PBIS

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a systems approach to preventing and responding to school and classroom discipline problems. PBIS develops school-wide systems that support staff to teach and promote positive behavior in all students. Schools that implement PBIS focus on taking a team-based system approach and teaching appropriate behavior to all students in the school.  The purpose of PBIS is to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, promote unity, and maximize learning.

Schools that have been successful in implementing school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports describe the following benefits:

• Increases in attendance.

• Student self-reports of a more positive and calm environment.

• Teacher reports of a more positive and calm environment.

• Reduction in the proportion of students who engage in behavioral disruptions.

• Reduction in the number of behavioral disruptions.

Previously, school-wide discipline has focused mainly on reacting to specific student misbehavior by implementing punishment-based strategies including reprimands, loss of privileges, office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Research has shown that the implementation of punishment, especially when it is used inconsistently and in the absence of other positive strategies, is ineffective. Introducing, modeling, and reinforcing positive social behavior is an important aspect of a student’s educational experience. Teaching behavioral expectations and recognizing students for following them is a much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to occur before responding. The purpose of school-wide PBIS is to establish a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm.