8 Strategies for utilizing and implementing PBIS to improve your school discipline and community as a whole.
That responsibility falls on school leadership. After all, a key part of any principal’s job is helping create a positive climate and culture in their building. But is this really going to solve the problem?
Perhaps there is a better way to address these issues.
When PBIS (positive behavior interventions and support) strategies are included in your school discipline plan you can improve the climate and culture in your school. Without increasing your use of exclusionary discipline.
And you can do it by promoting the actions you do want to see more of.
PBIS strategies are intended as preventative measures, not as punishments. The goal is to teach and reinforce to students exactly what positive behavior looks like, so they understand what the expectations are of them.
Different situations have different expectations and require different behaviors. Students should be given opportunities to practice these.
PBIS does not ignore problem behavior but rather offers an alternative, more effective solution to correct it. It’s a way of being proactive, rather than reactive. Misbehaviors should still be addressed, but this interaction should be brief, specific, and individualized.
With PBIS, more attention is given to praising the correct behavior when it is displayed, than focusing on negative behavior.
PBIS not only leads to improved student behavior, but it also helps with attendance, and students earning better grades. If you can intervene early, using a variety of different PBIS strategies, you are likely to prevent more serious behavior problems in the future.
Implementing PBIS strategies in your school is a good way to improve the climate and culture of your building, by reducing bullying and fostering a greater sense of community. It’s a way to create a safe, positive, and equitable environment, where everyone has the opportunity to be seen and thrive.
In order to make PBIS tiers work in your school, all staff must be on board. This can take time, and some convincing, but it is a crucial component. There are different tiers of PBIS initiatives, and everyone should be trained on the differences.
By helping everyone understand the goals and objectives of the system, faculty and staff are more likely to reinforce positive behavior and even try their own PBIS strategies in their classrooms or specialty areas.
Students are all different, and therefore a combination of PBIS strategies is recommended. Here is just a sampling of some school-wide strategies you can try implementing:
Being present doesn’t just mean being physically in the building, in your office, or behind a computer. Yes, we all get caught up in our work. But as a building principal, it’s important for you to be regularly seen in the hallways, in the classrooms, and in other key places, such as the cafeteria at lunch.
Students and teachers should not feel that the only time they see you is when there is a problem, or for a classroom observation. Invest the time in getting to know your students and staff on a more personal level.
No matter how big or how small the achievement, students (and staff) like to receive praise. Try to be specific in your praise, timely, and sincere.
Making generalized statements like “Good job!” is not as effective as something like, “Good job, John, on cleaning up your area at the lunch table. It makes the cafeteria worker’s job easier when students help out.”
Ask students for their input in drafting school expectations. Why do they think certain ones are more important than others? Discuss the benefits and necessity of creating a behavior rubric. Try to minimize the number of expectations you have, by making them as overarching as possible using a PBIS matrix.
Once these are created, have students sign off on them to show their agreement. This way everyone is on the same page regarding what the behavioral expectations are.
For more on including students in the process, check out how “Wirt High School Improved Referrals by 48% and Attendance by 4% in 3 Months”.
Set up some type of rewards system that all students in the school can participate in and work toward. Whether they earn checkmarks, stickers, school “cash,” or some other type of token economy for positive behavior, allow students to exchange these for some type of reward.
Students like to take responsibility for keeping track of what they earn, and you can even help them set goals for themselves. One idea would be to create a school reward store, where students can use PBIS points to redeem things like water bottle stickers, books, stickers, and other small rewards.
The rewards do not need to be physical items, however. You could also host a monthly “Picnic Lunch” for all reward earners.
A lot of teachers and schools struggle with how to implement PBIS and SEL effectively, citing time as a major roadblock. However, small changes can make a big difference!
Consider starting or ending each school day with five minutes of meditation, or asking students for their feedback on a school-wide decision like new playground equipment. You don’t have to implement an entire curriculum to make PBIS points and SEL work in your school.
For more on making SEL and PBIS work in your school check out “How The Glendale School Improved Student Belonging by 14% and Teacher Fidelity by 23% - in Just One Year”.
A great way to include all stakeholders and build strong community relations is to involve local businesses in your school. You’ll find that most of them love to give back to the community, and are more than willing to get involved.
Whether they physically come to your school, or you have classes go visit them, and decide how you might be able to work with various types of businesses in your area. Then, how you can get students and staff involved?
