on your team last year, is she still teaching 3rd grade? You should have a student and a parent representative on your team. Are they still associated with your school or did they graduate?
Sometimes we forget that parents graduate as well! Update your team.
You have updated your team. Now they need to discuss how to train your staff on the program. You likely have a mix of veterans at your school who know how it works, veterans who are new to your school and don’t know the details, and new teachers who may not know what PBIS is at all.
This is the part of the program that is the easiest to move past and it is the one that will negatively impact your data the most. If your staff is unfamiliar with your program, or don’t know how to implement it, or aren’t consistent you are seriously swimming upstream.
Your team needs a plan to train all the groups I mentioned above. My suggestion is to offer a few different levels of training. You need a “refresher” meeting for the vets, you need a “how we do things” meeting for the new recruits, and you need a “deep dive” training for your folks new to education.
Spread the work here, these are great leadership development opportunities for members of your team.
I taught the same standards for years. I had some lessons I held on to and looked forward to every year in my Physics course. But it rarely looked exactly the same year to year. I always made tweaks and added new ideas.
If for no other reason than to just keep the material fresh for me so I could deliver it with the proper gusto. Do the same with your PBIS Expectations. Look at ways to improve or tweak them so they can be delivered more efficiently or effectively.
Your team should be looking at data in some capacity each meeting. I would recommend a deeper look on a quarterly basis though.
As your building's occupants change, so will your building's habits and behaviors. Empower your PBIS team to offer solutions to problems. This will improve your discipline data, improve your culture, and create shared ownership of the success of your building.
As a PBIS Coach, I actually impacted more school policy decisions than I did as a Dean. This was because of our practice of looking at data from a solution mindset, we always talked about improvement.
Normalize an “after-action report” or debrief after you conclude a rewards cycle. Are 80% of your students meeting expectations?
If not, we need to look at Tier 1 practices and determine how we can meet that goal without lowering expectations. What levers do you have to pull that could improve your reward system?
Does Pepsi still run the Pepsi challenge commercials? Does Coke run the same Polar Bear commercial every December? Is the Taco Bell Chihuahua still on your TV? Does Nike still feature Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr. on their billboards?
Nope.
They update, they stay on brand, but they stay fresh to keep old customers and still appeal to new ones. We want to keep the momentum we built with returning students, but still need to acclimate new students to our school culture.
So make it a regular part of your team’s work to update signage and look at social media campaigns your school chooses to use.
This goes hand and hand with your data review. Do your existing policies align with the needs of your school? Charge your team with reviewing and proposing updates and changes to the existing policy every year.
A lot has changed in education in the last couple of years. Make sure the policies you have on the books reflect current best practices.
You are asking and expecting a lot out of your PBIS committee. You need to ensure they are trained in best practices and that they understand the concepts you expect them to share with your staff.
Allocate funds for professional development for this team, and/or schedule a retreat for them to organize for the year.
Trust your staff. Build your team and provide support so they can make long-lasting changes in your building. The work is never done. New students and new staff create new challenges.
I hope this post gives you a roadmap to PBIS strategies that will keep your program adaptable to your situation from year to year. Remember the goal: constant improvement and constant growth. To get there you can’t remain stagnant.
But you also can’t afford to start over every summer. So have a plan to update, adapt, and improve. Want to learn all you can possibly learn about PBIS? Check out our Complete PBIS Field Guide.
Looking for a place to start your school culture journey? Check out our free PBIS template where you can download a sample to get started.
To learn what other educators are saying take a look at our PBIS reviews. How do you unlock the full potential of PBIS? Check out our resources on harnessing the power of PBIS for your school district. Providing behavior support in today's schools requires that we address behavior problems holistically. Check out how The Dulles School of Excellence is doing just that by blending PBIS and SEL.
For more on PBIS tiers, check out episode 29 of our podcast!
Now what? How do you maintain what you have built? How does your program withstand attrition? Do you need to constantly start over? Or can you build from your foundation?
Your behavior data saw immediate impact but has since leveled off? Or started to get worse? Let's take a look at some of PBIS's best practices to maintain and grow your PBIS behavior plan.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to behavior in your building. PBIS tiers are designed to differentiate between the level of support your students need.
But it isn’t a set it and forget it program.
Once you have built your program you cannot autopilot your way to a positive learning environment. School culture is a moving target. It’s fluid.
This is particularly true in schools. Students naturally move in and move on. Do your new students acclimate to the positive culture you have developed? Or do they make their own?
Not only do you get a new set of students each fall, but many schools have significant staff turnover from year to year. Unfortunately, this appears to be even more true in schools with a high need for behavioral support.
Let's look at some of the key components of a well-developed PBIS program and how you can keep that progress moving forward.
