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.)? We have a group that has the same goals in mind. We want children to succeed and learn appropriate behavior for different situations.  The Team is made up of a cross section of grade levels and assignments within the school so that all partners (students, teachers, staff and parents) are represented fairly.  The group is committed to meeting regularly to review data, make suggestions for improvements, and the climate of the school in regard to PBS.  Administration supports the PBS project by sharing vocabulary words weekly with a review each day over the ITV.  They share not only the vocabulary words, but the literature and examples for all students to understand.  The weekly bulletin is used to review upcoming events and keep all stake holders informed.  Lawnwood Loot is handled appropriately by administration, faculty and staff because I the in-service provided.  PBS is a total team (school) effort due to the efforts and communication of the PBS Team!

How does your team use data to make decisions on campus? The review of data is an integral part of the PBS process.  The Team meets every 2 weeks to review data and make decisions accordingly.  For example, the Team recognized the need to address behavior on the bus.  With the support of administration, a booster training was scheduled got all bus drivers to review expectations and provide support.  This has impacted the number of bus referrals for the 2007-2008 school year.  The Team also reviews the number of referrals by student name, grade and setting.  For the students that receive a high number of referrals the Team discusses interventions that are in place in the classroom.  After consultation with the classroom teacher students may be referred the Student Support Team for the development of a Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plan.  In addition, administration reviews data for referral trends by grade level, individual teachers and staff.  This information is utilized to support teachers or staff members with classroom management and positive interventions. Incentives are developed based on student input.  Interest inventories are given to students as to ‘buy in’ of certain activities. 

How do you share information with the rest of your faculty (e.g., emails, newsletters, meetings, etc.)?  How often do you share this information? Lawnwood’s core team is 100% dedicated to PBS. Our team consists of staff members from varied grade levels to ensure school wide representation. We meet twice a month to share ideas, review data, and continually assess implementation strategies. During our meetings, members are encouraged to honestly share their ideas without feeling intimidated or inadequate. At these meetings, team members review data. This data is then shared with others. This data information and all other PBS information is shared with faculty members by email, weekly bulletins, memos and teacher meetings. Information is shared on a weekly basis.
The goal of our team is to continually assess our progress and create inventive ways to implement PBS at Lawnwood Elementary. We achieve this by working together.  We always welcome ideas from individual staff members, grade groups, paraprofessionals, and parents.  We share the information through meetings, email and bulletins to make sure all faculty and staff are aware of concerns and interest with PBS. 

What do you see as the overall strengths of your team?  Please provide details. As a Team we meet together twice a month to come up with ideas to do the following: We utilize data to better serve students and staff.  According to the data we collect entitled Average Referral per day by Month our referrals have decreased. We create ideas for teaching PBS to new students and staff the beginning of school and throughout the school year.  We continuously keep them updated by communicating to all stake holders, via ITV, emails, bulletins, run-off reminders of events, the PBS store, raffles and create opportunities to be involved with PBS in a positive manner.Our Team works diligently to extend PBS throughout the campus.  We make sure the community, visitors to our campus, the resource officer, bus drivers and volunteers are given Loot with an explanation of who should receive it.  This helps support the overall program throughout the school. Weekly word of the week is introduced and reinforced by administration daily.  Examples are given sometimes by role-playing, literature and word meaning and usage are stated.  We seek both students and staff ideas through survery, emails and personal interviews.  *The Team helps streamline the ways in which loot is handled.  Forms have been created to record loot collected so that individual loot can be put back into circulation.  Therefore, loot is readily available to all.  *Students earning 100 pieces of Loot cam become Principal for the day.  They are responsible to hand out Loot to those they recognize exhibiting PAWS.  This reinforces PAWS behavior for both the ‘Principal of the Day’ and encourages others enough for that privilege.  *We use creative and engaging rewards to involve our students such as quarterly events.  Our quarterly events include activities such as the Magic Show and basketball game which allowed achieving intermediate level students play against faculty.  These events help stimulate students to get rewarded for the efforts made on their behalf.  We also use other stimuli to help students remain focused to achieve proper PAWS behavior.  These stimuli involve using administration and faculty.  The administration plays a role by hosting events such as Cookies and Cocas and in the neat future, a tea party.  Raffling of various items such as Barbie Dolls and hand held video games help to add engaging rewards. 

