What makes your team work so well?  Please discuss in detail (e.g., what is your administrator’s role on the team, how is staff represented, etc.)? Our team works so well because it is made up of staff who have positive attitudes and a variety of ideas.  They share unique perspectives on students, including classroom teachers at each level, special education teachers, resource teachers, and administrators.  Our assistant principal creates the agendas with the input of team members.  The calendar for the year was subject to change but was mapped out ahead of time to keep us on-track all year long.

How does your team use data to make decisions on campus? Once a month our PBS Coach, Gary Golbesky, provides us with graphs, as well as a summary of the data.  Using the data we are able to determine which areas are working well and which areas need improvement.  We have revised duty schedules, in addition to supervision procedures as a result of reflecting on the data.

How do you share information with the rest of your faculty (e.g., emails, newsletters, meetings, etc.)?  How often do you share this information? Information is shared with the faculty through email, morning announcements, faculty meetings, and the principal’s newsletter.  Our students review the schoolwide expectations (SPOTS) every morning on the morning announcements. 

What do you see as the overall strengths of your team?  Please provide details. Our team’s strength is its diversity.  Everyone on the Core Team works with different groups of students, yet have the same goal for our school.  Team members also have a willingness to contribute to improve the schoolwide implementation of PBS.  They volunteer to stay afterschool to coordinate activities, such as the Variety Show.  The Core Team developed a permission slip, a scoring rubric, and a tryout schedule to maximize use of time.  In the end, we had a flawless tryout event, with over 60 acts!

In what areas of PBS does your team excel (e.g., rewarding students/staff, teaching expectations, data-based decision-making, etc.)?  Please provide details below. With our pre-planned monthly schoolwide opportunities, our team excels in rewarding students.  Both staff and students benefit from the monthly calendar, as everyone has something to look forward to!  Many teachers have complimented the Core Team on the planning this year, as they feel they do not have to provide as many classroom opportunities for rewards, since the schoolwide ones are so exciting for the students!

This year our Core Team spent a significant amount of time reflecting on the data.  Due to this, we have changed several procedures on campus.  For example, during one of our meetings we noticed that there were a high amount of referrals in the morning.  Through our conversation, we realized that the traffic pattern of students entering the main hallway contributed to this morning problem.  As a result, we now hold students in the bus zone in order to stagger them as they arrive in the morning, decreasing the amount of student traffic in the main hallway each morning.

Discuss the changes you have seen on campus since PBS implementation (e.g., data, climate, morale, etc.). Since the implementation of PBS at Bayshore, it is easy to see that the way adults speak to children has changed, because they have changed the way they think about behavior.  No longer do adults seek out those who are doing wrong and scold them.  Today they seek out students who are behaving properly and reward them for it!

Today Bayshore is proud to have lower referral rates in the last two years, prior to full schoolwide implementation of PBS.  We strive to continuously review the data in order to make positive changes to enhance our academic environment.

What are some obstacles that your team has had to overcome?  Please explain the process for overcoming these hurdles below. Our school district added 13 new teaching positions in October.  This required the Core Team to take a step back.  Through mentorship and training we were able to bring each new staff member up to speed.

In previous years, students were often not aware of schoolwide PBS events.  Newsletters and emails for staff did not seem to do the trick in conveying the message to students.  In order to make sure students were included in all events, Core Team members developed a back-to-school Pep Rally.  The Pep Rally included an engaging review (or introduction for new students!) of our schoolwide expectations, as well as a month-by-month presentation of our schoolwide events.  By doing this, even teachers who were not supportive of PBS had no excuse to not participate, because their students were too excited!