Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS)

Tier I focuses on prevention of problem behavior by emphasizing universal supports. The critical features of Tier I include establishing school-wide expectations that are taught and encouraged, developing systems that discourage inappropriate behavior, and using data to evaluate effectiveness. Each school participating in Tier I selects members to form a diverse "school climate team" that attends training events and activities to enhance their knowledge and deepen their implementation practice. The Tier I training provided by the Nevada PBIS TA Center includes one workshop and four professional development trainings (eight hours each).

The workshop includes training on the critical components of Tier 1 implementation including facilitated work-time to build or enhance a school-wide PBIS system that is contextually relevant to the team's unique building and culturally relevant to their community. Following the two-day workshop, a sub-set of these teams may attend a half day (4 hour) training on SWIS, the School-Wide Information System. Team members learn how to set up a universal data collection system and how to run behavior reports.

The first quarterly professional development day entitled "Systems Level Data Based Decision Making and Practice Audits" teaches school teams to analyze their existing behavior database to identify problems and "drill down" in the data to develop effective solutions. Practices and interventions in place at each school are sorted along a three-tiered continuum and evaluated for identified need, evidence base, and outcomes.

The second quarterly professional development day focuses on "Positive Classroom Behavior Supports". The latest research regarding evidence-based instructional and classroom management techniques are taught in addition to data collection tools. Teams are given time to action plan the roll-out of classroom supports.

The third quarterly professional development is "Bully Prevention in Positive BehaviorSupport". This training reviews research on what practices are proven to be effective versus ineffective at reducing disrespect between and among students. Teams participate in role-playing scenarios regarding how to respond to bullying behavior, how to respond to students who report bullying behavior, and how to intervene with students who are engaging in relational aggression and disrespectful behavior. Data collection tools to solicit student voice and outcomes of bully prevention are shared and teams are given time to action plan bully prevention implementation.

The fourth quarterly professional development is "Sustainability and Addressing Disproportionality". The sustainability portion of the training focuses on actual and perceived barriers and enablers to Tier I sustainability, as well as team time to address barriers and plan for enhancing enablers. During the disproportionality section, school teams examine their own data to see if certain groups of students (race, gender, disability status, etc.) are receiving proportionate discipline in comparison to enrollment at the school. Strategies to address disproportionate behavior referrals are taught, including acknowledging implicit bias and responding during key vulnerable decision points.

Tier II is designed to prevent the development and escalation of problem behaviors for students who are identified as being at risk for developing chronic behavior problems. It involves specialized group interventions to supplement the Tier I supports that these students are already receiving. Tier II interventions focus on targeted and explicit instruction of skills, structured prompts for appropriate behavior, opportunities to practice new skills in the natural setting, and frequent feedback to the student. The Tier II training provided by the Nevada PBIS TA Center includes one workshop and four professional development trainings.

The Tier II workshop focuses on a Tier I Booster and an overview of Tier II components. Emphasis is placed on a Tier I systems check-up and the thirteen features of the Tiered Fidelity Inventory. Participants will discuss to what extent each of the Tier I core features are being implemented and gain a brief understanding of each Tier II feature.

The first quarterly professional development training, "Screening and Pilots", emphasizes data triangulation through the development of data decision rules and selection of Tier II interventions. Participants learn how to identify data sources for appropriately identifying students as well as selecting evidence-based, function-informed interventions for Tier II supports.

The second quarterly professional development training is "Progress Monitoring". Emphasis is placed on tracking student success, making data-based decisions, and evaluating treatment fidelity. Participants learn how to use data to make decisions regarding intervention effectiveness and student progress, specific strategies to follow based on data, how to measure treatment fidelity, and how to follow up when treatment fidelity is low.

The third quarterly professional development training is" Communication to Staff, Parents and Community". Emphasis is placed on using requests for assistance and professional development. Participants learn how to develop and use requests for assistance, critical features of effective professional development, and how to involve families in Tier II systems.

The fourth quarterly professional development training focuses on " Disproportionality and Social Validity". Emphasis is placed on using data to determine disproportionality, strategies for reducing disproportionality, and evaluating Tier II practices. Participants learn the importance of evaluating disproportionality and how to identify it using data, analyzing if their current plan for addressing disproportionality has been successful and what changes need to be made, and what supports need to be created for smaller subsets of educators. Additionally, teams will learn how to evaluate Tier II practices, and how to assess the social validity of their Tier II systems, from the perspective of teachers, administration, and community.

Tier III is designed to reduce the intensity, frequency, and/or complexity of problem behaviors by providing individualized behavior supports. Tier III interventions are utilized for students that demonstrate the highest need, based on lack of responsiveness to Tier I and II supports. These interventions are evidence-based, informed by a functional behavior assessment, and person-centered. Interventions may include instruction of a replacement skill for problem behaviors, rearranging the environment to prevent problem behaviors and encourage desirable behaviors, procedures for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention, and emergency procedures when necessary to ensure safety. The Tier III training provided by the Nevada PBIS TA Center includes one workshop for Tier III teams, six online modules (1 hour each) which correspond to four in person facilitated planning sessions. The online modules are self-paced meaning that the team can work through the material as needed. These modules correspond to an in person facilitated planning session where the Nevada PBIS TA Center will provide more intensive technical assistance and consultation to teams.

The workshop provides the team with training in teaming at Tier III, identifying need and resources, introduction to functional behavior assessments, developing behavior intervention plans, and data collection and evaluation.

The first quarterly professional development, including pre-requisite online module is "Goal Setting and Data Collection". This training will provide the team with information on selecting target behaviors for reduction, gathering background information and data on target behaviors, and selecting appropriate replacement behaviors.

The second quarterly professional development and pre-requisite module is "Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)". In this training, teams will learn about the possible functions of behaviors, methods for collecting and analyzing FBA data, and identifying function of the target behavior.

The third quarterly professional development is "Behavior Intervention Plans". There are three online modules that are pre-requisites for this training (BIP-Prevention, BIP-Teaching, BIP-Reinforce). This training will teach teams to use the functional behavior assessment results to develop function-based behavior intervention plans.

The fourth quarterly professional development and corresponding online module is "Evaluation". During this training, teams will learn how to monitor and evaluate their behavior intervention plans. Additionally, teams will have the opportunity to troubleshoot where necessary.