Discipline and Behavior PBIS FAQ

PBIS is a framework or approach for assisting school personnel in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral interventions into an integrated continuum that enhances academic and social behavior outcomes for all students.

PBIS IS NOT a packaged curriculum, scripted intervention, or manualized strategy.

PBIS IS a prevention-oriented way for school personnel to (a) organize evidence based practices, (b) improve their implementation of those practices, and (c) maximize academic and social behavior outcomes for students. PBIS supports the success of ALL students.

“PBIS” is short for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. This language comes directly from the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). PBIS is used interchangeably with SWPBS, which is short for “School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports.” PBIS is based on principles of applied behavior analysis and the prevention approach and values of positive behavior support.

The primary functions of the Center on PBIS are to study, organize, and disseminate empirically-supported behavioral practices and interventions within the prevention-oriented framework of PBIS systems. The Center mainly works with school, district, and state leadership teams to improve the social culture and behavioral climate of classrooms and schools.

PBIS emphasizes the establishment of organizational supports or systems that give school personnel capacity to use effective interventions accurately and successfully at the school, district, and state levels. These supports include (a) team-based leadership, (b) data-based decision-making, (c) continuous monitoring of student behavior, (d) regular universal screening, and (e) effective on-going professional development.

Effective classroom management and preventive school discipline are essential for supporting teaching and learning. PBIS goes further by emphasizing that classroom management and preventive school discipline must be integrated and working together with effective academic instruction in a positive and safe school climate to maximize success for all students.

The Center is a great source for learning and obtaining information about PBIS, in particular, defining what PBIS is, what it looks like, how it can be established, what outcomes are possible, etc. However, other sources (e.g., consultants, publishers, universities, trainers) not formally associated with the Center also provide PBIS resources to schools.

The voices and perspectives of family and community members are involved directly in the PBIS process through active participation on, for example, leadership teams, practice implementation, and outcome evaluations at the school, district, and state levels.

The logic, tenets, and principles of PBIS are the same as those represented in RTI (e.g., universal screening, continuous progress monitoring, data-based decision making, implementation fidelity, and evidence based interventions). Literacy and numeracy implementation frameworks are examples of the application of RTI for academic behavior, and PBIS is an example of the application of RTI for social behavior.