- We are going to be giving kind of a brief overview
of what PBIS is, what the responsibilities
and competencies are for any team members
who are part of your PBIS team.
The school and SU/SD coordinators, and the administrator.
And then, so that part will be relevant
to even those of you
who are currently implementing PBIS schools.
And then the second half is really about
how to become a PBIS school in Vermont.
So what is kind of the scope and sequence
and readiness steps.
So if you're attending today from a school
that is already implementing PBIS,
that part probably won't be as helpful for you.
You're welcome to stay on for it
or you're welcome to sign off
whenever you realize we're at a point
that's not so relevant for you.
So no hard feelings when that happens.
And then we just wanna make you aware
of all the supports that are available to you
as you're exploring and implementing PBIS in Vermont,
and then have a chance for any questions.
So just kind of how, so you can have a scope in your mind.
We began PBIS in Vermont in 2007,
with three schools and one SU,
and have grown over the years significantly to this year
when we now have 164 PBIS schools and 48 SUs.
So I think that's, I'm forgetting my percentages now,
but I think there's only like 52 SUs in the state now.
So you are joining a big family.
We just had a coordinator's meeting last week
that some of you were on
that I think had like 70 coordinators on.
So many schools have found during this time period of COVID
and last year remote learning, this year remote learning,
that their PBIS framework
has been really helpful for them to lean on.
And so they are still really engaged with the work
and with us, to be able to learn how to adapt
some of the practices and other pieces of PBIS
to this new environment.
So I will include a few examples of that
throughout this webinar too.
Obviously this was originally designed
for in-person learning,
but I did try to make some adaptations
because who knows what next school year will look like,
if you're a school that's exploring
implementation this year to implement next year.
So for those of you who are brand new, PBIS stands for
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.
And it really comes from the ABA world,
so applied behavioral analysis.
Comes from working with students with disabilities
and has been broadened to really work
as a whole school framework.
And like Martha and Sherry were mentioning,
it really is that framework
for you to be able to embed any evidence-based practices
related to social, emotional, behavioral learning,
in order for all students to really achieve
academic and behavioral success.
So we were mentioning there might be some other practices
or curriculum or supports
that you wanna embed within your PBIS framework.
And we'll talk about how the framework
supports those other practices.
So it's really not kind of a packaged deal
where you show up and you get a binder and say
this is how PBIS looks in every school.
It's really context-dependent.
So we do, when you think about context,
in Vermont we have some very very tiny schools.
We have more rural schools, more suburban schools,
and then all of the elementary schools in Burlington
implement PBIS to some degree.
So we have that different type of context
and also elementary, middle and high school.
K-12, K-8.
So all of those schools are really adapting PBIS
to what works best for their students and in their context.
So if you were hoping it's kind of a scripted thing
that you receive and we say this is how you do it,
it's not quite like that.
And Sherry was also mentioning
there's some belief in her building
that PBIS is really just a reward system.
And for those of you who are more familiar with PBIS,
you kind of have an understanding
that it's really a lot more than that.
And one of the challenges is when
the team comes to training,
bringing back all of those pieces of PBIS.
So sometimes in the rush to roll things out,
the acknowledgement system might be one of the only things
that some of your staff members learn about.
And so that's why this misconception about PBIS
gets perpetuated, because the training of the full staff,
it can be a challenge.
So if you've ever been to any kind of PBIS training
you're probably familiar with this pyramid.
We really think about PBIS in terms of
what do all students in the building need,
what do some need, and what do just a few need?
And this triangle or pyramid can actually be thought of
for staff and for families as well.
So when our strong universal practices are in place
for all of our students,
we would expect, using the public health model,
that about 80% of our students should be seeing success
with just those universal supports.
Thinking about this in terms of academics,
your general reading instruction should be successful
for about 80% of your students,
if you're implementing it with fidelity.
Same for PBIS.
But we know that even when those supports are strong
and in place, in all settings, for all students,
there are going to be some students
who need a little bit more support,
and that's where the targeted level of PBIS
comes into play.
And those are interventions that are able to be
really quickly put into place,
that don't require a whole lot of training for the staff
and for the students.
So the students can kind of slide into those supports
without too much of a barrier,
so that we can meet students when they are at risk
of developing some behavioral concerns,
rather than waiting until those problems kind of boil up
and become really large
and require a more individualized approach.
So a lot of times in schools, at this point in education,
they've got some, even if they're not implementing PBIS,
they've got some universal behavioral related things
that they might be doing.
They have some kind of reactive supports
for when students really need some intensive supports,
because we can't just ignore those students.
Even if you don't have PBIS
you've gotta do something to help students
who need intensive level supports.
But they're often missing those targeted level supports,
which can be really efficient and save resources
for those students that really need the intensive level.
And intensive level supports are really individualized.
There's a team that forms around the students
that need those supports
and includes some pretty complex processing.
It's like a complex functional behavioral assessment
and behavior support plan.
Maybe some wraparound supports
where all providers that are working with that family
are coming together and getting on the same page.
So we wanna reserve that level of support
for students who really really need it.
And the stronger our universal system is,
the fewer students we're gonna see
needing those targeted and intensive level of supports.
So thinking about that for a particular student,
you might know students who have a variety of levels
of competency in success and in different areas.
So, for instance, Dylan might respond really well
to the universal reading instruction.
He does really well with his peers.
Attendance could use a little help.
When we start getting into adult relationships and science,
he needs some targeted level supports.
And where he really struggles
are with emotion management and math.
And for kids who struggle with emotion management,
that's often really apparent
because they're the ones who are running from the classroom,
tipping over their desk, throwing things.
And so in a traditional way of thinking about it,
we might call Dylan an intensive student
because he is blowing out of class, he's violent.
And we might be in a meeting where someone says
well our intensive student, this or that.
With PBIS, we really wanna get away from labeling students,
especially by which tier of support they might be accessing
at that time.
And when you look at it like this,
you can see that by calling Dylan an intensive student,
it's really not honoring all of the strengths that he has
and kind of puts him into a bucket, in staff members' minds,
that is pretty static.
So we might think that Dylan is always going to be
an intensive student,
because we've given him that label.
