PBIS at McGee?
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
The PBIS framework organizes adults and students to create a social-culture in schools that will encourage positive behavior and interactions, while discouraging problem behaviors. This social-culture will lead to a safer environment where students achieve academically and build positive relationships with each other and adults.
Coming to school and knowing what to expect and do should not be a mystery to children - and adults. In all aspects of our life, we are most comfortable when we know what to expect. “Just tell me the rules of the game” is our way of saying “I want to know what is expected of me.” The assumption cannot be made that children come to school knowing how to behave in a school setting. Knowing how to behave in school becomes the adult’s responsibility to teach. When children know and understand procedures and expectations, there will be less time spent on off task behaviors and more time available for academic instruction. But in order for procedures and expectations to be learned, remembered and followed, the five following steps need to take place:
- DEFINE – Clear & concise definition of behavior expectations
- TEACH – Direct teaching of behavior expectation
- REMIND – Daily reminders and supervision – “Positive Nag”
- CELEBRATE – Consistent acknowledgement of the expected behavior
- CORRECT – Consistent correction of the problem behavior
For 80-90% of children, “defining” and “teaching” is all that is needed for them to know and understand proper behaviors. Just as teachers find in the classroom, about 80-90% of the children “get it on the first, second, or third try” the remaining 10-20 % need more help – both in learning procedures and behaviors and the many skills of the content areas.
The following chart shows these percentages for
both Academic and Behavior Systems. Just as we can expect 80-90% of our
students to be successful in our classrooms, we can also expect 80-90%
of our students to adhere to and follow our school expectations. As we
move up the “triangle” we can begin to identify a small percentage of
students who need additional instruction, review, and re-teaching in
both academic and behavior skills. 
Children come to your classroom with different procedures and behavioral expectations – from home, other schools and from last year’s classroom. We have established many of our school-wide expectations of - walking in the halls, coming into the dining room, playing on the playground, lining up to enter and exit the building – to name a few. All of you have also established procedures within your class – i.e. what happens when they enter the room each morning, when to sharpen pencils, taking attendance, transition times between subject matter, going to the bathroom. In order for these behaviors and expectations to be learned and sustained, they must be taught and periodically practiced, monitored, reviewed, and celebrated with students. We know from experience how many times of repeating and practicing it takes for children to remember a math concept or a spelling pattern – the same holds true for a behavior, procedure, or expectation.
Our PBIS School Team has developed a Student Success Guide that contains Student Expectations for the various locations within the school day. Within the first two days of school, teachers will teach their students the Expectations for the coming school year.
Our Dining Room/Playground Teachers and Building Custodian will teach the expectations on pages 10-13 (Dining Room) and pages 14-17 (Playground). A schedule will be developed for you to bring your class to the Dining Room and Playground for this instruction. Art/Music, P.E., and Library teachers will teach their expectations during their first class with students. Bus Drivers will teach their expectations as soon as possible during the first week of school.
In following with our positive behavior philosophy, lessons should be conducted in a “what you SHOULD do” not “what you should NOT do” manner. You will be asked periodically to re-teach these expectations throughout the school. Students should keep their Student Success Guide in their desk
Once the initial teaching of the procedure/expectation has occurred we move into a Maintenance Plan:
- Reminders - periodic reminders of appropriate behavior
- Supervision - consciously watch the children
- Feedback – telling students when you observe appropriate behavior
The initial lesson of a behavior or procedure needs to be followed by the above Maintenance Plan to ensure the highest level of compliance. We all need reminders – adults and children- as there is so much information “coming at us.” We must constantly supervise - “Move Around”, “Look Around”, and “Interact with the Children”. Children need to see and know that we are watching them; that we are moving around toward groups or individuals who may begin off task behaviors. The old “eyes in the back of my head” is not just for the 15% of the children but also for all children. Even the 85% of then appropriately behaved children want and need us to be watching them and telling them that they are doing what is expected. They want to be recognized that they are following expectations. This will assure that the positive behavior will continue. Interacting positively with children, even if they are not “mine” will let all students know that everyone is expecting compliance with the expectation.
In a non-PBIS School, children are more likely to hear “no hats in school, stop talking, stop running”, all negative statements, by a ratio of 15:1 If children hear all the things that should not be done, instead of what should be done …..the negative gets the attention. We must always recognize and convey the positive behavior – “Hats should be worn outside”, “In school we use quiet voices”, “We will be safe by walking in the hallway”- pointing out the positive behavior to be observed. Research indicates that a positive school culture results from a 4:1 positive to negative statements.
SHAMROCK TICKETS
For those students who demonstrated our expected behaviors of being Respectful, Responsible, and Resourceful, SHAMROCK tickets are awarded. When a ticket is presented to the child, reinforce the behavior by telling the child what he/she did to receive this recognition. The child writes his/her name on one half of the ticket (top) and tears it in half – one half is placed in the envelope on your classroom door and one half is to be brought home for the parent to celebrate with their child. Tickets are collect on Thursday afternoon and entered into our weekly drawing. During Friday morning announcements, a handful of tickets are drawn and those children come to the library and receive a small prize.
Tickets are also given to our Guest Teachers (Blue tickets) and our Bus Drivers (Yellow Tickets) to present to students.
Click here to view our "Student Success Guide"
More information about PBIS can be found on the following web sites: