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 includes all of our teachers, our administrator, guidance counselor and school psychologist, who is also our coach. We work diligently to promote safety for everyone. Our administrator is intensely involved and serves as our Team Leader. She attends all PBS meetings.

How does your team use data to make decisions on campus? Our team determines needs primarily for individual students and specific areas of our school which need interventions. We look at where problem behaviors occur and why they are occurring, as well as the time of day they are happening. Often, behavior intervention plans will be reviewed and adjusted. Sometimes, classroom procedures will be changed to help students do well.

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 teachers at PBS meetings and other teacher meetings.  Information is shared with whole staff during weekly behavior training. Teachers share information with paraprofessionals at Team Meetings twice a month. We share BS news in our weekly Leopard Spots and our quarterly Web Connections, which goes to parents as well.

What do you see as the overall strengths of your team?  Please provide details. Teachers, paraprofessionals and administration are familiar with all of our students. Our Crisis Team is ready to drop whatever they are doing and assist in any area of the school, when needed. Our team works together well. Most of our team has served at this school for at least 9 years together, some much longer. The administrator has been here for 15 years. Our weekly behavior training keeps us on the same page, with open discussion forum to share ideas and best practices with each other. Part of our mission is to provide a safe, student-centered environment… so students can learn and staff can teach.

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.

• Students frequently rewarded with tangibles and choice activities
• Staff, including custodians, bus drivers and attendants, rewarded with food and celebrations of PBS
• School wide rules and expectations – Students know them.
• Data examined frequently and adjustments made
• Training provided for all staff on weekly basis, to promote positive responses to student behavior
• Positive atmosphere  for staff and students

Discuss the changes you have seen on campus since PBS implementation (e.g., data, climate, morale, etc.). All staff members are more aware of PBS and are learning how to handle behaviors in more effective ways. The team effort promotes overall good morale. No one feels like they are trying to handle difficult situations alone. Safe and positive procedures are promoting positive changes in individuals, both staff and students, and include less stress and exhaustion.
Students are learning how to cope with frustration and difficult situations in more positive ways, through staff modeling of the correct skills and staff consistently reinforcing appropriate student behavior.

What are some obstacles that your team has had to overcome?  Please explain the process for overcoming these hurdles below. Due to the nature of our school, we often receive new students with severe behaviors. It takes a few weeks to have staff get to know them and know what to expect.  We share information in Teacher and Team meetings about what may work well with certain students and what to expect. All the while, the students are learning what our expectations and procedures are, as well.

Another Obstacle – Getting all staff members to buy in and consistently follow our procedures for dealing with disruptive behaviors.  Old habits die hard. We keep training and targeting the problem areas, stressing the importance of consistency and positive responses to students. The weekly training and discussion forum helps us to have a place to teach and discuss problems to find solutions. Our school psychologist and guidance counselor (a certified behavior analyst) coordinate the training and the administrator attends regularly. It is challenging to get our EBD students back to their home schools. Therefore, sometimes we have unnecessary regression.