Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports

As a part of our district strategic plan, we have adopted Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as our district framework for promoting successful behavior at school.

What is PBIS?

PBIS is a framework for organizing prevention and intervention efforts that promote effective behavior at school. PBIS includes the following components:

All students are taught school-wide expectations and rules
All students are acknowledged for following these expectations
All staff respond to behavioral challenges with care and consistency
Staff regularly reflect on school-wide data to adjust practices
All staff know how to ask for help when additional support is needed for a student

PBIS is supported by dozens of high quality research studies, and has been implemented in tens of thousands of schools worldwide. PBIS fosters a safe, positive, and trauma-informed school climate. Click here to learn more about PBIS (link to https://www.pbis.org/). We also know a one-size fits-all approach to behavior does not work. Each school has a PBIS team that builds a custom system to fit the unique needs of their staff and students. Schools remain prepared to offer individualized support to students with specific needs. Contact your school with questions about their specific PBIS system.

We will be like Max the Mountain Lion and be LEADERS….

I am Kind
I am Responsible
I am Respectful

Postive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based, tiered framework for supporting students' behavioral, academic, social, emotional and mental health. When implemented with fidelity, PBIS improves social emotional competence, academic success and school climate. It also improves teachers' health and wellbeing. It is a way to create positive, predictable, equitable and safe learning environments where everyone thrives. We use 'students' to refer to all children and youth in any educational or therapeutic setting (e.g., K-12 school, early childhood program, juvenile justice program). Learn more about PBIS in schools, classrooms and early childhood programs and juvenile justice programs on those topic pages.

Schools implementing PBIS:

Use a continuum of evidence-based practices to support student needs
Engage students, families and community members to co-create culturally responsive practices
Regularly check the effectiveness of their practices
Rely on teams to guide implementation
Use data to identify strengths, uncover needs and monitor student progress
Implement universal screening
Develop content expertise through coaching and on-going professional development

PBIS is not curriculum you purchase or something you learn during one-day professional development training. It is an ongoing commitment to supporting students, educators and families through system change. When we implement PBIS well, students experience improved behavioral, social, emotional and academic outcomes; schools and programs reduce their use of exclusionary discipline practices and improve their overall climate.

Tiered PBIS Framework

Tiered PBIS Framework

Educators and practitioners provide a continuum of academic, behavioral, social and emotional support matched to students' needs. We describe this continuum across three tiers of support.

Foundational systems across all three tiers include:

A shared vision for a positive school social culture
A representative leadership team that meets regularly and shares expertise in coaching, social, emotional, behavioral, academic, equity, mental health, physical health, wellness and trauma
Families are actively engaged
A supportive and involved school administration
On-going access to professional development for preparing all staff to implement each tier of PBIS
Systematic collection of screening, progress-monitoring, outcome and fidelity data
Ongoing use of data for decision making
Disaggregating data to examine equity among student subgroups

Tier 1: Universal, Primary Prevention (All)

Tier 1 systems, data and practices support everyone — students, educators and staff — across all school settings. They establish a foundation for positive and proactive support. Tier 1 support is robust, differentiated and enables most (80% or more) students to experience success. Tier 1 practices include:

Collaborating with students, families and educators to define positive school/program-wide expectations and prioritize appropriate social, emotional and behavioral skills.
Aligning classroom expectations with school/program-wide expectations
Explicitly teaching expectations and skills to set all students up for success
Encouraging and acknowledging expected behavior
Preventing and responding to unwanted behavior in a respectful, instructional manner
Fostering school/program-family partnerships

Tier 2: Targeted, Secondary Prevention (Some)

In addition to your tier 1 foundation, students receiving Tier 2 get an added layer of systems, data and practices targeting their specific needs. On average, about 10-15% of your students will need some type of Tier 2 support. The support you provide at Tier 2 is more focused than at Tier 1 and less intensive than at Tier 3. Tier 2 practices include:

Providing additional instruction and practice for behavioral, social, emotional and academic skills
Increasing adult support and supervision
Providing additional opportunities for positive reinforcement
Increasing prompts or reminders
Increasing access to academic support
Increasing school-family communication

TIer 3: Intensive and Individualized, Tertiary Prevention (Few)

At most schools and programs, there are a small number (1-5%) of students for whom Tier 1 and Tier 2 support has not been sufficient to experience success. At Tier 3, students receive more intensive needs, whether they receive special education services or not. Tier 3 practices include:

Engaging students, educators and families in functional behavioral assessments and intervention planning
Coordinating support though wraparound and person-planning
Implementing individualized, comprehensive and function-based support

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