Critical Questions regarding PBS in East Baton Rouge Parish Schools:
1. Why PBIS? Why now?
The Juvenile Justice Reform Act 1225 states that all schools must implement and document "positive behavior strategies" in schools. Implementing the process of Positive Behavior Support school-wide satisfies this requirement by the legislature.
In addition to the law, most schools agree that students in the past few years have changed dramatically in terms of motivation, content mastery, and behavior in the classroom. Teachers are frustrated because they are dealing with an enormous amount of inappropriate behavior and as a result, valuable instructional time is being lost. Parents are distraught because they do not feel as if their child's needs are being met. All of these factors contribute greatly to the need for offering a more positive, consistent school environment where everyone succeeds.
2. Is every faculty member trained in PBIS?
Each school is required to have a PBS team that is representative of their staff. The team must include the principal and assistant principal, and up to 3 teachers of their choice. The team will be trained during the Summer. In turn, the team will train their faculty and tailor the process to meet their schools' needs.
3. How long will it take before a school can see results in terms of behavior?
If the process of PBIS is implemented with fidelity, results can be seen relatively quickly. Since each school is different, results will vary depending on various factors such as teacher buy-in, consistency, and adminstrative influence. PBS focuses its entire philosophy on DATA. Schools will be required to look at their discipline data, share it with the faculty, and make decisions based on this valuable data. PBIS is a PROCESS that usually takes between 3-5 years to fully implement.
4. How will each school be supported by the District to implement this initiative?
(A). Every school is required to have a PBIS Team, whose members will serve as a liaison between the their school and the district. Members of the PBIS team collectively have the following responsibilities: ensure that the PBS team is meeting at least monthly, record progression of the school and report that to the district, and disseminate information from the district to the school. A member of the PBIS TEam will be required to meet monthly with the district to report progression and have critical issues addressed so that the schools can make decisions based on best practices.
(B). The district will host Technical Assistance (TA) SEminars for PBIS Teams. There will be a TA Seminar in the Fall and one in the Spring for PBIS Teams to collaborate on issues such as faculty buy-in/support, data-based decision making, funding, and sustainabililty issues. TA Seminars are designed to celebrate successes of schools with regards to behavior. In addition, it is a time to collaborate with other schools and to brainstorm new ideas and offer solutions to barriers that schools may encounter during implementation.
(C). The district will provide on-going follow-up training specifically designed to address various implementation barriers identified by the schools' needs as well as the district data.
(D) East Baton Rouge Parish is only one of a few districts in Louisiana who has employed a full time PBIS District Coordinator and PBIS Interventionists to address this initiative.
5. Since there are already so many mandates in education, how will schools have time to implement another initiative?
PBIS is not a curriculum or a kit. Rather it is a process that focuses on:
1. Establishing clear expectations for all students in all setting of the school
2. Identifying positively stated rules for each expectation tailored to every setting of the school
3. Teaching students these expectations and rules
4. Reinforcing students who behave according to the school's expectations/rules
5. Differentiating between minor (classroom-managed) and major (office-managed) behaviors
6. Developing specific consequences for students who choose not to conform to school expectations/rules
7. Evaluate behavioral data and academic data
As a result, the fundamentals of PBS will be embedded in a school. Every person in the school is a stakeholder in this process (administration, faculty, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, parents, and students). PBS will become a common language and should not be "anything extra" for stakeholders to complete, but rather an everyday occurence.
6. What are the barriers to implementing PBIS?
Faculty/School Buy-In: PBIS is only going to be as good as it is delivered to the faculty and the students. Administrative support is crucial for PBIS to be successful. In addition, when the team is training the faculty in the fundamentals of the process, it is imperative that teachers be told how it is going to affect their students in their classroom. Teachers should also know that if PBIS is implemented with consistency, academic improvement should be evident as well because students are spending more instructional time in the classroom, rather than in the office dealing with a referral. If behavior is well managed, all students benefit by being able to focus on academic work rather than attention being given to inappropriate behavior.
Consistent application of school policies: Before PBIS is implemented, the faculty needs to be well-informed about policy changes with regards to how to handle behavior. Often times, teachers are not specifically told how to complete forms or how the school expects them to handle discipline problems in the classroom. Alternatively, teachers want to know that when a referral is written, an appropriate action is taken by administrators. All stakeholders need to be on the same page about school policies and procedures with regards to behavior.
Lack of support: Often times teachers are trained in an initiative, but there is inadequate support to address implementation issues. Since PBIS looks different in every school, it is crucial that the district stay abreast of all issues relating to this process. This is why East Baton Rouge Parish will have both internal, school-based coaches, in some settings and PBIS Interventionists who will serve as the liaisons so that there is an open dialogue with all stakeholders as well as offer follow-up trainings to address specific barriers, host Technical Assistance (TA) Seminars and continually monitor the data to support decisions.
