FAQ about Common PBIS Challenges
The following is a list of questions/ challenges the many PBIS schools face. The answers/ resources were gathered as a stepping off point and not meant to be the right or only answers. The items are roughly grouped by topic.
In general, there are an amazing amount of resources on the PBIS.org website. Click on the Training tab. There are 5 sections on this page and each has many resources. It is worth a look.
http://www.pbis.org/training/default.aspx
· Coach & Trainer
· New Team
· Parents
· Staff
· Student
TIME
Keeping PBIS a priority during testing season
Enough time to plan and work with staff
Finding common planning time
Your PBIS outcomes should be one of you top three building goals. With this in mind, it should get a high priority when creating schedules, planning staff development days, and developing meeting times.
I recommend the building PBIS team meet twice a month.
I also think it is a great idea to meet for half a day in the summer at a team member’s house to wrap up the current year and plan for next year.
There is only so much time to go around – try to find something you can stop doing that is duplicated or isn’t connected to your building goals.
How do you balance – with new curriculums coming (SIOP, curriculums, etc.)
My thoughts again are that PBIS needs to be and remain a high priority or it will most likely not be sustainable. As you are added – what can be taken away?
FUNDING
No definite budget or Money for rewards
What staff incentives can we use at a small school with little money?
Is there a perceived PBIS authority figure who could talk with our curriculum director or financial administrator about the financial end and why these items should be considered legitimate expenses as either curriculum or staff development?
Funding ideas for a small school
Doing PBIS doesn’t require a lot of extra funding. Follow this link - http://www.pbis.org/training/default.aspx – under Ideas to Share you’ll find Rewards for Adults and Free Rewards for Students.
Some districts tap into student activity accounts or use money from their normal fund raisers. Some school are creative and let students wear a hat for a dollar, do penny wars, get a popcorn machine and sell popcorn once a week, or open a school store.
Each district may have different interpretations of what a legitimate expense is. I could help connect you with people who may be able to talk with district staff.
DATA
Hard to access/ How do you convince staff that documentation of behavior is important?/ What do we do with our data?
Districts using SWIS should find accessing data is pretty easy (once you’re up and running). Teams will also become more fluid in accessing the TIC and SAS results – both of these can be very helpful in reviewing progress and planning.
I believe as staff see you using the data to make decisions, they will see more clearly their role in documenting/ reporting behavior. Take the time to go through your referral procedure/ flow chart and what is sent to the office and what is handled in the classroom.
As you develop your data system, you will be using your data to review your progress in implementing PBIS, focus your team efforts, and using your data to pinpoint areas of need (and areas to celebrate).
ADMINISTRATION
Not involved
It is difficult to have a successful PBIS school without an administrator being an active member or at the minimum being an active supporter. I would be willing to have a conversation with the person in that role if you’d like to help convince them of the importance of their role.
MAINTAIN MOMENTUM/ EXCITEMENT/ BUY-IN/ PARENT INVOLVEMENT
Enthusiastic buy-in versus lip service & inaction/ Lack of buy-in from all/ Staff buy-in – how do we keep them motivated
This is a long-term journey. Many times staff members really aren’t sure what they are buying into, which is somewhat normal – it’s a growth process. On-going, honest, open communication can really help with this. Keep the goal/ vision clear to staff as you go through the process of implementation. Recognize staff for their efforts and model the behavior you’d like to see from them to them – building staff relationships.
Over time, creating themes or generating ideas from students and/or staff about what they’d like to see with PBIS.
Connecting with support staff like janitors/cooks and getting them on board
Talk with them, ask them what they are seeing and how you can work together to improve those areas – take their feedback as you put together/ revise your matrix year to year. Invite them to be on your team or invite them periodically to your meetings. Give them the opportunity to reward and recognize students like all of your staff.
Can we see examples of Fall Kick-off at high school level, especially at small school?
YouTube and Google are great places to search for resources. Have you most techno-fluent member take an hour and do some searches – many examples out there.
Training staff
I again recommend taking a look at the main PBIS site, training tab - http://www.pbis.org/training/default.aspx and then click on staff. There are many good examples to use in training staff.
Using the archived powerpoints from the RIP trainings is also a great resource of training materials.
Parents disengaged
I don’t have a magic solution to get parents involved. Inviting them in to the school for different occasions – providing food if possible helps get folks in.
How do we prepare to tell parents, inform community about the importance of PBIS?
Start including what you are doing in your handbooks and newsletters. If teachers have newsletter, have them put information in them. Bring the community and parents in for an event around PBIS. Share your successes in your local paper as you grow and make progress. Ask them to be involved with what you are doing – partner with them.
