PBIS Success

Implemented in BBSD’s Snyder-Girotti Elementary school in 2015, the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) pro­gram con­tin­ues to grow and meet with stu­dent and teacher suc­cess. PBIS is a proac­tive approach to estab­lish­ing behav­ioral sup­ports and the social cul­ture nec­es­sary for stu­dents to rise to their high­est lev­el of poten­tial in social, emo­tion­al, and aca­d­e­m­ic devel­op­ment. Rather than first address­ing neg­a­tive behav­ior with pun­ish­ment, one of the fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ples of PBIS is the pre­ven­tion of neg­a­tive behav­iors through the recog­ni­tion and pro­mo­tion of pos­i­tive behavior.

Snyder-Girotti vice prin­ci­pal, Mrs. Roberta Cimochowski, who leads the pro­gram, explains that three behav­ioral expec­ta­tions –being safe, being respon­si­ble, and being respect­ful– are the school’s focal points. Specifically, PBIS is used to help inter­vene in areas of need, such as the cafe­te­ria or school hall­ways. Students are praised and pre­sent­ed with a “tom­a­hawk tick­et” when they are observed per­form­ing behav­iors that sup­port any of the three expec­ta­tions. Receiving a tom­a­hawk tick­et allows the stu­dent access to par­tic­i­pate in a school– wide incen­tive. These quar­ter­ly incen­tives are designed to moti­vate all stu­dents to meet behav­ioral expec­ta­tions. The pro­gram has been received well by both stu­dents and par­ents, who are giv­en fur­ther infor­ma­tion at Back to School night and dur­ing school assem­blies. Additionally, the school has received two recog­ni­tion awards for its first year of imple­men­ta­tion and for con­tin­u­ing the pro­gram with increased par­tic­i­pa­tion and fidelity.

The data on PBIS notes that the gains a suc­cess­ful­ly imple­ment­ed PBIS pro­gram make include reduc­tions in major dis­ci­pli­nary infrac­tions, pro­mo­tion of bet­ter student-teacher rela­tion­ships, improve­ments in the per­cep­tion of school cli­mate, and reduc­tions in stu­dent bul­ly­ing behav­ior. At Snyder-Girotti the PBIS pro­gram has expand­ed by cre­at­ing an addi­tion­al “Silver Spoon” award, which involves home­rooms com­pet­ing dur­ing their lunch peri­od to receive recog­ni­tion for cafe­te­ria and an addi­tion­al incen­tive. Future plans for the pro­gram include the cre­ation of a PBIS store.