When done correctly, you can fully weave PBIS into your school culture.
Maybe you host a fundraiser with a local ice cream shop, and they donate a portion of their sales back to the school to be used to purchase classroom games.
Or perhaps you want to start a garden on your school grounds, and you ask a local gardening center to donate some plants and other supplies. The possibilities are endless!
If you have the space…even if it’s just a corner of a room…design an area where students can go to decompress or lounge when they need a brain break. This also might be an opportunity to involve local businesses in the process, and certainly a chance to ask students for their input on what the space should include.
These usually exist at a lot of middle and high schools already, but there’s no reason a student council can’t also be established in elementary schools as well. One way to make PBIS successful is to gather as much student feedback as possible.
Having classroom representatives that can be the voice of all students, and meeting regularly with them, is one way to ensure this. No matter what level the students are at, ask them for feedback regarding what PBIS strategies they think are working or not working in your school.
PBIS can make a difference at every level, but there are a few key components to ensure its success:
School staff who claim PBIS didn’t work for them, likely weren’t consistent in their approach, or didn’t try it long enough. Remember, it takes a while to make a change, and improvements will not happen overnight.
Being able to implement a successful PBIS system in your school will make the faculty and staff’s days easier, and set your students up for greater success. This will ultimately allow you as the principal to do your job more effectively, by dealing with fewer behavior issues and office referrals. It’s a win-win for everyone.
That responsibility falls on school leadership. After all, a key part of any principal’s job is helping create a positive climate and culture in their building. But is this really going to solve the problem?
Perhaps there is a better way to address these issues.
When PBIS (positive behavior interventions and support) strategies are included in your school discipline plan you can improve the climate and culture in your school. Without increasing your use of exclusionary discipline.
And you can do it by promoting the actions you do want to see more of.
PBIS strategies are intended as preventative measures, not as punishments. The goal is to teach and reinforce to students exactly what positive behavior looks like, so they understand what the expectations are of them.
Different situations have different expectations and require different behaviors. Students should be given opportunities to practice these.
PBIS does not ignore problem behavior but rather offers an alternative, more effective solution to correct it. It’s a way of being proactive, rather than reactive. Misbehaviors should still be addressed, but this interaction should be brief, specific, and individualized.
With PBIS, more attention is given to praising the correct behavior when it is displayed, than focusing on negative behavior.
PBIS not only leads to improved student behavior, but it also helps with attendance, and students earning better grades. If you can intervene early, using a variety of different PBIS strategies, you are likely to prevent more serious behavior problems in the future.
Implementing PBIS strategies in your school is a good way to improve the climate and culture of your building, by reducing bullying and fostering a greater sense of community. It’s a way to create a safe, positive, and equitable environment, where everyone has the opportunity to be seen and thrive.
In order to make PBIS tiers work in your school, all staff must be on board. This can take time, and some convincing, but it is a crucial component. There are different tiers of PBIS initiatives, and everyone should be trained on the differences.
By helping everyone understand the goals and objectives of the system, faculty and staff are more likely to reinforce positive behavior and even try their own PBIS strategies in their classrooms or specialty areas.
Students are all different, and therefore a combination of PBIS strategies is recommended. Here is just a sampling of some school-wide strategies you can try implementing:
Being present doesn’t just mean being physically in the building, in your office, or behind a computer. Yes, we all get caught up in our work. But as a building principal, it’s important for you to be regularly seen in the hallways, in the classrooms, and in other key places, such as the cafeteria at lunch.
Students and teachers should not feel that the only time they see you is when there is a problem, or for a classroom observation. Invest the time in getting to know your students and staff on a more personal level.
No matter how big or how small the achievement, students (and staff) like to receive praise. Try to be specific in your praise, timely, and sincere.
Making generalized statements like “Good job!” is not as effective as something like, “Good job, John, on cleaning up your area at the lunch table. It makes the cafeteria worker’s job easier when students help out.”
Ask students for their input in drafting school expectations. Why do they think certain ones are more important than others? Discuss the benefits and necessity of creating a behavior rubric. Try to minimize the number of expectations you have, by making them as overarching as possible using a PBIS matrix.
Once these are created, have students sign off on them to show their agreement. This way everyone is on the same page regarding what the behavioral expectations are.
For more on including students in the process, check out how “Wirt High School Improved Referrals by 48% and Attendance by 4% in 3 Months”.
Set up some type of rewards system that all students in the school can participate in and work toward. Whether they earn checkmarks, stickers, school “cash,” or some other type of token economy for positive behavior, allow students to exchange these for some type of reward.
Students like to take responsibility for keeping track of what they earn, and you can even help them set goals for themselves. One idea would be to create a school reward store, where students can use PBIS points to redeem things like water bottle stickers, books, stickers, and other small rewards.
The rewards do not need to be physical items, however. You could also host a monthly “Picnic Lunch” for all reward earners.
A lot of teachers and schools struggle with how to implement PBIS and SEL effectively, citing time as a major roadblock. However, small changes can make a big difference!
Consider starting or ending each school day with five minutes of meditation, or asking students for their feedback on a school-wide decision like new playground equipment. You don’t have to implement an entire curriculum to make PBIS points and SEL work in your school.
For more on making SEL and PBIS work in your school check out “How The Glendale School Improved Student Belonging by 14% and Teacher Fidelity by 23% - in Just One Year”.
A great way to include all stakeholders and build strong community relations is to involve local businesses in your school. You’ll find that most of them love to give back to the community, and are more than willing to get involved.
Whether they physically come to your school, or you have classes go visit them, and decide how you might be able to work with various types of businesses in your area. Then, how you can get students and staff involved?
When done correctly, you can fully weave PBIS into your school culture.
Maybe you host a fundraiser with a local ice cream shop, and they donate a portion of their sales back to the school to be used to purchase classroom games.
Or perhaps you want to start a garden on your school grounds, and you ask a local gardening center to donate some plants and other supplies. The possibilities are endless!
If you have the space…even if it’s just a corner of a room…design an area where students can go to decompress or lounge when they need a brain break. This also might be an opportunity to involve local businesses in the process, and certainly a chance to ask students for their input on what the space should include.
These usually exist at a lot of middle and high schools already, but there’s no reason a student council can’t also be established in elementary schools as well. One way to make PBIS successful is to gather as much student feedback as possible.
Having classroom representatives that can be the voice of all students, and meeting regularly with them, is one way to ensure this. No matter what level the students are at, ask them for feedback regarding what PBIS strategies they think are working or not working in your school.
PBIS can make a difference at every level, but there are a few key components to ensure its success:
School staff who claim PBIS didn’t work for them, likely weren’t consistent in their approach, or didn’t try it long enough. Remember, it takes a while to make a change, and improvements will not happen overnight.
Being able to implement a successful PBIS system in your school will make the faculty and staff’s days easier, and set your students up for greater success. This will ultimately allow you as the principal to do your job more effectively, by dealing with fewer behavior issues and office referrals. It’s a win-win for everyone.
That responsibility falls on school leadership. After all, a key part of any principal’s job is helping create a positive climate and culture in their building. But is this really going to solve the problem?
Perhaps there is a better way to address these issues.
When PBIS (positive behavior interventions and support) strategies are included in your school discipline plan you can improve the climate and culture in your school. Without increasing your use of exclusionary discipline.
And you can do it by promoting the actions you do want to see more of.
PBIS strategies are intended as preventative measures, not as punishments. The goal is to teach and reinforce to students exactly what positive behavior looks like, so they understand what the expectations are of them.
Different situations have different expectations and require different behaviors. Students should be given opportunities to practice these.
PBIS does not ignore problem behavior but rather offers an alternative, more effective solution to correct it. It’s a way of being proactive, rather than reactive. Misbehaviors should still be addressed, but this interaction should be brief, specific, and individualized.
With PBIS, more attention is given to praising the correct behavior when it is displayed, than focusing on negative behavior.
PBIS not only leads to improved student behavior, but it also helps with attendance, and students earning better grades. If you can intervene early, using a variety of different PBIS strategies, you are likely to prevent more serious behavior problems in the future.
Implementing PBIS strategies in your school is a good way to improve the climate and culture of your building, by reducing bullying and fostering a greater sense of community. It’s a way to create a safe, positive, and equitable environment, where everyone has the opportunity to be seen and thrive.
In order to make PBIS tiers work in your school, all staff must be on board. This can take time, and some convincing, but it is a crucial component. There are different tiers of PBIS initiatives, and everyone should be trained on the differences.
By helping everyone understand the goals and objectives of the system, faculty and staff are more likely to reinforce positive behavior and even try their own PBIS strategies in their classrooms or specialty areas.
