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 has broad representation this year.  We have permanent team members which include the Behavior Specialist, Administrator, Guidance Counselor, ETO staff, one Special Area Teacher and the ACE teacher.  This year we are trying something new with rotating team members.  We have scheduled each month two different teachers and two different paraprofessionals which change each meeting.  Prior to the meeting, the PBS Coach emails the blank PBS agenda to all members, permanent and rotating and provides a brief summary of what will be reviewed at the meeting.  We start our meeting at nine am in the Guidance conference room at a large table.  Each individual brings their agenda with them in which they have jotted down relevant ideas pertaining to the meeting.  The PBS Coach keeps time and we start the meeting with “What is working.”  Each person is able to provide ideas openly, however if it seems that the meeting is becoming unorganized a “Round Robin” approach is taken.  The next thing discussed is “What Is Not Working.”  We do not normally move on from an issue until we find a solution.  We try to use our own problem solving model.  The team takes a brief break to refresh!  We then call our student members to attend our meeting.  Our student members include one fifth grader and two sixth graders.  These students were chosen by teachers and the Stars team members.  These students are responsible for getting student and teacher input across campus on “What is Working and What Isn’t Working.”  Stars members are then delegated responsibilities which are given a deadline completion date.  Our team is very flexible and has several contacts with one another outside of our once a month meeting.

How does your team use data to make decisions on campus? SWIS data is distributed to each member at the meeting.  Multi-year graph data is reviewed to compare year-to-year improvements or deficits for that month.  Behavior areas are reviewed to see which behavior is our problem area for that month.  We have a monthly behavior strategy that coincides with our problem area for behavior.  Location areas are reviewed to see which locations are our problem areas and time as well.  We also review data submission by classroom teacher to try to look for patterns.  We try to troubleshoot by adding more support for teachers at certain times or locations throughout the day.  Student data is pulled by name not number.  The students that have the highest number of referrals (top ten) are reviewed for a “Red Flag” meeting.  This Red Flag meeting will be a meeting in which the teacher, guidance, behavior, administrator and any other relevant staff will meet to come up with a behavior plan for that student.  At the Red Flag individual data will be pulled.  The next month the student’s data will be reviewed to see if the behavior strategy is working (represented by a decrease in discipline/ETO referrals).  The PBS coach then emails the data to the remaining faculty for review.  Data is often requested for IEP meetings, manifestation meetings, and CST meetings. 

How do you share information with the rest of your faculty (e.g., emails, newsletters, meetings, etc.)?  How often do you share this information? Before we have our STARS meeting, an e-mail is sent out to all faculty stating the date of the Stars meeting. If they have any questions, comments or concerns they are asked to please email the administrator or PBS coach or to put an anonymous concern in any member’s mailbox.  After the meeting, Stars meeting minutes are typed on the agenda form and emailed to all staff along with pertinent SWIS data (as discussed in question 2).  Information is also discussed once a week at the Faculty Meeting. 

What do you see as the overall strengths of your team?  Please provide details. Our team is very eclectic.  As previously stated our Principal is at each meeting, we have our Behavior Specialist, Guidance Counselor, ETO staff, Special Area Teacher, and rotating teachers and paraprofessionals.  We also have three student members.  Each member is more than willing to offer their opinion and to give solutions to problems.  There is a great deal of communication between team members in between meetings.  We are able to meet from nine am to eleven am once a month so we are able to truly meet about our issues and discuss them!  Our school has been a PBS school since 1998.  With new faculty coming to our school, we have found that rotating members has helped to provide a continual increase to staff buy in.  Many of the rotating members stated that they were apprehensive before the meeting but stated that after the meeting they were excited to have been able to participate.  