There is a parent section of the pbis.org site I have been referring to.
STAFF
How to work through differences in discipline philosophy?
Talk about it in small groups and as a whole staff. Find the common ground and start there. Use your team to filter ideas and come up with what seems to make the most sense for your school. Once you have determined what that process looks like, you ask staff to follow it and support it.
Accountability – how do you address when staff is not involved
A couple of thoughts – First, I think you let the implementation happen – some staff just need to see it to believe it. In time, most we come to the realization that it is good for all and buy-in.
Second, in the meantime, the administrator needs to have the conversation that goes like this – I understand you are not fully behind PBIS yet. I believe you’ll see the positive impact over time. We are asking that you only talk positively about PBIS and not be a roadblock to implementation. In time, you may have to have a second conversation that includes what you need them to do – teaching expectations, reinforcing expectations, following the behavior plan, and so on.
Getting staff to do active supervision/ Supervision of hallways/other areas
First, be very specific about what you are asking for. Use a video to start the discussion – funny or more serious. Have your team model the behavior you want to see from all staff. Reward/ recognize staff actively supervising. Share the data about progress – reducing behavior in that area…
Do you have ideas about interventions with colleagues who don't seem to be trying to walk the walk?
I think you give them all the PBIS love you can muster. Try to build that positive relationship with them. Do on to them as you’d like to see them do onto the students. Reward/ recognize the baby steps they take.
Give them time to become believers – it may take months – hang in there.
Implementing PBIS causing us to re-think our whole instructional model--how to tackle that!
As with all of this – prioritize and have a plan. Plan 18 months out – where to you want to be at that time and work backwards.
It is great to use this RtI model both academically and behaviorally.
REWARDS
Developing a reward system that works for students?
This link is a place to start - http://www.pbis.org/training/default.aspx – under Ideas to Share you’ll find Free Rewards for Students.
Depending on the age of the students, ask them students in a survey or some way – what would they like to earn? Once you have developed your system, use a variety of individual and whole school rewards.
INTERVENTIONS
How do students qualify?/ Lack of tier II supports/ How do we start tier two and three interventions?
As you look at your data, you’ll look for students that have 2 or more referrals. Once you have a list of students, you’ll look to see if there is a small group intervention that may work to reduce this behavior for those students.
Some examples may be Check-in/Check-out, Check and Connect, and Social Skills Training.
More examples can be found on this site - http://www.pbisworld.com/tier-2/
CAUTION – wait to implement Tier II until you have School-Wide solidly in place. Once SW-PBIS is in place, you will be able to significantly reduce the number of students who will need that second level of support.
Playground: getting the last three percent to follow expectations
Re-teach the expectation to that small group and review more frequently with them. That three percent may be good candidates for a secondary intervention. Maybe it is a behavior contact where they need to earn time back on the playground 5 minutes at a time and start over if there is an incident.
Tier III students can subvert discussions with all students about positive behavior
If you are finding a group of students making it difficult to teach the expectation or roll out PBIS, you may have to have separate instruction with them. Keep the focus on the positive – recognize and reward when you do see that positive behavior.
EXPECTATIONS/ BEHAVIOR
Does one size fit all?
One framework does fit all. Implement school-wide first – take your time and get it right. Where you end up, may look a little different site to site, but you’ll be able to identify the core components – having the expectations, teaching expectation, rewarding expectations, having a way to discourage negative behavior, using data…
Will all follow a common set of rules even if they are established?
If everyone followed them, we wouldn’t need secondary or tertiary interventions. As you get school-wide solidly implemented, you’ll have fewer students who will need small group or individual supports.
Do all students know the rules?
As you kick-off PBIS in the fall, that is a major task to accomplish – teaching those expectations to all and revisiting as needed.
Overwhelmed with referrals – don’t know where to start
I would take a step back. Look at an area that you may get your biggest return for your effort – Where are most of your referrals coming from? What are students written up for? Is it a small number of students or a majority of the students?
The answers to these questions will help narrow down where to start. If it is a majority of the students – go back to the basics – teach the expectation and reward students for following those expectations. If it’s a small group of students – work with those students.
How do we decide what to refer for if we have so many referrals?
Again, I would try to narrow it down. Prioritize and tackle one area at a time.
What is the purpose or outcome of a referral? Is it used to teach and redirect or just used to exclude or punish?
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Please feel free to contact me regarding any of these items. I hardly claim to be an expert, but I am willing to try to problem solve through situations or pointing you to resources.
John Beach
763-389-6802