Students are all different, and therefore a combination of PBIS strategies is recommended. Here is just a sampling of some school-wide strategies you can try implementing:
Being present doesn’t just mean being physically in the building, in your office, or behind a computer. Yes, we all get caught up in our work. But as a building principal, it’s important for you to be regularly seen in the hallways, in the classrooms, and in other key places, such as the cafeteria at lunch.
Students and teachers should not feel that the only time they see you is when there is a problem, or for a classroom observation. Invest the time in getting to know your students and staff on a more personal level.
No matter how big or how small the achievement, students (and staff) like to receive praise. Try to be specific in your praise, timely, and sincere.
Making generalized statements like “Good job!” is not as effective as something like, “Good job, John, on cleaning up your area at the lunch table. It makes the cafeteria worker’s job easier when students help out.”
Ask students for their input in drafting school expectations. Why do they think certain ones are more important than others? Discuss the benefits and necessity of creating a behavior rubric. Try to minimize the number of expectations you have, by making them as overarching as possible using a PBIS matrix.
Once these are created, have students sign off on them to show their agreement. This way everyone is on the same page regarding what the behavioral expectations are.
For more on including students in the process, check out how “Wirt High School Improved Referrals by 48% and Attendance by 4% in 3 Months”.
Set up some type of rewards system that all students in the school can participate in and work toward. Whether they earn checkmarks, stickers, school “cash,” or some other type of token economy for positive behavior, allow students to exchange these for some type of reward.
Students like to take responsibility for keeping track of what they earn, and you can even help them set goals for themselves. One idea would be to create a school reward store, where students can use PBIS points to redeem things like water bottle stickers, books, stickers, and other small rewards.
The rewards do not need to be physical items, however. You could also host a monthly “Picnic Lunch” for all reward earners.
A lot of teachers and schools struggle with how to implement PBIS and SEL effectively, citing time as a major roadblock. However, small changes can make a big difference!
Consider starting or ending each school day with five minutes of meditation, or asking students for their feedback on a school-wide decision like new playground equipment. You don’t have to implement an entire curriculum to make PBIS points and SEL work in your school.
For more on making SEL and PBIS work in your school check out “How The Glendale School Improved Student Belonging by 14% and Teacher Fidelity by 23% - in Just One Year”.
A great way to include all stakeholders and build strong community relations is to involve local businesses in your school. You’ll find that most of them love to give back to the community, and are more than willing to get involved.
Whether they physically come to your school, or you have classes go visit them, and decide how you might be able to work with various types of businesses in your area. Then, how you can get students and staff involved?
When done correctly, you can fully weave PBIS into your school culture.
Maybe you host a fundraiser with a local ice cream shop, and they donate a portion of their sales back to the school to be used to purchase classroom games.
Or perhaps you want to start a garden on your school grounds, and you ask a local gardening center to donate some plants and other supplies. The possibilities are endless!
If you have the space…even if it’s just a corner of a room…design an area where students can go to decompress or lounge when they need a brain break. This also might be an opportunity to involve local businesses in the process, and certainly a chance to ask students for their input on what the space should include.
These usually exist at a lot of middle and high schools already, but there’s no reason a student council can’t also be established in elementary schools as well. One way to make PBIS successful is to gather as much student feedback as possible.
Having classroom representatives that can be the voice of all students, and meeting regularly with them, is one way to ensure this. No matter what level the students are at, ask them for feedback regarding what PBIS strategies they think are working or not working in your school.
PBIS can make a difference at every level, but there are a few key components to ensure its success:
School staff who claim PBIS didn’t work for them, likely weren’t consistent in their approach, or didn’t try it long enough. Remember, it takes a while to make a change, and improvements will not happen overnight.
Being able to implement a successful PBIS system in your school will make the faculty and staff’s days easier, and set your students up for greater success. This will ultimately allow you as the principal to do your job more effectively, by dealing with fewer behavior issues and office referrals. It’s a win-win for everyone.
That responsibility falls on school leadership. After all, a key part of any principal’s job is helping create a positive climate and culture in their building. But is this really going to solve the problem?
Perhaps there is a better way to address these issues.
When PBIS (positive behavior interventions and support) strategies are included in your school discipline plan you can improve the climate and culture in your school. Without increasing your use of exclusionary discipline.