Rather than thinking about him holistically,
as a student who has a variety of strengths and needs
and can make improvements in all of these areas.
So I just want you to think for a minute
about a student that you know well,
and if it helps you to kind of map it out
like we did for Dylan,
think about the areas that they see success.
So where are they succeeding
with just the universal level of supports that's in place
for everyone in the building.
Where are some areas that they might need
some targeted supports?
And where are some areas that they might need
intensive level supports?
So I'll just give you two minutes to think about
a particular student right now.
And it might be someone that comes to mind
if you hear something like a tier three student
or an intensive student
or someone using that kind of language,
that's labeling the student rather than the behavior
or the level of support.
And just kind of try to map them out and see what you find.
Just give you another minute.
Okay.
So this might be a good kind of exercise to do
with your staff, especially your staff
who are working with some students
who might need some targeted or intensive level supports.
Just to kind of remind them
that everyone's in different places
and needs different levels of supports,
depending on the moment.
So you might think about this in terms of your teachers.
And the tricky thing is, in situations like now with COVID,
you might be thinking that you have more students
or more staff who need some targeted
or intensive level supports,
based on what's going on right now.
And really that's your indication.
If you're starting to see 30, 40% of your students
needing additional supports,
that's when universal really needs to be strengthened.
So thinking about maybe your kindergartners
coming in next year, who have been experiencing
all different kinds of environments this past year,
which is always the case with kindergarten
but especially this year.
Thinking about bringing down some of those targeted
and intensive level supports to the universal level,
because there is more need right now.
So rather than kind of waiting for kids to fail
and need some additional level supports,
how can you embed those?
It's just part of what the classroom looks like
for all students.
Okay.
So really the success behind PBIS
and what makes it sustainable over the years,
is this kind of foundation of systems, data and practices.
So if you've come to any PBIS trainings before,
you're probably pretty tired of us talking about
systems, data and practices.
But it really is the most important piece
that makes PBIS possible in schools.
So if you think about the systems,
those are really in place to support the staff behavior.
So those are things like your leadership team,
making PBIS a priority within your district
and within your school.
And that priority is really visible to the staff,
so they know that this is what we're focused on this year
and into the future.
And that they are going to get the resources
and professional development and support that they need
in order to implement really well.
The data is there to support decision-making.
So schools that implement PBIS find that the data piece
is really something that was lacking
in terms of their social, emotional and behavioral supports
for students in the past.
So maybe they had a system
where they were collecting behavioral referrals
for when a student had to go to the office for a behavior,
but nothing really was ever done with those referrals.
Versus in PBIS, we're looking at a variety of data sources
and then doing something about it.
So designing interventions,
based on the data that we're seeing.
So we'll talk a little bit more about data in a little bit.
And then the practices,
so those evidence-based practices
that you're choosing to install
as part of your PBIS framework,
are there to support the student behavior.
So we'll talk about kind of the core components
of PBIS practices, but this is also where things like
responsive classroom or restorative practices
can be embedded as part of PBIS.
And things like responsive classroom
and restorative practices really benefit from those systems
and data pieces of PBIS that might not exist as strongly
for things like responsive classroom
and restorative practices.
So schools that might be implementing
one of those things on their own, without PBIS,
might not be looking as closely at the data
and how those practices are impacting students
and their outcomes, as schools that are implementing
those practices alongside PBIS.
Because they have those systems and data in place
to keep those initiatives or programs going.
When we're thinking about practices to install within PBIS,
we wanna think about what practices can we use
that require the smallest amount of effort,
that are evidence-based,
that are going to have the biggest impact on students.
So, especially this year but always,
schools are extremely busy,
teachers are extremely overstretched.
And so if we were to throw five new initiatives at staff
that are kind of willy-nilly, we don't know too much about
whether they're gonna be successful or not, we,
our staff are gonna be completely burned out.
So we wanna have a process for installing new practices
that really takes into account does this fit our context?
Is it evidence-based?
Is it reasonable to ask staff to do this or not?
And really have a clear process for that,
rather than just kind of picking at random
or picking based on I heard this idea at a conference,
I think we should do it.
Having a process.
So think for a second about a change that you have made
in your personal life, and I'll ask you to share it,
if you feel comfortable, in the chat box.
And think for a minute about whether you had any systems,
data or practices, as part of that change,
that sustained it for you.
And I will give a non-example,
which is I should be drinking more water in my life.
And so I knew that's a goal I wanna have.
I have a, it's called a motivational water bottle,
motivationalwaterbottle.com.
And it's got like a nice quote on the front
about good vibes.
And then on the other side it has times of day marked out.
So I know like by 10 o'clock
I should have drank this much water.
So that was one step of my drinking water change
that I wanted to make.
At one point I had an app where I was tracking
how much water I was drinking.
So that would be my data.
And I'm completely failing.
I have had this bottle for so long now
that I don't pay any attention to the times on the side.
So right now it's 9:30 or whatever time it is.
I'm still on my 7:00 a.m. timeline.
So something needs to change in my process.
Maybe I'm lacking some systems
and maybe I need to have a reminder on my Fitbit
that's gonna vibrate every time I should be drinking.
But you really can think about the systems,
data, practices piece, for any kind of change.
So we're thinking about it for
school-wide behavioral change,
but the same concepts apply,
regardless of what change you're looking to sustain.
So just think for a second about
any kind of change like that
that you might be trying to make or have made,
and whether you've installed any systems or practices
and are you keeping data
on whether that change is showing success.
Oh nice.
Brooke is trying to walk a thousand miles this year.
That is baffling to me,
based on how little I walk right now.
She's got a Facebook group that's motivating,
a habit tracker.
She's writing down her daily miles.
Accountability partners and 50 miles so far, wow,
on January 19th.
That's awesome.
Andy's trying to get more sleep alarms
to tell her when to start getting ready, when to be in bed.
Her anecdotal data says her brain is clearer.
More time in her day, even though she's going to bed earlier
'cause she's better utilizing that time.
Awesome.
Yeah, January is probably a good time to ask this question
because, yes we're all very motivated
by goal-setting in January.
