What is PBIS?

PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports. PBIS is not a program, rather it is a “systems approach” for establishing the social culture and individualized behavior supports needed for schools to achieve both social and academic success for ALL students. Evidence based features include:

Define expectations and explicit instruction of those behavior/social expectations
Acknowledgement of positive behavior
Ongoing collection and use of data for decision making
Administrative Leadership/Structures

As a school in KHSD, we believe that all core instruction (and intervention and supports) start in the general education classroom setting usually, and the counselors, faculty, and teachers in KHSD are amazing! We think that all students can learn and that all educators want to make a difference. In addition, KHSD believes that most students will succeed when a positive school culture is promoted, informative corrective feedback is provided, academic success is maximized, and use of pro-social skills is acknowledged.

When student problem behavior is unresponsive to preventive school-wide and classroom-wide procedures, information about the student’s behavior is used to:

understand why the problem behavior is occurring (function);
strengthen more acceptable alternative behaviors (social skills);
remove antecedents and consequences that trigger and maintain problem behavior, respectively; and
add antecedents and consequences that trigger and maintain acceptable alternative behaviors.

WE believe in the BIG IDEAS of a Professional Learning Community:

WE accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning
WE are committed to working together to achieve our collective purpose. We cultivate a collaborative culture through development of high-performing teams
WE assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than only intentions. Individuals, teams, and schools seek relevant data and information and use that data/information to promote ongoing and continuous improvement

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 the Tier 1 foundation, students receiving Tier 2 supports get an added layer of systems, data, and practices targeting their specific needs. On average, about 5-15% of students will need some type of Tier 2 support. The support provided 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 supports
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 supports have not been sufficient to experience success. At Tier 3, students receive more intensive, individualized support to improve their outcomes. Tier 3 supports are available to any student with intensive need, 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 through wraparound and person-centered planning
Implementing individualized, comprehensive, and function-based support