And you can do it by promoting the actions you do want to see more of.
PBIS strategies are intended as preventative measures, not as punishments. The goal is to teach and reinforce to students exactly what positive behavior looks like, so they understand what the expectations are of them.
Different situations have different expectations and require different behaviors. Students should be given opportunities to practice these.
PBIS does not ignore problem behavior but rather offers an alternative, more effective solution to correct it. It’s a way of being proactive, rather than reactive. Misbehaviors should still be addressed, but this interaction should be brief, specific, and individualized.
With PBIS, more attention is given to praising the correct behavior when it is displayed, than focusing on negative behavior.
PBIS not only leads to improved student behavior, but it also helps with attendance, and students earning better grades. If you can intervene early, using a variety of different PBIS strategies, you are likely to prevent more serious behavior problems in the future.
Implementing PBIS strategies in your school is a good way to improve the climate and culture of your building, by reducing bullying and fostering a greater sense of community. It’s a way to create a safe, positive, and equitable environment, where everyone has the opportunity to be seen and thrive.
In order to make PBIS tiers work in your school, all staff must be on board. This can take time, and some convincing, but it is a crucial component. There are different tiers of PBIS initiatives, and everyone should be trained on the differences.
By helping everyone understand the goals and objectives of the system, faculty and staff are more likely to reinforce positive behavior and even try their own PBIS strategies in their classrooms or specialty areas.
Students are all different, and therefore a combination of PBIS strategies is recommended. Here is just a sampling of some school-wide strategies you can try implementing:
Being present doesn’t just mean being physically in the building, in your office, or behind a computer. Yes, we all get caught up in our work. But as a building principal, it’s important for you to be regularly seen in the hallways, in the classrooms, and in other key places, such as the cafeteria at lunch.
Students and teachers should not feel that the only time they see you is when there is a problem, or for a classroom observation. Invest the time in getting to know your students and staff on a more personal level.
No matter how big or how small the achievement, students (and staff) like to receive praise. Try to be specific in your praise, timely, and sincere.
Making generalized statements like “Good job!” is not as effective as something like, “Good job, John, on cleaning up your area at the lunch table. It makes the cafeteria worker’s job easier when students help out.”
Ask students for their input in drafting school expectations. Why do they think certain ones are more important than others? Discuss the benefits and necessity of creating a behavior rubric. Try to minimize the number of expectations you have, by making them as overarching as possible using a PBIS matrix.
Once these are created, have students sign off on them to show their agreement. This way everyone is on the same page regarding what the behavioral expectations are.
For more on including students in the process, check out how “Wirt High School Improved Referrals by 48% and Attendance by 4% in 3 Months”.
Set up some type of rewards system that all students in the school can participate in and work toward. Whether they earn checkmarks, stickers, school “cash,” or some other type of token economy for positive behavior, allow students to exchange these for some type of reward.
Students like to take responsibility for keeping track of what they earn, and you can even help them set goals for themselves. One idea would be to create a school reward store, where students can use PBIS points to redeem things like water bottle stickers, books, stickers, and other small rewards.
The rewards do not need to be physical items, however. You could also host a monthly “Picnic Lunch” for all reward earners.
A lot of teachers and schools struggle with how to implement PBIS and SEL effectively, citing time as a major roadblock. However, small changes can make a big difference!
Consider starting or ending each school day with five minutes of meditation, or asking students for their feedback on a school-wide decision like new playground equipment. You don’t have to implement an entire curriculum to make PBIS points and SEL work in your school.
For more on making SEL and PBIS work in your school check out “How The Glendale School Improved Student Belonging by 14% and Teacher Fidelity by 23% - in Just One Year”.
A great way to include all stakeholders and build strong community relations is to involve local businesses in your school. You’ll find that most of them love to give back to the community, and are more than willing to get involved.
Whether they physically come to your school, or you have classes go visit them, and decide how you might be able to work with various types of businesses in your area. Then, how you can get students and staff involved?
When done correctly, you can fully weave PBIS into your school culture.
Maybe you host a fundraiser with a local ice cream shop, and they donate a portion of their sales back to the school to be used to purchase classroom games.
Or perhaps you want to start a garden on your school grounds, and you ask a local gardening center to donate some plants and other supplies. The possibilities are endless!
If you have the space…even if it’s just a corner of a room…design an area where students can go to decompress or lounge when they need a brain break. This also might be an opportunity to involve local businesses in the process, and certainly a chance to ask students for their input on what the space should include.
