Once we established our positive behavior expectations, our PBIS team’s next big goal was to create a sitewide behavior intervention flowchart. In this flowchart, the goal was to:

• Clearly define the difference between minor and major behaviors
• Outline a process for minor and major behaviors
• Create consistency across the entire school

We found a TON of great resources online that guided our conversation. We started by looking at a variety of flowcharts to see what would best fit our needs. Once we found the style that we liked the best, we created a template and began adding in our own information. Here is what we created:

(View) (Copy)

As you can see, the behaviors were added to the center and differentiated by minors and majors. By aligning them side by side, it helped teachers to understand the difference between a minor and major behavior in each category (ex: disruption, defiance, etc.). On each side of the behaviors, there are the interventions that are put into place for students when a minor and/or major behavior occurs. Minor behaviors can escalate to major behaviors if repeated, sustained, and/or the minor interventions have already been implemented.

Here are some best practices we had for implementing this flowchart:

Run it By Leadership

Once this was created, we took it to our leadership team for feedback. This is SO important! Don’t forget to run big decisions like this by your leadership team and staff.

Align with your Referral System

Currently, we use a combination of PBIS Rewards and Infinite Campus for logging behavior incidents on campus. In PBIS Rewards, teachers log any minor and major behaviors. The minor behaviors stay in PBIS Rewards but we move over the major behaviors to Infinite Campus so that future schools can also see these behaviors.

In PBIS Rewards, we aligned the categories (ex: disruption, defiance, etc.) to the system as the “problem behavior”. In addition to this, we aligned all of the interventions (on the far left and right side) to the “redirections” section. By doing this, it created consistency across referrals and further implemented the flowchart.

Train Your Staff

Implementing a sitewide, behavior intervention flowchart was a huge change! It was something that our teachers asked for to create consistency but there was a lot of training that was needed up front. First, we trained teachers on the flowchart and what each step meant. Afterwards, we trained them on PBIS Rewards and how to use the program to log and track the behavior information.

Shift from Discipline to Interventions

One of the biggest shifts for our staff was the difference between “interventions” and “discipline”. The left side (the minors) are interventions. They are strategies that are done in the classroom to intervene and prevent future behaviors. It is an opportunity to reteach and help students grow. The right side (the majors) are considered discipline. Discipline is something that is done by administration (ex: class suspension, referral) in response to repeated, sustained, or severe behavior incidents. There are still interventions that are done by administration (ex: Check In/Out, Behavior PTC’s, BIP’s, etc.) However, we wanted to shift the mindset from “progressive discipline” to “progressive interventions”. It was a big shift and we are still growing in this area.

Currently, we are one quarter in to fully implementing PBIS. It is WAY more than I anticipated and I know that this is going to be a several year journey. If you have any PBIS stories or best practices to share, please do so in the comments below!

As you may have been reading from my previous posts, our site has been on a journey to improve student behavior through a tiered and systematic approach. Specifically, we have begun implementing a variety of Tier 1 strategies from the PBIS model. During our first year, our goal has been to:

1. Create a positive reward program
2. Create sitewide positive behavior expectations
3. Create a sitewide behavior intervention flowchart

These are three big goals…but we are hoping that they will also bring big changes!

One of the most important parts of implementing a Tier 1 PBIS program is creating sitewide positive behavior expectations. These expectations should become the language of your site when talking about appropriate behaviors on campus. For instance, instead of creating a list of things that students shouldn’t do, these expectations focus on what students should do. In addition to this, the behavior expectations should be location specific. Expectations should be created for all areas on campus, such as the classroom, gym, cafeteria, office, etc. Here is a quick example of our behavior expectations for our classroom and cafeteria:

To get started on developing your sitewide positive behavior expectations, here are my Top 5 Tips:

#1: Develop with Your PBIS Team

First and foremost, you must have a PBIS team that can help you develop these behavior expectations. These people will help drive the conversation and help you develop these expectations. You truly cannot be an island in this process – you need the input!

#2: Create Your Acronym

Create an acronym that will become the motto of your site. As you can tell, ours is RISE which is Responsibility, Integrity, Service, and Excellence. Our behavior expectations are completely based on these four words and it is the foundation for our positive behavior program, too.

#3: Determine Your Locations & Get Input

Our PBIS Team determined that we had 10 places on campus that would benefit from behavior expectations:

• Classroom, Library, Cafeteria, Quad, Locker Room, Office, Hallway, Bathrooms, Technology, and Wellness Center

Since these are such diverse areas, we also created a Google Form where we sought input from employees that worked in these specific areas. After all, they understand the expectations far more than anyone else!

#4: Create Your Expectations

Once you have created your acronym and determined your locations, I highly suggest creating a Google Slide or Doc to brainstorm the behavior expectations with your PBIS Team. I believe it took us about 2-3 meetings about 1-2 hours each to develop all of these expectations. Honestly, it was tough at first but then we started to fall into a pattern and it went much quicker.

