School-wide Positive Behavior Support: Linking Social and Academic GainsWashington Association of School Administrators

Rob HornerUniversity of Oregon

www.pbis.orgwww.swis.org

Main Messages•Social behavior is central to achieving

academic gains.

•School-wide PBS is an evidence-based practice for building a positive social culture that will promote both social and academic success.

•Implementation of any evidence-based practice requires a more coordinated focus than typically expected.

What is School-wide Positive Behavior Support?•School-wide PBS is:

A systems approach for establishing the social culture and individualized behavioral supports needed for schools to be effective learning environments for all students.

•Evidence-based features of SW-PBS Prevention Define and teach positive social expectations Acknowledge positive behavior Arrange consistent consequences for problem behavior On-going collection and use of data for decision-making Continuum of intensive, individual interventions. Administrative leadership – Team-based implementation

(Systems that support effective practices)

Establishing a Social Culture

Common Vision/Values

Common Language

Common Experience

MEMBERSHIP

Primary Prevention:School-/Classroom-Wide Systems for

All Students,Staff, & Settings

Secondary Prevention:Specialized Group

Systems for Students with At-Risk Behavior

Tertiary Prevention:Specialized

IndividualizedSystems for Students

with High-Risk Behavior

~80% of Students

~15%

~5%

SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOR

SUPPORT

Nation

Wash

(n = 201)

Michigan: Distribution of Elementary Reading Intervention Level

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

All Students Students with 6+ ODRs

Benchmark Strategic IntensiveReading Intervention Level (based on DIBELS)

24%

33%

43%

56%

24%

20%

(n = 4074)

Dr. Steve Goodman

Kent

Miora

Amanda

Jorge

Goodman

A link between SWPBS and Improved Academic Achievement•Randomized Control Trial

RCT

The current technology of Implementation•94-142 and IDEA

▫Focus on Access to Education▫Access to services

•NCLB and RtI▫Focus on Outcomes▫Shift to Implementation of Effective

Practices

© Dean Fixsen, Karen Blase, Robert Horner, George Sugai, 2008

Implementation

•An effective intervention is one thing

•Implementation of an effective intervention is a very different thing

•Dean Fixsen

Implementation Systems

•"All organizations [and systems] are designed, intentionally or unwittingly, to achieve precisely the results they get." R. Spencer Darling

• The single most efficient strategy for changing an organization/system is to define, measure and repeatedly report the outcomes most valued by that organization/system.

• Thomas Gilbert, 1978

Unintended Effects•Too often our systems are organized to

meet administrative requirements, not achieve student outcomes

•Conflicting programs•Conflicting funding streams•Redundancy•Lack of coordination across programs•Nonsensical rules about program access•Extreme complexity and fiscal inefficiency

Our education system has grown up through a process of “disjointed incrementalism” (Reynolds, 1988)

K-12 Education

SPED

Migrant

ELL

At-Risk

Title I

Gifted

Proposed Solution•Combine Response to Intervention with

Conventional Problem Solving Model

Define Proble

m

Develop Plan

Implement

Data Used for Evaluatio

n

Define Proble

m

Develop Plan

Implement

Data Used for Evaluatio

n

© Dean Fixsen, Karen Blase, Robert Horner, George Sugai, 2008

Scale Up

•Innovative practices do not fare well in old organizational structures and systems

•Organizational and system changes are essential to successful implementation▫Expect it▫Plan for it

Leadership Team

FundingVisibility Political

Support

Training Coaching Evaluation

Local Demonstration Schools

Active Coordination

BehavioralExpertise

Implementation is not linear•Capacity development must often lead

implementation

Schools adopting SWPBIS in IllinoisLucille Eber

ValuedOutcomes

Implementation

Identifying& Modifying

Practices

Efficiency

EffectivenessPriority

Continuous Regeneration Continuous

Measurement

Data-BasedProb.

Solving

Capacity

Building

Lessons Learned from School-wide Positive Behavior Support

• Invest in state, district, building capacity

• Local leadership team

• The role of evaluation

• The role of coaching

• The shift from centralized demonstrations to regional scaling.

• Continuous improvement for sustainability

Summary• Effective technical assistance begins by understanding

the core outcomes valued by an organization/system.

• New practices need to be effective, efficient, acceptable, and substantively better than what we already do.

• Implementation is a new technology

▫ Implementation will occur in stages▫ Implementation will require iterative change▫ Implementation will focus as much on sustainability as on

initial fidelity.

• Scaling up requires becoming the “norm”