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Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to establishing the behavioral supports and social culture and needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional and academic success. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining multi-tiered systems of support that improve lifestyle results (personal, health, social, family, work, recreation) for all youth by making targeted misbehavior less effective, efficient, and relevant, and desired behavior more functional.
Frequently, the question is asked, “Why should we have to teach kids to be good? They already know what they are supposed to do. Why can we not just expect good behavior?” In the past, 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 step of a student’s educational experience. Teaching behavioral expectations and rewarding students for following them is a much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to occur before responding. The purpose of PBIS is to establish a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm.
Data-based decision-making aligns curricular instruction and behavioral supports to student and staff needs. Each of our schools has applied PBIS by establishing clear expectations for behavior that are taught, modeled, and reinforced across all settings and by all staff. All three elementary schools use three basic expectations: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe. Monroe Middle School utilizes the Nurtured Heart Approach which emphasizes Mutual Respect and Personal Responsibility. Monroe High School utilizes The Monroe Way of Life which emphasizes Life Ready, College Ready, and Career Ready expectations and lessons that are developmentally appropriate for high school age students.
PBIS has proven its effectiveness and efficiency as an Evidence-Based Practice. (Sugai & Horner, 2007). In Monroe, PBIS has resulted in a 35% reduction in office discipline referrals since the 2010-11 school year.
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