We'll see if I get any answers in May.
Yeah, and so you can tell,
in goal-setting and things like that,
these systems, data and practices
are always a piece of that,
even if they're not calling it by these names.
So you'll kind of see now that you've been exposed to this.
It come up in your everyday life as well.
Wow, yeah, Heather lost 23 pounds last year
by tracking her food on the Weight Watchers app
and tracking her walking on her Fitbit.
That's inspiring.
Awesome.
Gained 15 back.
So maybe you've lost track of some of your systems,
data or practices.
Or it's a pandemic and we're excusing ourselves.
Tina's looking to be healthier and more fit
and her data is limited to her daily weight.
Yeah, so that's one of the things, right.
You know we might be in a school
where we're only looking at office discipline referrals.
We're trying to change the language
to be behavior observation and data forms,
'cause that's really what it is.
We're looking at what behaviors are we seeing.
It doesn't necessarily have to do with the office.
But if we're only looking at behavior data,
we're missing a piece of the story, right?
So if Tina's only tracking her daily weight,
there might be other changes that she would be seeing
if she was looking at other data sources.
So we'll talk about some varied data sources for PBIS.
She's researched and purchased her materials and programs
and struggling about how to begin and be most effective.
Yeah.
So maybe she needs to join Brooke's Facebook group
for her motivation.
That's my challenge as well Tina.
Awesome, thanks so much for sharing.
And like this last piece, so smallest effort evidence-based.
So let's say Tina purchased 10 books
about how to be healthier and more fit.
She's probably not gonna have time to read those 10 books
in order to make the change.
She might just need to get started, right.
So we wanna think about the smallest effort piece,
especially this year.
So I didn't wanna change my graphics,
but this is the new visual for this concept,
which really features outcomes and equity.
So thinking about constantly coming back
to what outcomes are we looking for for students,
for families, for staff.
How are our systems, data and practices getting us
to those outcomes?
And keeping equity at the center.
So obviously this year has had a huge focus on equity
for a lot of schools, and thinking about
which of your social and emotional behavioral practices
promote equity or not.
And kind of examining everything through that equity lens.
So we're doing some work at the state level,
in terms of thinking about PBIS through an equity lens.
And we know that our schools are as well.
So thinking about whether all students
have equitable access to these practices.
Whether staff are examining their own biases
in terms of kind of reacting to student behavior.
And looking at the systems that are in place
and really analyzing whether there are
disproportionate outcomes for students,
and what that means in terms of needing to change
some of our systems or practices.
So some of you
might be familiar with implementation science.
And this is just a reminder that this is really a process.
So for schools that are just starting out
and are really looking at PBIS,
some time needs to be spent in this exploration process.
So if schools were just to kind of dive in head first
without spending time exploring, assessing readiness,
assessing buy-in, thinking about what staff really need
in order to do this work well,
it likely would not be sustainable.
So these first few steps of exploration, installation,
making sure that staff have professional development
and making sure they have the materials they need.
Starting out your initial implementation
and then getting to full implementation
takes three to five years.
And that it's normal and part of the research
that it takes this long to get to full implementation.
And then beyond that,
we have some of our schools who have been implementing
for eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 years,
that are really to that place
of innovation and sustainability.
So they are giving us great ideas
about how things can work well in schools in this area.
So when thinking about the core features of PBIS
and kind of the process you would take
if you were a new school starting out,
we begin by helping you to craft a common purpose statement
so that everyone knows what your social, emotional,
behavioral kind of vision is for your school
and what the purpose of your PBIS team is.
And then we do lots of work around kind of team norms
and roles, common agendas,
so that your team is running really efficiently
in order to get to these next steps.
The next piece is defining three to five
positively-stated clear behavioral expectations
for your whole school.
So right now you might have some individual teachers
doing this on their own,
coming up with some good expectations potentially,
so that they're thinking about looking for the positive
rather than creating that list of rules in their classroom
that's like no swearing, no gum, no calling out.
So they might be thinking about it on the positive side,
but those expectations might be really different
in different places in the building.
And for, in a traditional year,
when kids are going different places in the building,
can create some feelings of anxiety or confusion
for students between different locations in your building,
and not knowing what to expect from different adults.
So this helps create a common language across the building,
for all staff to be able to refer back to the expectations,
and the students start really referring back
to these expectations as well.
So using the language with their peers
of that didn't make me feel safe,
or I need some help being responsible today.
And just having the expectations is nice,
but if we're not teaching the students
explicitly how to meet those behavioral expectations,
we might not see the success we're looking for.
So, as we know, students have lots of different
prior experiences before coming into school.
And we can't assume that students know
what these expectations look like,
and look like in different areas of the school.
So an expectation like respect
might look very different on the playground,
versus in the bathroom versus in the classroom.
And helping students kind of understand
that different places have different expectations.
So yelling and running is totally fine in the playground.
Once we come back in the building,
we need to have quiet voices in the hallway
and walking feet.
That might be a new concept for some students.
And then we wanna have a system
for acknowledging when students
are able to meet those expectations.
So like we were talking about earlier,
if we just have an acknowledgement system
and we haven't taught the behavioral expectations,
we might not see the behaviors we're hoping for
and that may play into this area of equity or inequity.
So if we are only acknowledging the students
who are able to meet the behavioral expectations
without being taught them,
we might be targeting a group of students that has a dis,
oh boy, not disproportionate, disadvantage,
coming from a disadvantaged place
and kind of working to increase that gap,
which is not what we're looking to do.
So that piece around teaching the expectations explicitly
sometimes gets lost, but is really an area
that we need to spend a lot of time.
And many schools are good about doing that,
maybe the first week or two of the year,
but this is really something
that needs to be looped back to.
So I previously worked at Dothan Brook School
and White River Junction,
and every month we had a focus behavior based on our data.
So our universal team would look at our school-wide data,
examine either a location or a type of behavior
that really could use some additional teaching,
and made that our focus for the month.
So we developed a video for all staff to show,
so that the staff understood what the expectation was.
So that helps kind of make it consistent across the staff.
But also helped reteach for the students
about what that expectation was,
and what it looked like in different places.
