This evaluation brief describes how a district in receivership (state takeover) invested in PBIS to (a) enhance their systems to support staff, (b) implement evidence-based practices to support students, (c) use data to guide their implementation, and (d) ensure equitable supports for all students, including students with disabilities, to…

Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) are widely implemented throughout the U.S., and according to the literature, school counselors are one school-based staff member who supports and even leads MTSS implementation, along with other school-based staff. At the same time, there exists limited research examining school counselors' leadership roles…

Project ENGAGE was an Education Innovation and Research federal grant awarded to the Osage County Interlocal Cooperative in October of 2017. This study addressed the effect of a combination of literacy and behavioral supports on the academic outcomes of elementary students in rural public schools. The five-year multi-element study included a…

Prioritizing social, emotional, and behavioral supports is essential for student success. By establishing systems to support students' social (how they interact), emotional (how they feel), and behavioral (how they act) needs and growth, educators and leaders can ensure that all students have full access to instruction and the essential skills for…

Building district capacity for implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in high need school districts is challenging. To better understand the level of support needed to successfully implement districtwide PBIS under challenging conditions, the National PBIS Center is conducting several model demonstrations of…

An emerging body of research shows Tier 1 Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) can be successfully implemented in high schools to improve school climate and graduation rates and reduce problem behaviors. However, high schools are often hesitant to adopt PBIS because of contextual barriers such as school size, organizational…

Teachers can use a variety of classroom management practices to help foster a classroom environment in which all students can learn. "Good Behavior Game" is a specific classroom management strategy that aims to improve social skills, minimize disruptive behaviors, and create a positive learning environment. Teachers place students into…

Recent legislation through the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) has implications for school systems across the nation in creating and implementing a multi-tiered system of support. Pennsylvania has its own state legislation that also provides the language for schools to implement an MTSS framework that includes tiered support in academics through…

A positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) framework has been associated with a variety of positive student and school outcomes. However, additional research would be useful to further understand the relationship between school-wide (i.e., Tier 1) PBIS implementation level and student outcomes. This study examined whether there were…

Treatment integrity is a critical component to fully understanding the relationship between implementation of evidence-based interventions and student outcomes. Research shows that school-based implementers require support beyond what is typically provided to consistently implement interventions with adequate levels of treatment integrity, and…

Research focusing on school climate has shown that healthy, safe, and positive school environments are associated with improved psychological, social, behavioral, and academic outcomes for secondary students. For this reason, it is important for schools to understand how to improve perceptions of school climate through effective, evidence-based…

Educators can employ a variety of classroom management strategies in their efforts to foster a classroom environment in which all students can learn. "Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT)" is one such strategy. As part of "CW-FIT," teachers establish classroom rules, provide instruction on target skills,…

Educators can employ a variety of classroom management strategies in their efforts to foster a classroom environment in which all students can learn. "Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT)" is one such strategy. As part of "CW-FIT," teachers establish classroom rules, provide instruction on target skills,…

This paper has two purposes: First, we describe the components of the Student Ownership, Accountability, and Responsibility for School Safety (SOARS) framework in the context of the literature on school safety. Second, we offer outcomes from a pilot study testing the framework's impact on student perceptions of: (1) school belonging; (2) sense of…

PBIS is has been consistently correlated with reductions in student exclusion including suspensions, expulsions, poor attendance, and high school dropout rates. However, school-wide strategies that do not specifically involve effective instruction in academic areas are unlikely to result in increased academic achievement. To address this reality,…