These usually exist at a lot of middle and high schools already, but there’s no reason a student council can’t also be established in elementary schools as well. One way to make PBIS successful is to gather as much student feedback as possible.
Having classroom representatives that can be the voice of all students, and meeting regularly with them, is one way to ensure this. No matter what level the students are at, ask them for feedback regarding what PBIS strategies they think are working or not working in your school.
PBIS can make a difference at every level, but there are a few key components to ensure its success:
School staff who claim PBIS didn’t work for them, likely weren’t consistent in their approach, or didn’t try it long enough. Remember, it takes a while to make a change, and improvements will not happen overnight.
Being able to implement a successful PBIS system in your school will make the faculty and staff’s days easier, and set your students up for greater success. This will ultimately allow you as the principal to do your job more effectively, by dealing with fewer behavior issues and office referrals. It’s a win-win for everyone.
Becky Thal currently works as an edtech consultant in the field of marketing. Previous roles have included 5th grade math/science teacher and advertising executive. Becky is active in many online communities, as well as her local community. She is always open to collaborating on new projects! In her spare time, Becky enjoys trips to the beach, trying new restaurants, and attending her kids’ various sports games and events. She lives with her husband, three children, and Labradoodle, in New Jersey.
As behavior issues in classrooms continue to rise, so do concerns over student safety. Many teachers, parents, and lawmakers across the country are pushing for harsher school discipline, including more suspensions and expulsions.
That responsibility falls on school leadership. After all, a key part of any principal’s job is helping create a positive climate and culture in their building. But is this really going to solve the problem?
Perhaps there is a better way to address these issues.
When PBIS (positive behavior interventions and support) strategies are included in your school discipline plan you can improve the climate and culture in your school. Without increasing your use of exclusionary discipline.
And you can do it by promoting the actions you do want to see more of.
PBIS strategies are intended as preventative measures, not as punishments. The goal is to teach and reinforce to students exactly what positive behavior looks like, so they understand what the expectations are of them.
Different situations have different expectations and require different behaviors. Students should be given opportunities to practice these.
PBIS does not ignore problem behavior but rather offers an alternative, more effective solution to correct it. It’s a way of being proactive, rather than reactive. Misbehaviors should still be addressed, but this interaction should be brief, specific, and individualized.
With PBIS, more attention is given to praising the correct behavior when it is displayed, than focusing on negative behavior.
PBIS not only leads to improved student behavior, but it also helps with attendance, and students earning better grades. If you can intervene early, using a variety of different PBIS strategies, you are likely to prevent more serious behavior problems in the future.
Implementing PBIS strategies in your school is a good way to improve the climate and culture of your building, by reducing bullying and fostering a greater sense of community. It’s a way to create a safe, positive, and equitable environment, where everyone has the opportunity to be seen and thrive.
In order to make PBIS tiers work in your school, all staff must be on board. This can take time, and some convincing, but it is a crucial component. There are different tiers of PBIS initiatives, and everyone should be trained on the differences.
By helping everyone understand the goals and objectives of the system, faculty and staff are more likely to reinforce positive behavior and even try their own PBIS strategies in their classrooms or specialty areas.
Students are all different, and therefore a combination of PBIS strategies is recommended. Here is just a sampling of some school-wide strategies you can try implementing:
Being present doesn’t just mean being physically in the building, in your office, or behind a computer. Yes, we all get caught up in our work. But as a building principal, it’s important for you to be regularly seen in the hallways, in the classrooms, and in other key places, such as the cafeteria at lunch.
Students and teachers should not feel that the only time they see you is when there is a problem, or for a classroom observation. Invest the time in getting to know your students and staff on a more personal level.
No matter how big or how small the achievement, students (and staff) like to receive praise. Try to be specific in your praise, timely, and sincere.
Making generalized statements like “Good job!” is not as effective as something like, “Good job, John, on cleaning up your area at the lunch table. It makes the cafeteria worker’s job easier when students help out.”
Ask students for their input in drafting school expectations. Why do they think certain ones are more important than others? Discuss the benefits and necessity of creating a behavior rubric. Try to minimize the number of expectations you have, by making them as overarching as possible using a PBIS matrix.
Once these are created, have students sign off on them to show their agreement. This way everyone is on the same page regarding what the behavioral expectations are.