We also know that despite all of these
good proactive strategies,
we are still going to have problem behaviors occur.
And we want our adults in the building to have systems
for responding to those problem behaviors
in a way that's not going to escalate the behavior.
In a way that's going to be restorative
and coming from a lens of teaching.
So remembering that when a student makes a math mistake,
we're not punishing them for making that mistake.
We are teaching and reteaching them
how to complete that math problem correctly.
But when we move into the behavior realm our often,
our first approach is to punish
when students aren't able to meet the expectations.
So kind of reformatting our staff's brains
to be always coming from that teaching approach.
And then the last component
are those data management systems.
So kind of doing an inventory of
what data systems do you have available to you
in your building, and whether they're being utilized.
So you might have something like a nurse visits log
that the data could be de-identified for,
and you might see, wow,
our fourth graders are coming to the nurse
with complaints of stomach aches.
The nurse is deeming that they're not actually sick.
Obviously this year's a little bit different.
But let's say the nurse is deeming
that they're not actually sick.
Maybe there's some feelings of anxiety
within those fourth graders
that's causing them to say they have a stomach ache.
So, but previously maybe that nurse visit data
wasn't really used for anything.
Same with attendance data.
We can do some targeted interventions around attendance.
In this new virtual world
maybe you're collecting engagement data
about how students are accessing
some of the online platforms,
but if you're not doing anything with that data
you're probably not gonna see any changes
in increased engagement.
So thinking about what data sources
you have available to you.
And then we have a process
called team initiated problem solving, or TIPS,
which leads teams through a process
of looking at their data,
developing a precise problem statement,
and developing some solutions and trying them out.
Developing an action plan around them.
So thinking about these elements,
if you're not already implementing PBIS school,
you likely already have some of these elements in place.
So looking through these,
do you do any of these in your school already?
And if so, which ones.
And feel free to share out in the chat box.
And if you are implementing PBIS school,
you could share what you're doing too.
But it's just kind of nice for schools
who are not already implementing,
for staff to realize like, okay, we are doing some of this.
This kind of just formalizes it
and makes it consistent across the building.
Yeah, so Heather's at Derby.
So they have, they're implementing PBIS.
They have Club Club.
They have Check-In Check-Out forms for students
to monitor their own behavior,
with the help of teachers and staff.
Martha has lots of systems for tracking data
but they're not always shared in a consistent way.
And Sherry says they have behavioral expectations
at the middle school.
Haley has three main focuses,
perseverance, tolerance and accountability.
And they have lessons and posters around the school
with examples of these in a matrix.
And then Brooke, they have a PBS matrix
they created this summer at the summer institute.
Clear expectations and a behavioral referrals sheet
to keep track of the behaviors,
acknowledge when behaviors are not met,
by giving them reminders.
And Heather's using SWIS.
Work group Wednesday to look at data.
And Brooke's school has a focus
on being safe, respectful and kind.
And Haley's just starting to utilize SWIS.
Yes.
So for those of you who don't know SWIS,
it's school-wide information system.
And it's a really simple way
for keeping your behavioral data.
And it gives you really great graphs
to be able to look at your data school-wide
and also be able to look at on an individual student basis.
Yeah, Kirsten's using SWIS and teacher data.
Respect yourself, others and property.
School-wide recognition.
And no Brooke, you don't have to be a PBIS school
to have SWIS.
So we have lots of schools in Vermont
that are accessing SWIS without being official PBIS schools.
They're probably missing some of the pieces
in terms of how to use the data,
but we do have recorded webinars and things like that
to be able to learn how to use it most effectively.
Okay.
So Heather was mentioning earlier
that she has a new role at Derby,
which now I'm forgetting the title of.
Restorative coordinator?
- Well, the title has changed over the year,
but I think we've settled on restorative support teacher.
- Okay.
- Even though I don't have a class,
I just am called to different classrooms as needed.
- Okay.
So many schools in Vermont
are moving towards a restorative approach,
and we have been working really hard to think about
how restorative practices and approaches
fit within our PBIS framework.
And so, right from the beginning,
as schools are being trained in universal now,
we're kind of infusing these restorative principles
of voluntary participation, exploring relationships,
meaningful engagement and participatory decision-making,
right into our universal training.
So even if you're not technically doing
restorative practices in your school,
we still feel that these restorative principles
bring a lot to the PBIS work.
Being trained then in restorative practices
is kind of beyond that,
but can really enhance your PBIS framework
so that you have some consistent ways of building community
across your building,
in terms of tier one restorative practices.
And are giving staff some good tools and scripts
and language for responding,
when kind of some low-level problem behaviors happen.
And then having processes in place
for how students re-enter classrooms,
re-enter the building if they were to be suspended.
So like PBIS,
restorative practices also has different practices
at tier one, tier two and tier three,
depending on the needs of your students.
And so when we work with PBIS schools
to think about their practices, we're hoping to have them
kind of shift along this continuum.
The far side is more of that, you might say,
traditional behavioral discipline system
where we are excluding students when they misbehave.
Our systems are very adult-centered, punitive,
thinking about compliance,
and more focused on blaming when things go wrong,
rather than working to repair that harm.
And the piece we're really trying to think about is
how can we do with our students,
rather than just to or for.
So in the past, much of the PBIS work
really just happened at the adult level
and was more about adults doing to students
or for students.
And so we are hoping to make a shift,
first for PBIS leadership teams from the very beginning,
to be thinking about
how are we doing this work with students?
How are we engaging with them in this work?
So that they're doing this right alongside us,
rather than us as the adults doing it to them.
So we're kind of having schools examine their practices
with this continuum in mind,
and how can we push to become a more restorative school.
So when thinking about PBIS from the beginning
with this lens,
rather than the adults setting the expectations,
teaching the expectations, and developing the procedures
for acknowledging when those behaviors are positive,
we wanna think about how can our whole school community
build our agreements together.
And rather than these being rules, these being agreements
for how we wanna exist in this space called school together.
What does that look like in action?
So how do you, what do other students do
in order for you to feel respected as another student?
And how can we think about, rather than just
teachers delivering these behavioral lessons,
that we think I have taught them how to be respectful.