In the summer your admin team needs to look at who is on your PBIS Team. Did they all participate? Are there talents best utilized with PBIS or another committee? Are they staying? Are they staying in the same role?
If you have a great teacher who represented the 3rd grade on your team last year, is she still teaching 3rd grade? You should have a student and a parent representative on your team. Are they still associated with your school or did they graduate?
Sometimes we forget that parents graduate as well! Update your team.
You have updated your team. Now they need to discuss how to train your staff on the program. You likely have a mix of veterans at your school who know how it works, veterans who are new to your school and don’t know the details, and new teachers who may not know what PBIS is at all.
This is the part of the program that is the easiest to move past and it is the one that will negatively impact your data the most. If your staff is unfamiliar with your program, or don’t know how to implement it, or aren’t consistent you are seriously swimming upstream.
Your team needs a plan to train all the groups I mentioned above. My suggestion is to offer a few different levels of training. You need a “refresher” meeting for the vets, you need a “how we do things” meeting for the new recruits, and you need a “deep dive” training for your folks new to education.
Spread the work here, these are great leadership development opportunities for members of your team.
I taught the same standards for years. I had some lessons I held on to and looked forward to every year in my Physics course. But it rarely looked exactly the same year to year. I always made tweaks and added new ideas.
If for no other reason than to just keep the material fresh for me so I could deliver it with the proper gusto. Do the same with your PBIS Expectations. Look at ways to improve or tweak them so they can be delivered more efficiently or effectively.
Your team should be looking at data in some capacity each meeting. I would recommend a deeper look on a quarterly basis though.
As your building's occupants change, so will your building's habits and behaviors. Empower your PBIS team to offer solutions to problems. This will improve your discipline data, improve your culture, and create shared ownership of the success of your building.
As a PBIS Coach, I actually impacted more school policy decisions than I did as a Dean. This was because of our practice of looking at data from a solution mindset, we always talked about improvement.
Normalize an “after-action report” or debrief after you conclude a rewards cycle. Are 80% of your students meeting expectations?
If not, we need to look at Tier 1 practices and determine how we can meet that goal without lowering expectations. What levers do you have to pull that could improve your reward system?
Does Pepsi still run the Pepsi challenge commercials? Does Coke run the same Polar Bear commercial every December? Is the Taco Bell Chihuahua still on your TV? Does Nike still feature Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr. on their billboards?
Nope.
They update, they stay on brand, but they stay fresh to keep old customers and still appeal to new ones. We want to keep the momentum we built with returning students, but still need to acclimate new students to our school culture.
So make it a regular part of your team’s work to update signage and look at social media campaigns your school chooses to use.
This goes hand and hand with your data review. Do your existing policies align with the needs of your school? Charge your team with reviewing and proposing updates and changes to the existing policy every year.
A lot has changed in education in the last couple of years. Make sure the policies you have on the books reflect current best practices.
You are asking and expecting a lot out of your PBIS committee. You need to ensure they are trained in best practices and that they understand the concepts you expect them to share with your staff.
Allocate funds for professional development for this team, and/or schedule a retreat for them to organize for the year.
Trust your staff. Build your team and provide support so they can make long-lasting changes in your building. The work is never done. New students and new staff create new challenges.
I hope this post gives you a roadmap to PBIS strategies that will keep your program adaptable to your situation from year to year. Remember the goal: constant improvement and constant growth. To get there you can’t remain stagnant.
But you also can’t afford to start over every summer. So have a plan to update, adapt, and improve. Want to learn all you can possibly learn about PBIS? Check out our Complete PBIS Field Guide.
Looking for a place to start your school culture journey? Check out our free PBIS template where you can download a sample to get started.
To learn what other educators are saying take a look at our PBIS reviews. How do you unlock the full potential of PBIS? Check out our resources on harnessing the power of PBIS for your school district. Providing behavior support in today's schools requires that we address behavior problems holistically. Check out how The Dulles School of Excellence is doing just that by blending PBIS and SEL.
For more on PBIS tiers, check out episode 29 of our podcast!
You have a PBIS program in your school. You have your team in place. You have a coach. You have representatives from all stakeholders. You have crafted your school-wide expectations.
Now what? How do you maintain what you have built? How does your program withstand attrition? Do you need to constantly start over? Or can you build from your foundation?
Your behavior data saw immediate impact but has since leveled off? Or started to get worse? Let's take a look at some of PBIS's best practices to maintain and grow your PBIS behavior plan.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to behavior in your building. PBIS tiers are designed to differentiate between the level of support your students need.
But it isn’t a set it and forget it program.
Once you have built your program you cannot autopilot your way to a positive learning environment. School culture is a moving target. It’s fluid.
