Classes are beginning and students will be learning the expected behaviors. Teaching, modeling, and reinforcing the expected behaviors may be all that is needed for a large percentage of our students, but others may need additional support. It's important to collect and review discipline referral data so that we can identify the students that may need additional support, before their behavior escalates. Regular reviewing of data is also a good way to ensure that we have the appropriate Tier II group interventions available for these students.
Office referral form data can be extremely useful, especially if your form includes all the right information. It's important to know what, when, where, and who else was involved, but a particularly useful data point is motivation. Asking staff to give their best 'guess' as to students' motivation for engaging in the behavior will help your behavior team choose group interventions with practices that match the students' needs. A useful tool for choosing interventions was created by the Arkansas Behavior Support Specialists: the Student Intervention Matching (SIM) Form.
How does your school currently collect office referral data? Do you have a system that can filter and sort data? There are some great options available. Please feel free to contact our office if you're interested in PBISApps' School-wide Information System (SWIS).
Does your school have systems in place to support Tier II? If you have questions or are interested in Tier II team training, you can call or email us at 870-972-2287 or pbis@astate.edu.
Start With Why: How to Put Purpose Back in Your Work (from PBISApps Teach by Design)
"We know when it comes to your PBIS implementation, staff buy-in matters (according to researchers, it matters a whole lot). Staff buy-in is the number one factor contributing to sustaining implementation and, when it’s missing, it’s the number one factor contributing to everything falling apart. A critical way to get people to buy-in to the work you’re trying to do is to start with why you’re doing it in the first place."
If you love podcasts as much as we do, check out PBISApps' Expert Instruction Ep. 21: Benefits & Examples of Creating a School-wide Purpose Statement.
How do you feel?
Self-Care is not selfish! As adults, we cannot help a child regulate their emotions if we can't regulate our own. When we talk about PBIS, we always talk about data guiding our process. The same can be done with regulating our emotions. It's important to put a name to all of our emotions. One great resource for beginning to recognize, understand, label, express, and regulate (think RULER) our emotions is the How You Feel app. Many thanks to the Arkansas AWARE trainers and their Resiliency for Educators course for providing this information.