Again, these expectations should be focused on what students should do, rather than what students shouldn’t do. Also, try to keep them short and sweet. No more than three expectations per category and keep the sentence short.

#5: Take to Your Leadership Team & PLC’s for Revisions & Input

One of the most important parts of implementing positive behavior expectations is receiving input from your leadership team and staff. Once we developed these expectations, we took them to our leadership team for input and they took it to their teams for further input. We received some great ideas from these teams and made adjustments accordingly.

#6: Create Your Posters!

Here’s the fun part…design your poster! I know that people just love a matrix or rubric…but that is SO hard for kids to read! Try to create something that is eye-catching and easy to read. If you are struggling with this, you can make a copy of ours by clicking on this link:

Copy of RISE Behavior Expectations

If there is any final advice I would give, it would be to take your time and get plenty of input. I was highly encouraged to do this by leaders that I greatly admire and it was some of the greatest advice I ever received. While it is important to create a quality program, it is crucial to get input to create buy-in with staff.

Has your site created positive behavior expectations? If so, share in the comments below!

Last month, I shared the start of our PBIS journey in hopes of improving student behavior through a tiered system of support. Over the last quarter, we have been piloting our PBIS program to determine if this is something that we want to implement in the following school year. As I mentioned in my last post, I was apprehensive about implementing PBIS in our school. However, our pilot has been so successful that I have become a believer that these systems (when implemented strategically and effectively) can make a huge impact on student behaviors and, ultimately, student learning.

Below, I will be sharing our first steps – the foundation – of our PBIS program. Specifically, the focus will be on Tier 1 of our PBIS program because this is the area where we were lacking the most support. So…here we go!

Step #1: Forming Our PBIS Teams

Implementing a PBIS program is a huge undertaking. To get started, it was critical that we pick the right people to be a part of these teams. Our teams are broken up into two groups: PBIS Core Team and the PBIS Team.

Our PBIS Core Team is a smaller group of educators. The Core Team is responsible for the guidance of the implementation of the PBIS strategies. This team regularly meets to evaluate the BOQ (more on that below) and determine the direction of the larger team. The Core Team consists of the following people:

• Vice Principal
• School Counselor
• SEL Intervention Teacher
• iMTSS District Coordinator
• District iMTSS Psychologist

Our PBIS Team (AKA, our RISE Team) is a larger group of educators that helps with developing the ideas, creating structures, and the implementing of PBIS strategies. The PBIS Team consists of the following people:

• Everyone from the Core Team
• All Admin from the Site
• 5 Teachers (Different subjects/grades)
• Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)

We have been incredibly fortunate to have an amazing group of educators on this team. I am constantly amazed by the ideas that come from this group as we develop our PBIS program. Without the right people in place, I do not believe we would be making the progress we are currently on our campus.

While our PBIS teams our developing this program, everything that we do is taken to our Site Leadership Team (AKA, Think Tank) for input. These are the leaders on our campus, therefore, their input, insight, and approval is of the utmost importance. After this, Think Tank takes this information to their departments (AKA, PLC’s) for more input. Finally, the PBIS team gathers all of the input to add to the PBIS program.

Step #2: Reading the Book

Over the years, I have started to become a bit skeptical about educational books. I have found that they are often written from a place of theory, rather than real-life application. A lot of time I read these books and think, “When was the last time this person was in a classroom or on a school campus?”

This is not how I feel about the PBIS Handbooks – which is AMAZING!

Our focus this year is through implementing Tier One supports at our school, so our team has only dived into the Tier 1 Handbook. However, there is SO much in here that it will probably take us a year to properly implement all the ideas and strategies. The book is practical, clear, and gives teams an easy guide on how to get started. If you are planning on implementing a tiered PBIS system in your school, I highly recommend these books.

       

The Benchmark of Quality (BOQ) helps PBIS teams examine their Tier 1 implementation by identifying current strengths and weaknesses. In addition to this, it also provides guidance and support for creating better PBIS systems within a school. The BOQ is embedded within the PBIS Tier One Handbook, however, you can find it for free on their website: PBIS Champion Model System.

Since I am a spreadsheet person, I took the BOQ from their website and turned it into a spreadsheet that automatically tabulates a school’s total score. In addition to this, I created a section where teams can add ideas and next steps during the planning process. If you would like a copy of this, click on the Google Sheet icon to the right or this link: Tier 1 – PBIS Assessment & Next Steps.

When we went through the BOQ, I was amazed at how much we have not done. While this may seem discouraging, I found it exciting. There were so many ideas, strategies, and structures that could be put into place to support students. Even if we scored low, we could easily see our next steps. At the end of scoring our BOQ, we picked the top 3 areas of growth. From there, we analyzed what we were doing, what could be improved, and piloted some of these strategies during the 4th quarter. Now, we have a very clear plan and vision for sitewide implementation during the next school year.

Right now, I am so excited for the next school year and to see how we continue to develop our PBIS program. If you have done this at your school site, please share in the comments below any tips, tricks, or strategies!