PBIS Guest Post Swap

 While we're not a PBIS school, there are a lot of correlations between this behavior management system and our character education philosophy.
 A few years back after an introductory training, we adapted its Tier 1 suggestion and developed three expectations that unite all of our classrooms.

I wanted to know more about PBIS and figured I could do that while at the same time trying something new ... a guest post swap. 
So please welcome BJ Bowden to the Corner and 
read all about PBIS before heading to 
Positively Elementary School Counseling 
to talk about empathy with me.

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I was so excited when I was asked to be a guest blogger because I have been blogging for just about a year and this is my first time being a guest blogger. Thank you so much, Barbara, for this chance to share one of my passions, Positive Behavior Interventions Support, otherwise known as PBIS.

Though I could go on for days and days about PBIS, this  will be a short overview of PBIS, a framework that schools use to help with their Response to Intervention (RTI) for behaviors. One of the key pieces that I love about this framework is that it focuses on a need to get everyone on the same page and build a strong foundation before you do more intensive work.

Probably the most famous picture of PBIS is the triangle. The triangle represents the 3 Tiers that PBIS makes up.

Tier 1:

The bottom is made up of 80% of your students. This is your Tier 1 Universal or School-Wide interventions that 80% of your student population will respond to. What do these interventions look like?

*3-5 Core Values established as a school. (Mine are: Do Your Best, Respect, Restraint, Responsibility, and Encourage Yourself and Others.)

* Clearly established rules and expectations based on those Core Values

* Lessons to help kids learn what is expected of them

*Classroom social skills lessons

*School-Wide Positive Reward system

* and most importantly, getting buy-in from staff to all be on the same page. (Be patient; this often can take a few years to really get your Tier 1 up and going.)

Let’s look at one of those pieces a little more:

School-Wide Positive Reward System. In my school, we use the Caught Doing Your Best Tickets. All school staff are given these tickets and whenever they see a student following our expectations, he or she gets a ticket. These tickets then go into a drawing for prizes. The great part is that everyone, from lunch staff, to janitors, to teachers, even bus drivers, is trying to catch them being their best. Working together and all being on the same page is huge!

Tier 2

We then move up the triangle to Tier 2. This is 15% of your student body. These are the kids that need a little more than the classroom/whole group lessons to get them on track. What do these interventions look like?

* Small groups

* Check in Check out Programs

*Simple FBA to target what is affecting the students and keeping them from doing their best.

* Some more parent contact

Let’s look at a the Check in Check out Program a little more closely. This is basically a behavior chart system; at my school they're called Positive Action With Support (PAWS). Students are referred to PAWS by their teacher, a parent, or even at times a student can self-refer. Once at student is referred to me, I set up a behavior sheet using one goal for that student. I like to only do one goal at a time so that we can really work on that; then when they meet that goal we can do a different goal if the student still needs to work on other pieces. The goals are always tied into one of our Core Values.  I then walk them through the steps of how a day on PAWS will look. 

Here is what it looks like:

In the morning when the students come in, they go to the PAWS Coordinator (we use an Ed Tech for this). The Coordinator will hand them their daily PAWS sheet and help boost them up for the day with positive praise. The student then brings this to their classroom teacher where they set a daily goal. During the day based on their sheet, they earn points from both their teacher and also the specialists if they have a special that day. At the end of the day, they return with their PAWS sheet to the Coordinator who will add up their score, document it in our data tracking system, and reward the student if they met their goal. If they did not meet their goal, they still focus on the positive and encourage them to meet it the next day. The PAWS sheet goes home each night so that we have daily parent contact which is a huge piece in making sure we are working as a team with the parents. For more info, I would recommend this great workbook for free that goes over the Check In Check Out process. 

  

Tier 3:

As you see by the triangle, Tier 3 is only 5% of your students, which is good because Tier 3 takes the most amount of time to do. This involves such interventions as:

* Full FBAs (Functional Behavior Assessments). We use the Prevent, Teach, Reinforce Model; click {here} for the book that I highly recommend.

* One-on-One Sessions with a student to help work on specific skills

* Wrap-Around Services

So let’s again look at Wrap-Around in more detail, as that is such a key piece of Tier 3. Wrap-Around is an approach where you are no longer working in isolation to help this student but you are wrapping services around the student. This involves team meetings with outside providers and the family. The unique part of Wrap-Around though is the positive approach that it takes. It focuses on strengths of the student and the family. Yes, I did say family as at this point we need to not look at isolation at the student but the whole family to see how we can make a difference. From these meetings, you develop a plan that meets the following criteria: Family and youth voice in the plan that addresses outcomes across school, home and the community. So rather than each person working on a different plan, you are all working together to meet the needs of the student. You can find some great info on this approach {here}.

PBIS is something that could be written up through pages and pages; this was just a quick overview of the 3 Tiers. If you want more info feel free to contact me by visiting my blog {here} or on my Facebook page, where together we can share information to help make a difference in the lives of students.

Author bio: BJ Bowden holds a dual certification as a School Social Worker and a School Counselor, and has worked in both a K-5 School and a Behavioral School for going on seven years. She started her blog about a year ago and just this year moved her blog to FB. She also runs a page that helps support school staff with Donors Choose projects and has already raised close to $8K for teachers and classrooms {here}.