How does your team use data to make decisions on campus? Data is reviewed and monitored and we allocate resources accordingly.  More specifically, this year we have focused some of our initial and booster training on discerning between classroom-managed behaviors and office-managed behaviors creating a greater understanding and less office managed behaviors.  We have included more detailed instruction to our trainings on completing school discipline referrals also resulting in a reduction of offenses. On the positive side, we have added monitoring event attendance to our plan so we have data about what is really effective as a reward.  Our team has added a graphic representation of our school wide commendation program so the students may review and reflect upon data in the cafeteria.  This knowledge gives them access to making decisions for improvement in the community setting.  Our cafeteria referrals have become almost zero, a dramatic improvement from years past.

How do you share information with the rest of your faculty (e.g., emails, newsletters, meetings, etc.)?  How often do you share this information? We share PBS information with the rest of our faculty through emails about upcoming events at minimum monthly.  News of PBS events and reminders about expectations are broadcast daily on our morning show and closed circuit TV.  There are visual reminders for faculty and students in each hallway. We have a weekly newsletter that is electronically sent to all faculty and staff weekly with PBS information. We make training available at the beginning of the year and midway through the year just before state assessment.  But most importantly our core team members are networking with other faculty members daily, encouraging, supporting, modeling and valuing our school-wide expectations.

What do you see as the overall strengths of your team?  Please provide details. Our strengths are many but to name a few: shared leadership, sense of humor, respect, commitment, enthusiasm, good communication skills, data driven, creative, adequate problem solving skills, supportive, a willingness to share, and a strong sense of common purpose. As an example, our shared leadership provides for no one person holding the reigns of our planning, we rotate our meeting facilitator enabling shared responsibilities and perspectives. Our warm and caring sense of humor provides an open platform where all ideas are considered.  We can sigh loudly when our data is interpreted seventeen different ways.  Our coach understands we need the details to do what is best for our students.  The timekeeper points to her watch with smile and we each know it is for the best of our school but we can laugh at ourselves for making such a deal out of our data.

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. Our team excels in adaptability; we make changes as our population changes, as our staff changes, and as our budget changes.  Our current school site administrators are each new to their positions as of January and our PBS process never missed a beat, in fact great improvements have happened this year with our new assistant principal being very supportive and proactive in the fall and moving into the acting principal position in January only increased the positive influences and support to PBS’s goals for our school-wide incentives and expectations. Our data-based targeting of our location in greatest need for improvement being the cafeteria has resulted in a school-wide commendation program that relies on community support and competition to gain positive outcomes in that location.  As a result referrals from that area have almost vanished.  The positive sense of community created with commendations was also implemented in the resource classes reducing the number of referrals school-wide. 

Discuss the changes you have seen on campus since PBS implementation (e.g., data, climate, morale, etc.). Our combination of improvements has increased student instructional time because fewer children are missing class in time out or the office and more time is available for instruction because behavior issues are decreasing. We receive compliments and positive feedback on the outstanding behavior of our students when we have visitors from the Rotary Club on Dictionary Day and the Veterans on Veteran’s Day to name a few. Our cafeteria environment is improved and the data shows a great reduction in incidents in that location and immediately following lunch.  The positive climate is being carried back through the hallways and to the classroom environment. Teachers have been gaining knowledge through experience in PBS resulting in better problem solving strategies using prior knowledge. Data shows referral rates have been cut in half for the second year in a row.  This data shows what families have told us, our school is a positive learning environment where children are the priority.

What are some obstacles that your team has had to overcome?  Please explain the process for overcoming these hurdles below. An obstacle we anticipated but it never surfaced was the change in administration this year.  We had a new assistant come in the fall and he stepped up to be acting principal in January.  The cohesiveness and flexibility of our core team worked to anticipate changes, acclimating new members to PBS guidelines, expectations and vocabulary.  Thus our transitions went very well. The natural migration of faculty means a variety of classroom management styles come and go each year.  Our original group of faculty that accepted PBS as a school-wide program has dwindled down to less then half of our current staff.  This obstacle was overcome with additional training for all staff and core members availing themselves as mentors to new teachers for individualized support. A critical time of year in the past for behavior has been the few weeks immediately proceeding state assessment.  We added a staff training this year at that time in anticipation of problems.  This preemptive strike proved to be instrumental in reducing the stress of teachers and increasing positive attitudes among the students during this historically peak time for problems.