Will everyone be trained on PBIS?
To this point, PBIS teams have received professional development on tier one system supports. Each team has attended a full-day training and continues to receive roughly two hours of training per month. Once this information is learned, teams may share acquired knowledge with staff at their schools.
Starting in January, a new Behavior PLC was introduced for all behavior support staff. This includes: behavior facilitators, behavior specialists, tier 2 teachers, school psychologists, autism specialists, and others. This training series will review topics related to PBIS such as: tier one supports, understanding behavior, responding to behavior, implementing CICO, supporting students at tier two and tier three, and more.
Ali and Cindy will continue to train other staff as requested. Please contact them if you would like a review of PBIS at your school site.
How are schools celebrating success?
Schools have identified creative ways to celebrate successes with PBIS development and improvements in student behavior. Examples of school-wide celebrations have included: popsicle parties (each student received a popsicle and had the opportunity to see the principal dressed as a popsicle), zoom bingo (the principal read off bingo numbers on zoom and each class was logged in), and dance parties (music was played on the loudspeaker and each class danced in their room). Other options may include: giving students a choice of where to sit at lunch, giving students choice time for 15 minutes on a Friday, etc.
The above are examples of schoolwide celebrations. Remember, there are so many fun ways to celebrate successes; they can often be free while also developing a fun and positive school climate!
My son's middle school has a store with rewards that can be "purchased" with points; Are the elementary schools going to do something similar?
Each school is identifying and structuring an acknowledgment system this year as part of tier one PBIS development. That being said, the way each school chooses to acknowledge positive student behavior is unique. Some schools may provide students with the opportunity to "cash in" and access tangible rewards; other schools may utilize a raffle system or stick to intentional positive praise. There is not one correct way to acknowledge students for following schoolwide expectations. Because PBIS is a framework and not a curriculum, each school can identify the best fit for them.
Will schools be moving to a rewards-based system?
As noted above, all schools will identify a way to acknowledge student behavior. Each person may have a different understanding of the word "reward." Ultimately, the goal is to acknowledge and celebrate when students follow school-wide expectations that are taught. Research shows that when expected behavior is explicitly recognized and rewarded, those behaviors are more likely to happen in the future.
