Keeping it Positive

Keeping it Positive

PBIS’s Impact on School Culture

The implementation of PBIS can have a profound impact on your school culture and establish desirable conditions for an emotionally and physically safe learning environment. Prior to PBIS implementation, our school of 670 students had over 1,600 office referrals for major problem behaviors. Through the implementation of PBIS and our faculty’s commitment to continuous improvement, this number dropped to an annual average of 435 office referrals over the last four years. A reduction on that scale is estimated to have saved more than 23,000 instructional minutes given the measure of 20 minutes lost per student referral.

At the core of the PBIS framework is a commitment to direct instruction of expected student behaviors and a focus on seeking out and encouraging desired behaviors. Too often our attention turns negative as we observe learning errors or problem behaviors in the classroom. Best practice in PBIS advocates the 80/20 rule for classroom management with no less than 80 percent of practices being prevention based. Most researchers endorse a minimal ratio of 4:1 positive to corrective feedback in the classroom or in a schoolwide setting. Depending on specific student needs, that ratio may need to increase. Given the importance of team leadership to the sustainability of a PBIS initiative, it’s essential to prioritize time for team building during professional development. Schoolwide trainings are excellent opportunities to check for understanding and clearly define schoolwide and classroom expectations.