Literature_Review__Pbis

Chapter Two: Positive Behavior Interventions Literature Review Research: Assessment and Evaluation Educators today are faced with several challenges in their effort to teach children. School-wide Positive Behavior Support is a systems approach to establishing the social culture and behavioral supports needed for all children in a school to achieve both social and academic success. SWPBS is not a packaged curriculum, but an approach that defines core elements that can be achieved through a variety of strategies (Department of Education: Office of Special Education, 2010). “At most schools, when a student struggles in the regular education program, the school’s first systematic response is to refer the student for special education testing.”, whereas behavior issues might be the actual issue [ (Buffman, Mattos, & Weber, 2010, p. 13) ]. The following is an analysis of journal articles and sources regarding the evidence based on Positive Behavior Intervention Support. Educators have the difficult task of educating students in which behavior is a major hindrance to their own learning as well as others around them. “Our schools were not built so educators would have a place to work each day, nor do they exist so that our government officials have locations to administer high-stakes standardized tests each spring. If we peel away the various layers of local, state, and federal mandates, the core mission of every school should be to provide every student with the skills and knowledge needed to be a self-sufficient, successful adult” [ (Buffman, Mattos, & Weber, 2010, pp. 13-14) ]. Research suggests evidence be provided for a study to be valid or credible. To meet an “evidence-based” standard “the practice/procedure must be operationally defined, there must be formal measures of fidelity, there must be formal outcome measures, and these elements must be used within a randomized control trial group research design” (Department of Education: Office of Special Education, 2010). The purpose of the article Examining the Evidence Base for School-Wide Positive Behavior Support is to provide an analysis of the program and the evidence around the practice. As the field of education embraces the task of adopting evidence-based practices, ongoing discussion about the standards and format for determining whether an intervention is supported by data on its effectiveness will be appropriate [ (Horner, Suggai, & Anderson, 2010, p. 1) ]. The researchers determined that the core features of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support are actually not new. Instead, they concluded that the program derives from several decades of methodical research and innovation in education, mental health, and behavior analysis thus is an evidence-based program. The article references four issues that may be productive to guide further research. The issues they recognized are sustainability, cost, educational levels of implementation, and interactive effects. However, “negative effects to implementation of SPWBS have not been reported to date” [ (Horner, Suggai, & Anderson, 2010, p. 7) ]. Because of the relatively new concept and popularity of Positive Behavior Intervention Support, it is not as well know. The article School-wide Positive Behavior Support: Addressing Behavior Problems that Impede Student Learning suggest that despite the fact that Positive Behavior Supports have been implemented in hundreds of schools thus far, many educational and psychological professionals are, for the most part, unfamiliar with this innovative alternative for increasing positivity within student behavior. This article reviews the fundamentals and core components of the school-wide Positive Behavior Intervention Support. It also provides a case study of the implementation and the initial evaluation of the program in an urban middle school. The authors summarize critical issues and suggest directions for future research in this area that are of considerable importance to professionals in the fields of education and psychology. The research concludes that “each school brings unique challenges and obstacles, and school-wide discipline strategies must therefore take into account the unique characteristics and needs of each school” [ (Warren, et al., 2006, p. 189) ]. As stated in the article The Full Purpose Partnership Model for Promoting Academic and Socio-Emotional Success in Schools, there are several themes to encouraging positive behavior. Representation and modeling by adults, adult “buy-in” and the overall climate of the school have a direct mental and behavioral impact on positive behavior. Results suggest that the intervention models of Full Purpose Partnership similar to that of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports influence “not only participating schools but the entire school district” and create “a child-centered and strengths-based philosophy shared among staff, teachers, families, and students was perceived to be directly linked to changes in the school culture and a sustained positive school climate” (Anderson, Houser, & Howland, 2010, p. 40). The idea is for the school as a whole to embrace “an approach in which teachers and staff focus on the strengths and abilities of each student, rather than a “deficit model” based on student problems and weaknesses” was proved to be “the source of a real change” in the overall culture of the school (Anderson, Houser, & Howland, 2010, p. 44). “Universal support is proactive in that every student gets effective PBS without identification or referral for specific problem behavior” (Turnbull, et al., 2002, p. 380). The article written by Curtis, Van Home, Robertson, and Karvonen in 2010, Outcomes of a School-Wide Positive Behavioral Support Program, provides evidence that a positive intervention system of support can decrease discipline issues. “And, although the effect sizes were small, the clinical significance of these decreases in problem behaviors can have a favorable impact on the school environment [ (Curtis, Van Home, Robertson, & Karvonen, 2010, p. 159) ]. The article also provides a possible hole in research or at the very least a negative report on the Positive Behavior Intervention Support Program. Research shows that extended timeouts, suspensions, and instructional days lost decreased the first two years following the full implementation of the program but actually increased slightly in the third year of implementation. Researchers stated a few reasons for the decline in effectiveness such as the excitement for the program could have diminished after the first few years. “Therefore, it is important to continually revise student rewards and closely monitor data to address problems and to enliven the program. Second, during the fourth year of the program, the founding principal of the school announced that he was retiring. Any change in school personnel — especially in this case when the principal who served on the leadership team and was an ardent supporter of positive behavioral support announces retirement — will affect the school climate and resulting programs” (Jacobson, Brooks, Giles, Johnson, & Ylimaki, 2007). [ (Curtis, Van Home, Robertson, & Karvonen, 2010, p. 162) ]. In conclusion, the effects of positive intervention and positive incentives will be measured against behavior and productivity. As explained above, most of the research suggests that the Positive Behavior Intervention Support implemented on a school-wide basis has a positive effect on behavior. “In addition, other outcomes such as attendance, grades and standarized test scores are monitored as universal support may have direct and indirect influence on these outcomes” (Turnbull, et al., 2002, p. 380). In my research, I propose that the direct and indirect relationship is quite large and extensive as a result of the decreased behavioral issues. References Anderson, J. A., Houser, J. H., & Howland, A. (2010). The Full Purpose Partnership Model for Promoting Academic and Socio-Emotional Success in Schools. THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY JOURNAL , 31-54. Buffman, A., Mattos, M., & Weber, M. (2010). The Why Behind RTI. Educational Leadership , 10-16. Curtis, R., Van Home, J. W., Robertson, P., & Karvonen, M. (2010). Outcomes of a School-Wide Positive Behavioral Support Program. Professional School Counseling , 159-164. Department of Education: Office of Special Education. (2010). Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports. Retrieved November 5, 2010, from Positive Behavioral Interventions Supports: www.pbis.org Horner, R., Suggai, G., & Anderson, C. (2010). Examining the Evidence Base of School Wide Positive Behavior Support. Focus on Exceptional Children , 1-14. Turnbull, A., Edmonson, H., Griggs, P., Wickham, D., Sailor, W., Freeman, R., et al. (2002). A Blueprint for Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support: Implementation of Three Components. Council for Exceptional Children , 377-402. Warren, J. S., Bohanon-Edmonson, H. M., Turnbull, A. P., Sailor, W., Wickham, D., Peter, G., et al. (2006). School-wide Positive Behavior Support: Addressing Behavior Problems that Impede Student Learning. Educational Psychology Review , 187–198.