Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Artifact

Reflections

Effective classroom management involves a complex set of factors that stem beyond the establishment of frameworks for implementing effective interventions. We want our students to ask questions, challenge beliefs, question values, critique systems, be curious about their world, and feel a sense of belonging to it. This is a matter of inspiring them to think creatively, to solve problems, and to care not only about themselves but about people who are very different from them. Through effective modeling, students can learn to listen to others intently and to see diverse perspectives as central qualities to becoming an empathic, interculturally competent citizenry.

This cannot happen if the environment is not safe and supportive for learning. PBIS is one model for attempting to engage in a radical paradigm shift through district-wide programming that seeks out ways to educate every student to the best of our ability through effective management. This, in effect, can serve to reverse negative cycles that perpetuate the status quo. In this sense, teacher preparedness and development, instructional practices, and relationship-building are inextricably tied to the successful implementation of PBIS, and thus increased learning that is happening in the classroom as a result.

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PBIS is one example of a MTSS utilized along a continuum involving core, secondary and tertiary supports to intervene early and plays a central role in shifting the culture of the classroom and school from one of power and authority to community. It considers the individual and places emphasis on respect and empathy as that which can better interpret the motivations and antecedents catalyzing student behaviors, instead of always treating the behaviors in late stages of unfolding. Having the willingness and capacity to contextualize the lives of students, supports the culture of informed decision-making and progress-monitoring, leading to much more effective classroom management. ​

Preventative measures ensure that classroom expectations & consequences are clearly articulated and practiced, teachers instructional practices are effective and universally designed to include all students, academic expectations are high, (supporting a growth mindset), and students are confident that the teacher has genuine concern for their personal and academic success.

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Targeted and individualized (Tier II & III) interventions are based on appropriate actions and consequences, clear communications, data-collection, informed decision-making, consistency, and empathy.

Three areas that are of vital interest for schools as they move to implement PBIS: 1) Are teachers well-trained in evidence-based instruction and behavioral interventions? 2) Are systems in place to work closely with families in supportive and positive ways? 3) Are principles and teachers willing to engage in real discussions regarding institutional barriers that do not support culturally or "multiculturally" responsive classrooms.