How can we make sure that they have really learned them?
So thinking, coming from a learning-centered perspective
rather than a teaching-centered perspective.
So, if you're a school that's exploring PBIS,
we have a new module from last year
that is around this process
of developing a community approach
to developing your expectations.
If you're a school that's already implementing PBIS,
you might be in a place where you're looking at
revamping your expectations
or looking at this process again.
But if you're not, if you know, okay,
our expectations are gonna stay, respect yourself,
respect others, respect property,
or whatever that one that was mentioned,
how can you do the second step?
So how can you engage the students
in what these agreements mean in action?
So rather than just posting your matrix up on the wall,
how can your students be a part of determining
what those expectations look like in your building?
And teaching them.
So when thinking about COVID,
this is what a behavioral matrix looks like.
So you can see this school's expectations
were respect, responsibility and safety.
And like in the past, they have locations like hallway,
classroom, bus, places like that.
But they also have expectations for online groups,
for online independent work,
so that students really know what's expected of them
in each of these locations, especially when those locations
were brand new to them last March.
And brand new to them again in September with a new teacher.
And the expectations have changed
within the physical environment as well.
So you can see a lot of maintaining
your personal space bubble, wearing a mask,
following one way direction arrows.
So for schools that already had PBIS up and running,
before this year, many of them just kinda saw
this natural shift for how to use PBIS,
to help students learn these new expectations.
And to have teachers have a way
of teaching the expectations
and acknowledging when students
were meeting those expectations.
So it kind of helps also draw the adult's attention
back to these particular expectations
that have been identified as the most important.
Another kind of new piece from this year,
from the National PBIS TA Center,
is this kind of focus back on the basics.
So even for schools that were already implementing PBIS
before this year, was obviously challenging.
And so this visual kind of helped bring us back
to ground us.
We wanna be creating positive, predictable
and safe learning environments for our students,
regardless of what those environments look like,
so that we can see social, emotional, behavioral
and academic growth.
How are we gonna get there this year
when things are so crazy?
So they kind of boiled it down to these five components.
So connecting with our students.
Doing things like positive greetings at the door
or positive greetings upon log-ins,
so that each student is being recognized
and acknowledged as a person,
before instruction starts happening.
Screening.
So how do we figure out which students need more right now,
when some of our traditional screening methods
might not be possible?
So things like informal screeners.
So some of our schools are using apps
where students are checking in every morning
to let them know how they're doing.
Do they need to check in
with an adult that day about something?
And thinking about,
you're doing your health screening already.
Could there also be a question around
how is your mental health today,
in a way that's asking that question,
in a way that's developmentally appropriate
for your students.
And then really amping up
what we're doing to support our students and to teach,
like I was mentioning before, thinking about our matrix
and what social, emotional, behavioral skills
do our students need this year in particular.
So thinking about many of your schools
have shifted back and forth between in-person and remote.
What skills do students need
in order to be able to make that shift
and have more success at home than they may have last year,
without that support?
And thinking really particularly about
what are those key skills that they're going to need
in this shifting environment.
And then monitoring our success or challenges.
So coming back to that data piece.
So this visual kind of helped us distill down
what are really the key features that,
in this time of stress, can kind of ground us in the work.
So the last piece I wanna share,
just before moving into kind of the logistics pieces.
If you're a school that is exploring PBIS implementation,
it really helps to start with your staff and faculty
thinking about why would we make this shift.
So what are our current behavioral needs at our school?
What is our data showing us?
What are staff and students and families
really worried about?
What are their burning concerns?
What does the research say about
positive school environments?
And what would be the consequences
of just keeping doing what we've already been doing?
So thinking about these as a team.
Bringing these questions back to your staff.
Rather than just saying
the administrators decided that we are gonna do
PBIS next year, so here's our steps.
Really coming to this question of why,
and what are we concerned about.
And how might we make some progress
in alleviating some of those concerns?
So Martha kind of mentioned, she keeps coming back to,
a burning concern is coming up and suggesting like, oh wow,
like if we had a PBIS framework in place
that could help address this concern of attendance,
or whatever it might be.
So rather than kind of coming from this
top down approach of oh, well,
all the other schools in our district are PBIS schools.
We've gotta become a PBIS school.
Thinking about what is really on people's minds right now
and how might PBIS help alleviate some of that
and make their lives easier.
Because taking on something new this year
sounds really overwhelming and terrible,
unless it's going to make their lives easier.
So I'll pause now
for any questions or comments on that first piece.
Oh, this is Annie's school.
- [Woman] How do you suggest we really do that, Amy?
I just texted Martha and I kinda said like how do we,
even kinda have conversations
with some of the elementary teachers
and just sort of feel,
'cause some of them have done some of this in the past.
Like what do they feel their needs are,
like what's their pulse on all this?
Are they eager, does it feel like more work?
Do they not believe in it?
Do they need to have some education around it?
Jump in Martha, you know what I mean.
How do we?
- I was gonna say what I was thinking is that
how do we approach this when people,
some people have preconceived notions of what PBIS is
and maybe it worked or didn't work in the past.
I think actually overall, much of it did work
but there's sort of an idea that PBIS,
it's not a philosophy or framework, it's a system.
So just sort of trying to figure out
how to manage that.
And I like the idea of looking at the why
and why we would make this shift and.
- [Woman] The thing's right here actually.
- But that is actually, that's a big concern.
Is how to get buy-in.
- [Woman] How are you doing, do you do that informally?
Do you do that like, you know what I mean,
with some kind of Google doc?
Or both?
Like how do you?
- Yeah.
So we also have, I believe it was an in-person training,
so it would have been before March 2020,
so maybe January 2020, coordinator's training.
We developed this tool
that was around resistance and buy-in,
and it kind of laid out the possible reasons for resistance
in any kind of initiative or change,
not directly tied to PBIS.
But it was just those things you were mentioning.
Like is it an issue of lacking knowledge?
Is it an issue of lacking time and energy?
What are the possible barriers?
And then targeting your responses
to those particular barriers.
So maybe it's, on a typical year
maybe it's not that the teachers don't feel like
they have the time and energy for it.