For more on including students in the process, check out how “Wirt High School Improved Referrals by 48% and Attendance by 4% in 3 Months”.
Set up some type of rewards system that all students in the school can participate in and work toward. Whether they earn checkmarks, stickers, school “cash,” or some other type of token economy for positive behavior, allow students to exchange these for some type of reward.
Students like to take responsibility for keeping track of what they earn, and you can even help them set goals for themselves. One idea would be to create a school reward store, where students can use PBIS points to redeem things like water bottle stickers, books, stickers, and other small rewards.
The rewards do not need to be physical items, however. You could also host a monthly “Picnic Lunch” for all reward earners.
A lot of teachers and schools struggle with how to implement PBIS and SEL effectively, citing time as a major roadblock. However, small changes can make a big difference!
Consider starting or ending each school day with five minutes of meditation, or asking students for their feedback on a school-wide decision like new playground equipment. You don’t have to implement an entire curriculum to make PBIS points and SEL work in your school.
For more on making SEL and PBIS work in your school check out “How The Glendale School Improved Student Belonging by 14% and Teacher Fidelity by 23% - in Just One Year”.
A great way to include all stakeholders and build strong community relations is to involve local businesses in your school. You’ll find that most of them love to give back to the community, and are more than willing to get involved.
Whether they physically come to your school, or you have classes go visit them, and decide how you might be able to work with various types of businesses in your area. Then, how you can get students and staff involved?
When done correctly, you can fully weave PBIS into your school culture.
Maybe you host a fundraiser with a local ice cream shop, and they donate a portion of their sales back to the school to be used to purchase classroom games.
Or perhaps you want to start a garden on your school grounds, and you ask a local gardening center to donate some plants and other supplies. The possibilities are endless!
If you have the space…even if it’s just a corner of a room…design an area where students can go to decompress or lounge when they need a brain break. This also might be an opportunity to involve local businesses in the process, and certainly a chance to ask students for their input on what the space should include.
These usually exist at a lot of middle and high schools already, but there’s no reason a student council can’t also be established in elementary schools as well. One way to make PBIS successful is to gather as much student feedback as possible.
Having classroom representatives that can be the voice of all students, and meeting regularly with them, is one way to ensure this. No matter what level the students are at, ask them for feedback regarding what PBIS strategies they think are working or not working in your school.
PBIS can make a difference at every level, but there are a few key components to ensure its success:
School staff who claim PBIS didn’t work for them, likely weren’t consistent in their approach, or didn’t try it long enough. Remember, it takes a while to make a change, and improvements will not happen overnight.
Being able to implement a successful PBIS system in your school will make the faculty and staff’s days easier, and set your students up for greater success. This will ultimately allow you as the principal to do your job more effectively, by dealing with fewer behavior issues and office referrals. It’s a win-win for everyone.
As behavior issues in classrooms continue to rise, so do concerns over student safety. Many teachers, parents, and lawmakers across the country are pushing for harsher school discipline, including more suspensions and expulsions.
That responsibility falls on school leadership. After all, a key part of any principal’s job is helping create a positive climate and culture in their building. But is this really going to solve the problem?
Perhaps there is a better way to address these issues.
When PBIS (positive behavior interventions and support) strategies are included in your school discipline plan you can improve the climate and culture in your school. Without increasing your use of exclusionary discipline.
And you can do it by promoting the actions you do want to see more of.
PBIS strategies are intended as preventative measures, not as punishments. The goal is to teach and reinforce to students exactly what positive behavior looks like, so they understand what the expectations are of them.
Different situations have different expectations and require different behaviors. Students should be given opportunities to practice these.
PBIS does not ignore problem behavior but rather offers an alternative, more effective solution to correct it. It’s a way of being proactive, rather than reactive. Misbehaviors should still be addressed, but this interaction should be brief, specific, and individualized.
With PBIS, more attention is given to praising the correct behavior when it is displayed, than focusing on negative behavior.
PBIS not only leads to improved student behavior, but it also helps with attendance, and students earning better grades. If you can intervene early, using a variety of different PBIS strategies, you are likely to prevent more serious behavior problems in the future.
Implementing PBIS strategies in your school is a good way to improve the climate and culture of your building, by reducing bullying and fostering a greater sense of community. It’s a way to create a safe, positive, and equitable environment, where everyone has the opportunity to be seen and thrive.