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. The STARS program provides a very positive climate for our students.  Our students’ are rewarded very frequently and their rewards vary with intensity.  Each student has a point sheet with five very specific behaviors that correlate with the student’s IEP.  The student has the opportunity to earn a zero, one or two for each behavior goal every fifteen to thirty minutes.  Point sheets are reviewed with students throughout the day.  The students do not lose points but only earn them.  Point sheets provide specific representation of the student’s behavior.  The point sheet provides the student a visual and holds the student responsible for earning their reinforcers.  Some of our reinforcers include Starbucks/Bus Bucks, Starbuck Store, Earned Fridays, Earned Time, Star Club/500 Club, Star Board, Announcements, and random reinforcers.  Our Starbucks have different values.  We have the Starbuck itself which is equivalent to one dollar, the Superbuck which is equivalent to five dollars and the Principal Buck which is equivalent to ten dollars.  New this year is the Deputy Dollar which is equivalent to one dollar, but the children find very reinforcing and exciting coming from our uniformed Sheriff Resource Deputy.  We also have Bus Bucks for the drivers.  They provide the students with one bus buck per good ride.  The bus bucks are worth one dollar as well.  St. Andrew has the Star Store every other week.  The Star Store is full of age-appropriate tangibles for our students.  The store is stocked by donations and also uses PBS funds to purchase toys, games, food and videos.  The students look forward to cashing in their Starbucks and shopping at the Starbucks store.  The students have the opportunity to have Earned time one to two times per day (depending on their classroom teacher).  The student is rewarded for work completion.  Each week all students who have not had a discipline referral or a bus conduct report within that week will have their name put on the Star Board with a special treat.  Our students love to do announcements on the TV in the morning and like to help call buses in the afternoon.  Often times, these treats will be used as incentives in individual plans.  New this year, and a very big hit among the students, is the Star club.  Better known as the “Medallions” the Star Club is for students who meet the “Super Day” criteria with 90 points or higher with no discipline referrals or bus conduct reports every day.  The students’ names are posted in the cafeteria and they are awarded a silver medallion.  For the students who have a perfect week, 100 points each day with no discipline reports or bus conducts, they are in the 500 Club and are given a gold medallion.  These students’ names are put in the SuperStar drawing and called by the Principal for a special treat.  Not only do these students receive special recognition for wearing a medallion around campus and being part of this elite club, but they also get the special privilege of being able to buy ice cream daily at lunch and get their names posted on a special board in the cafeteria.  They are also rewarded with regular, random reinforcers such as donuts and hot chocolate or pizza for their hard work.  Along with the above listed reinforcers our teachers have their own in class rewards that they use for their students such as outside earned times, ice cream parties etc.  Individual plans include special treats such as one’s own treasure box with specific reinforcers or special time with a reinforcing adult.

Staff are recognized by little awards and “thank yous”. Our staff also have regular social gatherings at the school such as lunches in our faculty lounge to provide cohesion.

Our teachers teach social skills at least three times per week which include our five expectations.  According to our recent PBS survey results, many teach social skills daily.  Often times teachers will go over area rules and acronyms before entering an area as a quick review of what is expected of students.  Our students recite the Star Pledge each morning after the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner.  The Star Pledge includes our expectations. 

Discuss the changes you have seen on campus since PBS implementation (e.g., data, climate, morale, etc.). PBS was implemented in 1998, 10 years ago, at St. Andrew Elementary school.  However, we have had several guest teachers, parents and even students say that the school has such a positive atmosphere.  Our mentor teacher stated “the school is very consistent and motivating, it is one of my favorite schools to visit.”   Though we don’t have great difficulty with teacher buy in at this point there are some veteran teachers that would like to go back to a Levels system.  They do however, follow through with PBS.  One way that we have boosted morale and buy in with our teachers and paraprofessionals has been to include them!  By having rotating members and allowing them to participate in the STARS meetings they can be part of the team, the can provide input and they can walk away feeling like they understand the program even better. 

What are some obstacles that your team has had to overcome?  Please explain the process for overcoming these hurdles below. Our team has had to deal with a broad spectrum of challenges this year.  The biggest issue the team has found is the broad spectrum of student needs has increased.  Our student population is not just emotionally and behaviorally disordered.  Our students range form having Autism Spectrum Disorder to having severe psychiatric illnesses.  Most of our students are heavily medicated and with lack of funding we only have a nurse on campus one half day per week.  The staff at school are responsible for being educated about what medications our students are on and what side effects to watch out for.  We have provided hand outs and training for our staff in regards to medications and many staff go to special training to increase their knowledge base for their students’ specific needs.  We have also received several students from other schools due to expulsion.  Another issue that we have come across is lack of bus driver buy in for the STARS program.  Our Principal had a Bus Driver training with donuts and beverages in the beginning of the year.  At this training the drivers were able to express their concerns and we were able to teach the PBS system.  We reward one driver per month with the “Golden Bus Award.”  The driver is awarded a small bus and they are shown great appreciation and told why they are receiving the award.  They are recognized in our monthly newsletter.