This is particularly true in schools. Students naturally move in and move on. Do your new students acclimate to the positive culture you have developed? Or do they make their own?
Not only do you get a new set of students each fall, but many schools have significant staff turnover from year to year. Unfortunately, this appears to be even more true in schools with a high need for behavioral support.
Let's look at some of the key components of a well-developed PBIS program and how you can keep that progress moving forward.
In the summer your admin team needs to look at who is on your PBIS Team. Did they all participate? Are there talents best utilized with PBIS or another committee? Are they staying? Are they staying in the same role?
If you have a great teacher who represented the 3rd grade on your team last year, is she still teaching 3rd grade? You should have a student and a parent representative on your team. Are they still associated with your school or did they graduate?
Sometimes we forget that parents graduate as well! Update your team.
You have updated your team. Now they need to discuss how to train your staff on the program. You likely have a mix of veterans at your school who know how it works, veterans who are new to your school and don’t know the details, and new teachers who may not know what PBIS is at all.
This is the part of the program that is the easiest to move past and it is the one that will negatively impact your data the most. If your staff is unfamiliar with your program, or don’t know how to implement it, or aren’t consistent you are seriously swimming upstream.
Your team needs a plan to train all the groups I mentioned above. My suggestion is to offer a few different levels of training. You need a “refresher” meeting for the vets, you need a “how we do things” meeting for the new recruits, and you need a “deep dive” training for your folks new to education.
Spread the work here, these are great leadership development opportunities for members of your team.
I taught the same standards for years. I had some lessons I held on to and looked forward to every year in my Physics course. But it rarely looked exactly the same year to year. I always made tweaks and added new ideas.
If for no other reason than to just keep the material fresh for me so I could deliver it with the proper gusto. Do the same with your PBIS Expectations. Look at ways to improve or tweak them so they can be delivered more efficiently or effectively.
Your team should be looking at data in some capacity each meeting. I would recommend a deeper look on a quarterly basis though.
As your building's occupants change, so will your building's habits and behaviors. Empower your PBIS team to offer solutions to problems. This will improve your discipline data, improve your culture, and create shared ownership of the success of your building.
As a PBIS Coach, I actually impacted more school policy decisions than I did as a Dean. This was because of our practice of looking at data from a solution mindset, we always talked about improvement.
Normalize an “after-action report” or debrief after you conclude a rewards cycle. Are 80% of your students meeting expectations?
If not, we need to look at Tier 1 practices and determine how we can meet that goal without lowering expectations. What levers do you have to pull that could improve your reward system?
Does Pepsi still run the Pepsi challenge commercials? Does Coke run the same Polar Bear commercial every December? Is the Taco Bell Chihuahua still on your TV? Does Nike still feature Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr. on their billboards?
Nope.
They update, they stay on brand, but they stay fresh to keep old customers and still appeal to new ones. We want to keep the momentum we built with returning students, but still need to acclimate new students to our school culture.
So make it a regular part of your team’s work to update signage and look at social media campaigns your school chooses to use.
This goes hand and hand with your data review. Do your existing policies align with the needs of your school? Charge your team with reviewing and proposing updates and changes to the existing policy every year.
A lot has changed in education in the last couple of years. Make sure the policies you have on the books reflect current best practices.
You are asking and expecting a lot out of your PBIS committee. You need to ensure they are trained in best practices and that they understand the concepts you expect them to share with your staff.
Allocate funds for professional development for this team, and/or schedule a retreat for them to organize for the year.
Trust your staff. Build your team and provide support so they can make long-lasting changes in your building. The work is never done. New students and new staff create new challenges.
I hope this post gives you a roadmap to PBIS strategies that will keep your program adaptable to your situation from year to year. Remember the goal: constant improvement and constant growth. To get there you can’t remain stagnant.
But you also can’t afford to start over every summer. So have a plan to update, adapt, and improve. Want to learn all you can possibly learn about PBIS? Check out our Complete PBIS Field Guide.
Looking for a place to start your school culture journey? Check out our free PBIS template where you can download a sample to get started.
To learn what other educators are saying take a look at our PBIS reviews. How do you unlock the full potential of PBIS? Check out our resources on harnessing the power of PBIS for your school district. Providing behavior support in today's schools requires that we address behavior problems holistically. Check out how The Dulles School of Excellence is doing just that by blending PBIS and SEL.
For more on PBIS tiers, check out episode 29 of our podcast!
You have a PBIS program in your school. You have your team in place. You have a coach. You have representatives from all stakeholders. You have crafted your school-wide expectations.
Now what? How do you maintain what you have built? How does your program withstand attrition? Do you need to constantly start over? Or can you build from your foundation?
