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.)? What makes the JD Parker PBS team work so well is the level of commitment by each and every member of the team.  The Administrator is an active participant on the team and allows the team to make decisions. She does not “micro-manage” the team rather supports them 100% of the time.  The team has covered all areas of the school to be represented: Gen Ed, ESE, Parent Liaison, Administration, Behaviorist, School Psychologist, Guidance, Paraprofessionals on the team.  

How does your team use data to make decisions on campus? Data is used at faculty meetings to discuss where the most problematic behaviors are occurring and deciding what interventions to put in place to remediate the problem.  The data is also used to make decisions about student placement; what students may have conflicts with each other and can not be placed together and what teachers have the most referrals and why (are they getting all the challenging students?).

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 via emails and faculty meetings.  Email is done at least weekly and when a PBS event is nearing, multiple times per week the PBS team leader sends out information.  Faculty meetings are held monthly and 15 minutes of the meeting time is dedicated to data sharing and any PBS questions that may need to be answered.

What do you see as the overall strengths of your team?  Please provide details. The overall strength of the team is their ability to collaborate.  They discuss issues and concerns and come up with positive ideas that are effective and accepted by all team members.  Everyone is willing to participate and works very hard to get the job done.  When there is a large project to undertake, (like the school store), they break into smaller groups and each group takes on a smaller part of the project to get it done in an efficient manner.

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. At JD Parker, a reward calendar for the year was created and given to every staff member on campus.  As a team, we have learned how to “better” reinforce our students.  The incentives have been adapted to fit the needs of our school population.  In doing so, there is more buy-in from students and more of them are attending the rewards events.  All of the decisions being made are data driven.  The SWIS data system is used to determine everything from what time of day to have the reward event, to which students need more support to get them to access the rewards.  Videos, visual cues and the Rocket news have been used on a daily basis to continually teach the students and staff the expectations at JD Parker.

Discuss the changes you have seen on campus since PBS implementation (e.g., data, climate, morale, etc.). There have been many changes on campus since PBS implementation.  The overall data from the first year of implementation to the present shows great improvement. The climate of the school is a more positive one.  The students feel that they are more often praised for being respectful, responsible and showing readiness as opposed to being disciplined.  Teachers focus on and recognize more of the positive behaviors.  Students are more confident, and successful.  Everyone on campus has felt the effect of a reinforcing environment and makes the school a happier place to work in.  

What are some obstacles that your team has had to overcome?  Please explain the process for overcoming these hurdles below. Negativity was the biggest obstacle that the PBS team has had to face.  Change is hard for students, but as the team has observed, harder for some adults.  Having a scheduled reward calendar helps remind the adults to talk more to the students about being positive and how to access reinforcement thus making the adults more conscious about the process.  A “Celebration” kick off was held at the beginning of the school year to talk about all the accomplishment the school had made over the last year and how PBS helped get them to reach both behavioral and academic goals.