Maybe it's that they inherently don't believe
that kids should be,
we frequently will hear like kids shouldn't be rewarded
for what they're expected to be doing.
And the piece around that is like,
okay, well how's that going for you?
- How's that working out? - Do you have ways
for letting students know
when they're showing positive behaviors?
Because we'll talk,
or I can't remember if we're gonna talk about this or not,
but the acknowledgement system is really there,
in part, for the adults to be remembering
to shift their focus toward the positive behaviors.
So it's not so much about the kid getting the ticket
or the fuzzy thing or whatever it is.
It's more about the adults
looking for those positive behaviors
and acknowledging them out loud,
so that the kids know when they've met those expectations
and what the teachers are looking for.
It also helps the teachers to identify like wow,
I actually have a lot of expectations for my students
that have kind of gone unannounced.
So we have an example from a middle school,
where the teacher, when she went through that process
of developing her classroom matrix, realized like wow,
just within my morning routine
I have like 10 expectations in my mind
of what students are supposed to be doing
when they walk in the door of my classroom,
that I haven't actually taught them.
And so when they're not doing them I'm really irritated.
But how would they know that I was expecting them
to do that if I haven't taught them how to do it?
So I think for this work, it's kind of entering
where the staff are most irritated,
and showing how you can make their lives easier
by putting in some work upfront,
because it is work upfront, right?
If you're just waiting for the behaviors to happen
and then reacting to them, you haven't had to do anything,
and now you're spending your time reacting to the problem.
But pushing that to the proactive takes time
but is saving you time in the end
from responding to that problem behavior,
and saving your sanity.
So for schools that have experienced PBIS working well,
they are more likely to stay.
So teacher turnover is lower.
And they're more likely to report enjoyment with their job,
because they're spending their time
looking for the positive,
rather than letting all of their energy be drained
by students who are exhibiting negative
or problem behaviors.
- [Woman] That's interesting, that part, Amy, I think.
Also, I don't know how else to sort of say this,
but one thing, being new here in this building,
there's definitely, we have a lot of resources.
We're kind of, we have a behaviorist at every,
I mean I've never seen anything like this in a school before
but maybe some of you have.
But we have a behaviorist at every grade level.
So there is kind of this piece of people being available
to kind of come in and remove kids a lot.
The behaviorist, of course they share their frustrations
'cause they believe in all this
and they wanna see a lot more of those tier one things done
and stuff in classrooms,
before kids kinda have to leave to regroup.
But so it's sorta like, when Martha and I came here
we were shown a binder about five inches thick
of restraints that had been done.
And I took about four binders,
the last five or six years out of my office,
one huge binder for every year.
So, we also used to have some more kind of
other outside agency classrooms here,
Washington County Mental Health, where there was definitely.
We had a lot of things like that on site historically.
So that might be why we have some more,
some of that restraint piece that has historically gone on
in this building, more than I've seen in other schools,
I'm not sure.
So we have the behaviorists that I think
would love to like see more tier one,
would like to be part of some of this positive stuff.
We also have them available to kind of remove kids
when teachers have kinda had it.
We kinda have some of those dynamics also in our building.
I don't know if that adds a different.
- Yeah, I mean, and the easiest thing to do, right,
is push a student away
when they are causing an issue, right?
You wanna preserve the learning
for the rest of your students,
and so you say this kid's gotta go.
But likely, if they were to look at their data,
the kids they're sending, they're sending repeatedly, right.
That intervention of sending them away
is not working to reduce the problem behavior.
- That was my guess. - So if it were working,
right, if sending them away meant that
for the next three weeks
they have no problem behaviors in their classrooms,
then we might say, okay,
that seems like that strategy's working for that kid.
Maybe they just needed a break outside the classroom.
But for most kids we're sending outside the classroom,
that doesn't actually change their behavior.
So, but when you have a person like that that's available,
it's so much easier for a teacher to send a kid out
than to deal with that problem within their classroom.
And so a piece of it is just that ease
and shifting it to be a different way
of handling responses to problem behavior.
So it's kind of multi-pronged, right.
Like if the teachers,
it might be that they don't feel equipped
to handle problem behaviors in their classroom.
It might be that they haven't set up
a classroom environment
that's gonna discourage problem behaviors
from happening in the first place.
So it's different, based on different teachers,
but you might find across the building,
the general sense is that teachers are fatigued,
are not getting the mental health support that they need,
and so the easiest thing to do is send the kid out.
So helping them to see the data,
that that doesn't actually change the student's behavior.
That process is taking 25 minutes
out of that student's learning.
That then the teacher's having to spend with them
at another time to make up that loss learning.
So it's kind of building dependent,
but getting to those kinds of root causes
of where was that coming from can be really helpful
in terms of getting past that resistance.
Yeah, so Heather's saying
we really have that consistent language
when we have PBIS in place,
and we have consistent response processes.
So we know what behaviors should be able to be managed
within the classroom.
What behaviors might need,
behaviors to whoever you've got in your building to respond.
Or what behaviors get to that kind of next level of needing
an administrator or someone like that to respond.
So we kind of help schools create a flow chart
for what responses to problem behaviors
should look like too.
- And can I just add one little thing,
just because I've worked with the school so much
in the past.
It is something that the administrative team,
or the leadership team, both at the SU level
and at the school level, has to say is a priority.
Not PBIS per se,
but the social and emotional wellbeing of students.
And if it's a priority, the system really needs
to rally around that to figure out what to do.
PBIS offers a lot of structure to be very creative within,
and looking at behavior the way Amy suggests
is a really good way to get started.
But without that buy-in from leadership to promote this,
you're going to always have an uphill struggle.
So, yeah, that would be just something to really consider
working with the administration on.
- I think we're gaining that and we're at a place
where that potentially could happen.
But I think we also need to sort of figure out,
before we dive in, how to make sure that,
I think there's just still a lot of
maybe lack of understanding of what PBIS really is.
And so sort of I think we're trying to figure out, okay,
if we're gonna put a team together
to go to the training in March, who should be on that team,
what should that look like?
How do we sort of prepare for even figuring out
who should be on the team?