Your behavior data saw immediate impact but has since leveled off? Or started to get worse? Let's take a look at some of PBIS's best practices to maintain and grow your PBIS behavior plan.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to behavior in your building. PBIS tiers are designed to differentiate between the level of support your students need.
But it isn’t a set it and forget it program.
Once you have built your program you cannot autopilot your way to a positive learning environment. School culture is a moving target. It’s fluid.
This is particularly true in schools. Students naturally move in and move on. Do your new students acclimate to the positive culture you have developed? Or do they make their own?
Not only do you get a new set of students each fall, but many schools have significant staff turnover from year to year. Unfortunately, this appears to be even more true in schools with a high need for behavioral support.
Let's look at some of the key components of a well-developed PBIS program and how you can keep that progress moving forward.
In the summer your admin team needs to look at who is on your PBIS Team. Did they all participate? Are there talents best utilized with PBIS or another committee? Are they staying? Are they staying in the same role?
If you have a great teacher who represented the 3rd grade on your team last year, is she still teaching 3rd grade? You should have a student and a parent representative on your team. Are they still associated with your school or did they graduate?
Sometimes we forget that parents graduate as well! Update your team.
You have updated your team. Now they need to discuss how to train your staff on the program. You likely have a mix of veterans at your school who know how it works, veterans who are new to your school and don’t know the details, and new teachers who may not know what PBIS is at all.
This is the part of the program that is the easiest to move past and it is the one that will negatively impact your data the most. If your staff is unfamiliar with your program, or don’t know how to implement it, or aren’t consistent you are seriously swimming upstream.
Your team needs a plan to train all the groups I mentioned above. My suggestion is to offer a few different levels of training. You need a “refresher” meeting for the vets, you need a “how we do things” meeting for the new recruits, and you need a “deep dive” training for your folks new to education.
Spread the work here, these are great leadership development opportunities for members of your team.
I taught the same standards for years. I had some lessons I held on to and looked forward to every year in my Physics course. But it rarely looked exactly the same year to year. I always made tweaks and added new ideas.
If for no other reason than to just keep the material fresh for me so I could deliver it with the proper gusto. Do the same with your PBIS Expectations. Look at ways to improve or tweak them so they can be delivered more efficiently or effectively.
Your team should be looking at data in some capacity each meeting. I would recommend a deeper look on a quarterly basis though.
As your building's occupants change, so will your building's habits and behaviors. Empower your PBIS team to offer solutions to problems. This will improve your discipline data, improve your culture, and create shared ownership of the success of your building.
As a PBIS Coach, I actually impacted more school policy decisions than I did as a Dean. This was because of our practice of looking at data from a solution mindset, we always talked about improvement.
Normalize an “after-action report” or debrief after you conclude a rewards cycle. Are 80% of your students meeting expectations?
If not, we need to look at Tier 1 practices and determine how we can meet that goal without lowering expectations. What levers do you have to pull that could improve your reward system?
Does Pepsi still run the Pepsi challenge commercials? Does Coke run the same Polar Bear commercial every December? Is the Taco Bell Chihuahua still on your TV? Does Nike still feature Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr. on their billboards?
Nope.
They update, they stay on brand, but they stay fresh to keep old customers and still appeal to new ones. We want to keep the momentum we built with returning students, but still need to acclimate new students to our school culture.
So make it a regular part of your team’s work to update signage and look at social media campaigns your school chooses to use.
This goes hand and hand with your data review. Do your existing policies align with the needs of your school? Charge your team with reviewing and proposing updates and changes to the existing policy every year.
A lot has changed in education in the last couple of years. Make sure the policies you have on the books reflect current best practices.
You are asking and expecting a lot out of your PBIS committee. You need to ensure they are trained in best practices and that they understand the concepts you expect them to share with your staff.
Allocate funds for professional development for this team, and/or schedule a retreat for them to organize for the year.
Trust your staff. Build your team and provide support so they can make long-lasting changes in your building. The work is never done. New students and new staff create new challenges.
I hope this post gives you a roadmap to PBIS strategies that will keep your program adaptable to your situation from year to year. Remember the goal: constant improvement and constant growth. To get there you can’t remain stagnant.
But you also can’t afford to start over every summer. So have a plan to update, adapt, and improve. Want to learn all you can possibly learn about PBIS? Check out our Complete PBIS Field Guide.
Looking for a place to start your school culture journey? Check out our free PBIS template where you can download a sample to get started.
To learn what other educators are saying take a look at our PBIS reviews. How do you unlock the full potential of PBIS? Check out our resources on harnessing the power of PBIS for your school district. Providing behavior support in today's schools requires that we address behavior problems holistically. Check out how The Dulles School of Excellence is doing just that by blending PBIS and SEL.
For more on PBIS tiers, check out episode 29 of our podcast!
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