FAQ for School Staff

What is PBIS?

PBIS is a process for creating safer and more effective schools.  Instead of just punishing students, the process focuses on teaching and supporting positive behavior for all students, all staff, and in all settings. 

There are three components to PBIS:

• Systems:  The process of PBIS focuses on consistent systems to promote positive behavior and prevent inappropriate behavior in the school, classroom, and for individual students.
• Practices: The PBIS process teaches and supports research validated instructional and management practices.
• Data: Accurate, timely, and practical information is gathered and utilized at the school level to help school personnel make decisions to transform schools into safe and orderly environments.

What is wrong with current behavior management?

Current behavior management policies typically attempt to punish students into behaving.  Those students who are doing well are not reinforced.  Too much time is spent controlling and not enough time teaching valuable social skills.  When staff attempt to coerce appropriate behavior but don't teach it, we don't give the students opportunities to behave responsibly.

Do teachers and staff who don't have discipline problems have to do PBIS?

Yes, a school will decide on the expectations for student behavior.  Schools will teach, model, practice, and reinforce these expectations in the whole school, in all classrooms, and use special strategies for those tough kids who are having difficulty. 

Is this a new program the district is purchasing?

No. PBIS is a process of using research based strategies in schools to achieve important social and learning outcomes while preventing problem behavior.  PBIS is not new.  It's based on a long history of behavioral practices and effective instructional design and strategies. 

Is this for every student or just for students in special education?

PBIS is for all students, all staff, and every area in the school.

Does PBIS mean that students will not be punished for acting inappropriately and breaking school rules?

Schools will establish a continuum of procedures to encourage appropriate behavior.  Schools will establish a continuum of procedures to discourage inappropriate behavior.  School reactions will match student actions.  In this way, our students will learn that appropriate behavior results in positive consequences and that inappropriate behavior results in negative consequences. 

How will schools find time to teach social skills and behavior?  There is not enough time in the day to teach everything that must be taught now.

Think of how much time is wasted trying to get students to behave.  The time it takes to teach students the behavioral expectations will be regained plus some once the practices and policies are in place.

With behavior issues, schools pay now or pay with interest later.  With PBIS, schools will invest time up front teaching, modeling, practicing, and reinforcing instead of threatening, nagging, timing out, and suspending all through the year.

Why should students be rewarded for doing what they are supposed to be doing?

Educators get a paycheck.  Most of us would not come in every morning on a volunteer basis.  Unfortunately, some students come to school lacking certain social skills and don't know how to behave in an appropriate manner.  Schools have to teach them, and reinforcing is part of that. 

How will we know if it's working?

The goal in GCS is for PBIS schools to use a web-based data system that is used to improve behavior support and to make decisions about discipline systems.  PBIS teams are trained to analyze the data to determine if there is a problem that needs addressing and to know if the designed solution is having impact.