Making sure that we're ready
'cause I think it would be worse for us
to try this and fail in some ways than it would be to.
And there are some preconceptions about PBIS
that are incorrect.
Dealing just with large system.
And a lot's come in and out here over the years.
- Yes, well, I'm glad you're there Martha to help try to.
- I feel like a nag but, oh well.
Can't help it.
Love PBIS.
- [Woman] We're gonna get together.
- And you know sometimes, like Sherry just said,
we say call it whatever you want.
You don't have to call it PBIS.
You need some kind of system in place
for social, emotional and behavioral wellbeing
and supports for students.
And PBIS is one way to do that and has some good resources
and research behind it.
But call it whatever you want.
You've gotta have consistent expectations.
You've gotta have a data management system.
You have to have those components
in order for a school to function successfully
in this realm.
Just like there are certain components
of MTSS for academics that just need to be in place
in any school that's functioning.
And so there is some element of call it whatever you want.
It's kinda, we've gotta have these components.
So it's tricky when you've gotta send a team
to a training called PBIS, but if you can think about it
in some different ways to help staff get over that barrier
of it's called PBIS and we don't like PBIS.
So, there's always a piece of that.
And to think about are those people just the loudest.
And so their voices are being heard.
And really you've got a majority of staff
who are ready to explore something,
because their current reality is not sustainable.
But you're only hearing from those that have
a really strong opinion about it.
- And just one more thing.
It's a very very large school.
For Vermont schools.
And when this happened in the very beginning,
your school was like one of the first schools
and we were still learning about PBIS
and PBIS has evolved so much
to be what Amy has said so well today,
which is working with instead of for and to.
So taking your time to really honor staff and their feedback
and their input, and having a process for that,
as well as students and families.
So it's really changed quite a bit since the older days,
with the framework that is still in place and intact.
- [Amy] Thanks.
- Yeah, I don't think there's negativity per se toward it.
I think it's just more, I'm not sure, maybe apathy,
and so we're just trying to figure out
how to move forward and to get staff input,
but not allow loud voices to throw things off course
any more than, and to get administrative support,
which I feel like we have.
But it's a K-8 school
and there's a pretty big distinction
between the middle school and the elementary school.
So we're looking at starting to submit elementary school.
I don't know if that's gonna be,
if that's problematic or not,
that it would be K-4 rather than across the grades.
- Yeah, we've had some who have done it that way.
It's tricky when then those students might interact with,
like let's say the music teacher is K8,
and so how do people like that fit into it.
But it's definitely a place to start
and then kind of inch up.
So now you're gonna add fifth grade,
you're gonna add sixth grade,
so that the students don't all of a sudden
arrive in fifth grade and are like, wait a second.
Like what, I thought this was how we did things here.
So it can be tricky if the physical environment
is that they're interacting a lot with those other grades,
but it is a place to start.
- They're very invested in developmental designs,
which actually fits perfectly into the PBIS framework,
but it's been hard to get people
to completely understand that.
And I don't want them to feel like they're gonna be,
that PBIS would supplant something
that they're excited about.
So I'm just hoping that over time,
that that understanding is there.
That developmental sciences
fits perfectly into a PBIS framework.
So.
- Yeah.
Oh, it's hard work but it's worth it.
- And it is worth it.
- Yeah.
So, like we said, it's hard work.
So we have a system of support in place in Vermont
that allows for support and for feedback.
So at the state level
we have five technical assistance providers.
So myself and Sherry are two of them,
and then we have three others
that serve the rest of the state.
And so your school is in a particular region
that has a particular TA provider associated with them.
And we can provide some support
during the readiness process and throughout.
But if schools are looking for some ongoing support
for someone to attend some leadership team,
or sorry some leadership team meetings,
we have coaches available that are able to be funded
through BEST/Act 230 money or other budgeting sources,
that can provide that ongoing support.
And those coaches also serve as our trainers
for the trainings throughout the year.
And then at the SU level, as you're coming on,
part of the intent to implement process is identifying an SU
or SD coordinator who really holds this work at that level.
And helps support each of the schools in their district
that are working on PBIS.
And then we ask for one person or co,
two people, to be a school level coordinator.
And that's kind of the person
who has this on their to-do list all the time
and is working to maintain and improve PBIS implementation
at the school level.
And then we are looking at each of those little levels
for feedback, so that we can kind of
adapt our trainings to what works best,
and learn from the successes of our schools
and our districts.
And each of those levels of support
should have a leadership team.
So if you have multiple schools in your district
that are implementing PBIS,
the school coordinators should be coming together
with the SU coordinator, maybe on a quarterly basis,
some meet even monthly, to be able to learn from one another
and get support.
And then we have a state level leadership team,
and obviously you have a school level PBIS leadership team
if you're implementing.
So Martha was just mentioning
who might we have on our PBIS team to come to training?
So obviously your coordinator.
We require that the school administrator
come to your team trainings,
because they really are a key component
of making sure this work sustains in your building,
making sure that they have a full understanding
and are able to provide for any resources
and support that staff are gonna need in this process.
And have that decision-making authority within the building.
Teachers and staff obviously that are representative
of your school building.
So thinking about do we have a related arts teacher?
Do we have a special educator?
Do we have an early person?
If you have a K-5 school,
you don't want it to be just
fourth and fifth grade teachers.
So thinking about a representative team.
And making sure that each person in the building
would have a voice on that team.
So thinking about support staff.
If they had a question or concern,
who's gonna be representing that at your PBIS meeting.
We highly encourage family members and students.
This is definitely something that schools struggle with.
Making sure that they have family members
and students on their team,
and thinking about how that can work logistically
in terms of when teams are meeting.
And there's always some concern about confidentiality.
However, your universal team should never be talking about
individual student's names,
regardless of whether there's family and students there,
because they're really thinking about school-wide PBIS,
school-wide behavior.
And so like individual student's names
shouldn't be a part of that anyway.
And in our modules, we talk a little bit more about
how you can have family member
and student voice represented,
regardless of whether you actually have someone
on your team.
However, we highly recommend that you have family members
and students on your team.
