Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SW-PBS) is a proactive approach to put behavioral/social skills strategies in place for all students while also building in support for those at risk for and/or those who receive special education services.

Advisory Group Personnel Directory Leadership Team Partnerships Schools

Continuum of Procedures for Encouraging Expected Behaviors

Feature Purpose: Provide students and staff frequent, positive, genuine feedback for displaying desired behaviors (both social and academic). “Developing a [recognition] system is a critical component in that it increases the likelihood that desired behaviors will be repeated, focuses staff and student attention on the desired behaviors, fosters a positive school climate, and reduces the need for engaging in time-consuming disciplinary measures” (Florida’s PBS Project as cited in George, Kincaid, & Pollard-Sage, 2009 ).

Feature Outcomes: Establish a positive school climate in which compliance receives more attention than non-compliance. Additionally, because the feedback will be contingent upon appropriate behaviors and provide specific feedback, it will serve as ongoing formative assessment information to guide future planning and learning.

Examples of a Continuum for Encouraging Expected Behaviors Include:

Establish a system to provide tangible, specific positive feedback to students when they meet expectations
Establish a system to provide tangible, specific positive feedback to staff
Procedures are understood and practiced by administrators, staff, students, and families
Encouragement should be implemented at a sufficient ratio (e.g., 4:1) to support expected behaviors

“In any incentive system, plans also should be developed to fade the use of [tangibles] while verbal feedback and other natural outcomes remain. A continuum of strategies for encouraging expected behaviors should be developed to reduce the use of external school incentives. More student-based reinforcement maintains the desired behavior. In general, positive reinforcement should be shifted from (a) tangible to social, (b) external to internal, (c) frequent to infrequent, and (d) predictable to unpredictable” (Sugai & Tindal as cited in Lewis & Sugai, 1999).

References

Lewis, T. J., & Sugai, G. (1999). Effective behavior support: A systems approach to proactive schoolwide management. Focus on Exceptional Children, 31(6), 1-24. Retrieved April 2, 2011, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3813/is_199902/ai_n8844924/pg_8/

George, H. P., Kincaid, D., Pollard-Sage, J. (2009). Primary-tier interventions and supports. In W. Sailor, G. Dunlap, G. Sugai, & R. Horner (Eds.) Handbook of positive behavior support (pp. 307-326). New York, NY: Springer.