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. PBS Expectations: All staff members are responsible for teaching PAWS throughout the school years.  Special sessions were held on campus during the first month of school.  The PBS Core Team taught hallway, cafeteria and playground expectations to all students.  Teachers taught the classroom and bus expectations.  Examples of positive behavior and non-examples were shared with the students.  These expectations are also review throughout the school year. PBS Morning Show: The Daily PBS Morning Show features PAWS.  Administration reviews PAWS and shares behavior expectations with the students.  Also during the broadcast, PBS events are announced.  Students are also recognized for exhibiting good behavior. *PAWsome and Student of the Month recognize students in each classroom at an assembly with parents invited.  These students have exhibited PBS characteristics throughout the month. PBS Word of the Week: Positive behavior terms are featured on the Morning Show.  Words like Reliable, Honesty and Friendship are defined by administration.  Short stories and situations are featured which allows students to explore appropriate choices and actions. PBS Drawings: Students can participate in drawings if they choose.  It they see an item that they would like to win, they simply purchase a drawing slip for 1 loot and take a chance on winning, Barbies, books, games, Yigioh Cards, etc. PBS Jeans Day: On designated days, staff members wear jeans in exchange for donating $5.00 or an item for the PBS Drawing to our School Wide PBS Project.  Our staff really enjoys supporting PBS. PBS Quarterly Events: Every nine weeks students must earn 20 Loot in order to participate in the Quarterly Event.  Lawnwood Super bowl, Magic Show, Carnival and the Karaoke Party are just some of the events that have been held for students.  Students are challenged every nine weeks to meet this goal.  Students look forward to the Quarterly Events. PBS Events hosted by Administration: Students are motivated to behave!  Special incentives are held throughout the year to inspire them.  Administration hosts 4 mini-events every year.  Students pay 10 Loot to attend these events.  The Lawnwood Game Show, Read 2 Teddy, and the Tea Party are just a few that have been hosted by administration. PAWSome Recognition: Every month teachers select one student from their class who exhibits Good Character as the PAWSome Citizen of the Month.  These students are recognized at an awards assembly.  They receive a certificate, pencil, 2 Lawnwood Loot, ribbon, bumper sticker and a coupon for a free kid’s meal from a local restaurant. PBS Store: The students really look forward to visiting the PBS Store.  Students pay 2 – 100 Loot to purchase various items (video games, computer software, school supplies, art kits, games etc.).  The Lawnwood PTO financially supports the PBS Store. PBS Talent Show: Every year our students rock the house!  Students who show PAWS are invited to participate in our annual talent show.  This is a big family night.  Families enjoy pizza, ice cream, silent auctions and a great show!

Discuss the changes you have seen on campus since PBS implementation (e.g., data, climate, morale, etc.). Data analysis revealed that discipline referrals and incident reports have declined.  Additionally, it has made targeting those students in need of further, more dedicated interventions easier to identify.  Staff awareness of problematic students has increased and more diverse campus wide monitoring ‘networks’ have been created to reinforce hourly/daily ‘temperature’ checks with high referring students.  Less referrals leads to more time on task and better academic results.  Safer classroom environments and a calmer more relaxed student body have been developed within a population that, historically, was not known for its resilience.  Teachers and other educators on campus are able to provide more targeted instruction to students, knowing that others in the classroom will be on task as well.  Even well behaved students excel in the SW PBS.  Sometimes overlooked in the past because of the tine spent on misbehaving students, others known for following expectations now know that the efforts won’t go over look4d anymore.  The tendency to give up because ‘it just doesn’t matter anyway’ has been replaced with the attitude of ‘it does pay to do the right thing, even when non one is looking’. 

Overall, the morale, safely and consumer satisfaction shows the SW PBS among other things, has set the stage for a very successful and stable environment at Lawnwood.  Traditionally, the attendance zone of which we are a part gets ridiculed for its poor achievement, poor parental involvement and poor schools.  PBS has helped Lawnwood Elementary break that cycle-parents are now looking past the school zone stereotypes and looking at the SCHOOL instead…..looking at what it has to offer, what it does, and what it has accomplished and is capable of accomplishing. 

What are some obstacles that your team has had to overcome?  Please explain the process for overcoming these hurdles below. The core team had to address a large influx of bus referrals at the beginning of the year. The team first reviewed the process in which the bus drivers learned about PBS at our school. After concluding that all bus drivers were in attendance at the orientation and that they were utilizing “Lawnwood Loot” appropriately. We dissected the bus referral data and realized that the large increase in bus referrals was caused by a multiple incident on one bus. Seating assignments were put in place to help the students make appropriate choices on the bus.

Another obstacle has been the high cost of the PBS store. The core team brainstormed and created a variety of activities that were less costly. The PBS store was then limited to twice a year and other PBS activities were used as incentives for students. These activities have been received well by the students. The core team utilized various forms of feedback to ensure that students enjoyed the new activities.