In order to make PBIS tiers work in your school, all staff must be on board. This can take time, and some convincing, but it is a crucial component. There are different tiers of PBIS initiatives, and everyone should be trained on the differences.
By helping everyone understand the goals and objectives of the system, faculty and staff are more likely to reinforce positive behavior and even try their own PBIS strategies in their classrooms or specialty areas.
Students are all different, and therefore a combination of PBIS strategies is recommended. Here is just a sampling of some school-wide strategies you can try implementing:
Being present doesn’t just mean being physically in the building, in your office, or behind a computer. Yes, we all get caught up in our work. But as a building principal, it’s important for you to be regularly seen in the hallways, in the classrooms, and in other key places, such as the cafeteria at lunch.
Students and teachers should not feel that the only time they see you is when there is a problem, or for a classroom observation. Invest the time in getting to know your students and staff on a more personal level.
No matter how big or how small the achievement, students (and staff) like to receive praise. Try to be specific in your praise, timely, and sincere.
Making generalized statements like “Good job!” is not as effective as something like, “Good job, John, on cleaning up your area at the lunch table. It makes the cafeteria worker’s job easier when students help out.”
Ask students for their input in drafting school expectations. Why do they think certain ones are more important than others? Discuss the benefits and necessity of creating a behavior rubric. Try to minimize the number of expectations you have, by making them as overarching as possible using a PBIS matrix.
Once these are created, have students sign off on them to show their agreement. This way everyone is on the same page regarding what the behavioral expectations are.
For more on including students in the process, check out how “Wirt High School Improved Referrals by 48% and Attendance by 4% in 3 Months”.
Set up some type of rewards system that all students in the school can participate in and work toward. Whether they earn checkmarks, stickers, school “cash,” or some other type of token economy for positive behavior, allow students to exchange these for some type of reward.
Students like to take responsibility for keeping track of what they earn, and you can even help them set goals for themselves. One idea would be to create a school reward store, where students can use PBIS points to redeem things like water bottle stickers, books, stickers, and other small rewards.
The rewards do not need to be physical items, however. You could also host a monthly “Picnic Lunch” for all reward earners.
A lot of teachers and schools struggle with how to implement PBIS and SEL effectively, citing time as a major roadblock. However, small changes can make a big difference!
Consider starting or ending each school day with five minutes of meditation, or asking students for their feedback on a school-wide decision like new playground equipment. You don’t have to implement an entire curriculum to make PBIS points and SEL work in your school.
For more on making SEL and PBIS work in your school check out “How The Glendale School Improved Student Belonging by 14% and Teacher Fidelity by 23% - in Just One Year”.
A great way to include all stakeholders and build strong community relations is to involve local businesses in your school. You’ll find that most of them love to give back to the community, and are more than willing to get involved.
Whether they physically come to your school, or you have classes go visit them, and decide how you might be able to work with various types of businesses in your area. Then, how you can get students and staff involved?
When done correctly, you can fully weave PBIS into your school culture.
Maybe you host a fundraiser with a local ice cream shop, and they donate a portion of their sales back to the school to be used to purchase classroom games.
Or perhaps you want to start a garden on your school grounds, and you ask a local gardening center to donate some plants and other supplies. The possibilities are endless!
If you have the space…even if it’s just a corner of a room…design an area where students can go to decompress or lounge when they need a brain break. This also might be an opportunity to involve local businesses in the process, and certainly a chance to ask students for their input on what the space should include.
These usually exist at a lot of middle and high schools already, but there’s no reason a student council can’t also be established in elementary schools as well. One way to make PBIS successful is to gather as much student feedback as possible.
Having classroom representatives that can be the voice of all students, and meeting regularly with them, is one way to ensure this. No matter what level the students are at, ask them for feedback regarding what PBIS strategies they think are working or not working in your school.
PBIS can make a difference at every level, but there are a few key components to ensure its success:
School staff who claim PBIS didn’t work for them, likely weren’t consistent in their approach, or didn’t try it long enough. Remember, it takes a while to make a change, and improvements will not happen overnight.
Being able to implement a successful PBIS system in your school will make the faculty and staff’s days easier, and set your students up for greater success. This will ultimately allow you as the principal to do your job more effectively, by dealing with fewer behavior issues and office referrals. It’s a win-win for everyone.
All the behavior resources you need to create the positive culture your school community deserves.
