PBIS
What is Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)?
"Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive systems approach for creating and maintaining safe and effective learning environments in schools, and ensuring that all students have the social/emotional skills needed to ensure their success at school and beyond."
The expectations for a school implementing PBIS are based on three main ideas:
1. Students need to know what is expected of them. Our three school-wide expectations are the basis of our matrix or Code of Conduct. We call them our ABCs: Act responsibly. Be Respectful. Care for self, others and our school.
2. Students need to be taught the correct behaviors directly .
3. The correct behavior needs to be encouraged and acknowledged. Motivation will be to receive positive feedback and Bear Bucks.
What Motivators and Incentives are being Used At TES?
An intricate part of PBIS is rewarding children for being positive and making good choices. Students “caught” being responsible, respectful, or caring may receive Bear Bucks. These are motivators on their own. Weekly, we will conduct schoolwide drawings. Bear Bucks will be drawn and the winners will have their picture taken for our "ABC Wall of Fame". At the classroom level, students who have earned Bear Bucks may save them in their Bear Bucks Bank and cash them in for desirable incentives such s lunch with a teacher, extra recess, computer time, or homework passes.
At TES we believe in educating the WHOLE child. We will have a Quarterly Celebration Assembly. Our new and improved Quarterly Celebration will focus on the WHOLE child. Each assembly will have a focus based on our ABC's. Students who have received Bear Bucks and those who have been recognized for other character education awards will be recognized. In addition, other awards and forms of student recognition will be announced. These will depend on the calendar. Academics will also be recognized. Those students in grades 3-5 who have earned Honor Roll status will also be acknowledged.
PBIS Tools & Resources for Parents
Teaching Matrix
Bear Buck
PBIS Parent Brochure
PBIS at Home
Behavior Flow Chart
Why Focus on Behavior?
Poor behavior in school can be costly to students and teachers, alike.
• Lost teaching time
• Property damage
• Disrespect, discouragement, frustration
• Low student/staff morale
• Lower academic outcomes
• Divisions between administrators, teachers and parents
Addressing behavioral issues and improving school climate should form the core of any school improvement plan.
How is PBIS Different from Other Discipline Systems?
Typical discipline systems in schools have often relied on reaction to negative behavior and punishment of the offender. Hundreds of studies have shown, however, that this approach does little to reduce chronic misbehavior, nor does it produce positive long-term outcomes for the school or the student. The PBIS method of student discipline is based on four key principles:
1. Prevention - Correct behaviors are established, taught, modeled and acknowledged in a systematic way throughout the school. Students are "caught" engaging in the desired behaviors, and this behavior is regularly reinforced and recognized.
2. Response - The response to undesirable behavior is organized, systematic, consistent and careful. Considerable thought and effort goes into getting the entire school community on the same page with respect to common definitions of, and the most effective response to, problem behaviors.
3. Data-driven - Discipline data are collected school-wide in a user-friendly format. Entered and analyzed in an established on-line database provided for school use, the data provide guidance for understanding when and where problem behavior is more likely to occur. Strategies to address behaviors in these situations are developed, and the data then provide evidence for whether these strategies are working.
4. Process - PBIS is not a pre-packaged program. Rather, it is a framework that guides the school community through a process of addressing the unique culture, climate and behavioral issues within each school. The idea is to work smarter, not harder, to improve behavior and school climate.
