As school leaders and well-being directors, creating an environment where students and teachers thrive is paramount. A key framework that helps achieve this is Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS). This approach strengthens social, academic, emotional, and mental behavior, ultimately fostering student success and a positive school climate. It also enhances teacher well-being by ensuring a safe, equitable, and supportive environment for everyone involved.
The Impact of PBIS
PBIS is designed to create positive, predictable, equitable, and safe learning environments where both students and educators can excel. This is achieved through five core principles:
Equity: Support the role of educators in the implementation process, adapt practices to meet individual student needs, and disaggregate data by student group to ensure success for all.
Question to consider: How can we improve the experiences and outcomes of every educator and student?
Systems: Establish teamwork structures, training, counseling, and other supports for educators to sustain PBIS efforts in the long term.
Question to consider: What can we do to maintain and grow our implementation over time?
Data: Use data to select, monitor, and evaluate student outcomes and practices.
Question to consider: What information do we need to make informed decisions about our school’s success and coexistence?
Practices: Implement research-supported sessions, interventions, and strategies to enhance students' behavioral, social, emotional, and academic growth.
Question to consider: How will we support the overall growth of our students?
Results: Focus on the needs of each unique community and strive for continuous improvement.
Question to consider: What is important to each of our school communities?
The Three Tiers of PBIS Support
PBIS operates across three levels of support, ensuring that students receive the specific interventions they need to succeed:
Level 1: Universal Primary Prevention (for all students)
Level 1 focuses on providing systems, data, and practices that support everyone in the school environment—students, educators, and staff. The goal is to establish a foundation for positive and proactive support that ensures success for the majority of students (80% or more).
Key practices at this level include:
Collaborating with students, families, and educators to define and teach positive expectations across the entire school.
Aligning classroom expectations with school-wide standards.
Explicitly teaching students the social, emotional, and behavioral skills they need to succeed.
Recognizing and encouraging positive behaviors.
Preventing and responding to unwanted behaviors in a respectful and instructive manner.
Fostering strong partnerships between the school, students, and families.
Level 2: Selective Secondary Prevention (for some students)
In addition to the foundational Tier 1 support, about 10-15% of students will need more focused, Tier 2 interventions. These students require additional systems, data, and practices that are tailored to their specific needs.
Key practices at this level include:
Providing extra instruction and practice in behavioral, social, emotional, and academic skills.
Increasing adult supervision and support.
Offering more opportunities for positive reinforcement.
Providing increased prompts, reminders, and access to academic support.
Enhancing communication between the school and families.
Level 3: Intensive Tertiary Prevention (for a few students)
At Level 3, the focus is on providing individualized, intensive support to the 1-5% of students who require more specialized interventions. These students may not have responded sufficiently to Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports and need more comprehensive assistance to experience success.
Key practices at this level include:
Engaging students, educators, and families in functional behavior assessments and intervention planning.
Coordinating comprehensive, person-centered support.
Implementing individualized and role-based interventions tailored to each student’s needs.
Conclusion
Implementing PBIS at your school offers a structured, tiered approach to support the social, emotional, and academic growth of students while fostering a positive and healthy school environment. This framework not only helps students develop the skills they need to succeed but also supports educators and promotes teacher well-being.
As school leaders, the question remains: How can we create an environment where both students and educators can thrive? PBIS offers the answer by providing the tools, strategies, and systems necessary to ensure long-term success and a positive school climate for all.
By using data-driven practices and focusing on the specific needs of your school community, you can transform your school into a place where everyone feels supported, valued, and equipped to succeed.
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