And I think this year in particular really emphasized
how important it is to have family members
who are able to have a voice in things like this.
And when you're thinking about all of these people,
across them, do you have different areas of competency?
So do you have someone with applied behavioral expertise,
with coaching expertise?
Someone who knows about academic and behavioral patterns
across the school, across grade levels, across programs.
And we're really encouraging that you have someone
who's knowledgeable about restorative approaches
or practices, or someone who's willing to learn more,
be on your universal team,
so that that can be part of your work from the beginning.
And that that person can constantly be prompting
like is this, does this fall into line
with our restorative approach?
Oops, sorry.
So team members should be sharing team roles.
So we have examples for what role someone might serve
within the meeting, before the meeting.
So someone like a data analyst would be looking at
your behavioral data before the meeting.
Again, they should be able to kind of report back
to their representative group within the school
about what the PBIS team is working on,
what their action plan is.
Team meetings should be monthly.
And so those leadership team members should be available
for that monthly team meeting.
They should divide tasks amongst themselves
and be able to kind of act as that PBIS cheerleader
for the building, to promote the work.
And you can see in the picture on the right,
this is Rick Marcotte School,
and this is a team meeting where they had students present
and looking at the data, right alongside the staff,
which is awesome.
So even at the elementary level,
including their students as part of their team.
Sherry talked about the importance of the administrator.
And so the administrator is very key to the team,
should be really active and visible on the team.
Able to promote and prioritize PBIS.
So something as simple as your August, well it's not simple,
but your August inservice.
If your administrator is not on board with PBIS,
there's not going to be time
devoted in your August inservice
for staff to learn about PBIS.
So a teacher or a coordinator doesn't have the power
to create the inservice schedule.
So thinking about how you can draw your administrator in
if they're not already invested.
And they should be a member of the team,
just as anyone else is.
So also volunteering for team tasks, attending the meetings
just like any other team member might be.
So we, that was the previous principal at Allen Brook,
wearing the silly hat, just like everybody else.
And the reason that we emphasize this
is because the research bears out
that when there is administrator support,
that's one of the strongest predictors of PBIS
being able to sustain.
And even just perceived administrator support.
So if teachers believe that the administrator is supportive
and prioritizing this, that can lead to sustainability.
The school coordinator should really be the person
supporting the team, maintaining their action plan.
Being that positive nag, like Martha was mentioning.
Facilitating the use of data.
So maybe that data is not their strong point
but they are making sure
that the person who is strong with looking at data
has access to the data when they need it.
Doing any kinds of public relations
and communications about PBIS.
Networking with other schools who are implementing.
And they're kind of the conduit
between the school and our team.
So that's Abby Bennett over at Proctor,
giving some PD to her staff
around classroom behavior practices.
And we recommend that the person who's in this role
has .1 FTE of their time devoted to this role.
So they should be freed up
from some other kinds of responsibilities
so that they can complete their PBIS tasks
during the school day.
So they shouldn't just be expected
to take on this coordinator role
in addition to their current role.
So maybe they, all the other staff in the building
have bus and recess duty.
And maybe this person's time, rather than being spent
at bus and recess duty,
is spent on their PBSI coordination role.
They should be somebody that's able to develop
a positive rapport, or who already has a positive rapport
with other school staff.
Somebody that when they speak, people are going to listen
and trust them.
And they obviously should be coming to our trainings.
So they kind of ensure that the team is scheduled to meet,
that facilitation occurs.
Again they don't have to be the facilitator
of every meeting.
They should be someone who's able to delegate roles
and attend our coordinator's meetings
to keep current with all PBIS things.
So they are kind of the internal PBIS expert
within the building.
So take just a minute to jot down
one of these responsibilities, that if you are a coordinator
or becoming a coordinator, you think might be important
to your role this year.
And this year all of our trainings are remote.
So in some ways they're easier to access for some people.
But we also know that people are having trouble getting subs
and things like that.
So it's a balancing act.
- [Woman] I'm sorry Amy, what was the rest of that question?
Take a moment to write down one responsibility you see as?
- Particularly important to be mindful of this year
in your role if you're the coordinator.
Something you wanna prioritize
or just keep on your docket.
Okay.
So when you're looking for somebody to volunteer
to be the school coordinator,
you're hoping you will have someone
who is either fluent with PBIS features,
or is willing to develop that fluency.
Like I mentioned, someone who is able
to effectively communicate with a variety of stakeholders,
and someone who's able to positively report on the work
that is happening, share successes,
and really be reinforcing for the team members
and for the school staff,
that their hard work is paying off and showing them how.
So next I'm gonna move on to the SU/SD coordinator.
And in some of our districts,
this person is kind of a coordinator in name alone.
So they've been listed on our directory as the coordinator
but they don't really kind of actively embrace this role.
We have other districts where this SU coordinator,
it's really part of their job description
to be the PBIS coordinator for the district.
And they're able to kind of fulfill
all of the roles and responsibilities of that position.
And what we're seeing is that districts
where that is in place
are really able to sustain PBIS better.
And their school coordinators feel a lot of support.
And in turn their schools feel a lot of support.
So we really are emphasizing the importance of this role
and hoping that each district that we work with
has someone in this role
that's really able to incorporate this as part of their job.
So, like I said, if you have more than one PBIS school
within your district,
there should be an SU/SD leadership team.
This person might conduct set evaluations for us.
So this is a school-wide evaluation tool.
This year we are not using that tool
because it relies heavily on an external person,
like the SU coordinator,
or one of us coming into the building.
So obviously we can't do that this year.
They serve as a liaison between the schools and our team.
They should be going to the school-based teams
two to three times a year, and are able to provide feedback
and support to those teams, resources, funding.
They often are the ones applying for the BEST/Act 230 Grant
and allowing for staff capacity to increase
by including staff trainings in the SU training calendar.
So more information about each of these roles
is included in the coordinator handbook,
which is listed as one of the resources.
So Sherry has shared the link to the resources
in the chat box.
This coordinator handbook is there.
Super great tool for if you are new
to this coordination rule,
or have kind of lost track of what your job is
as the coordinator.
It has a calendar for each of the responsibilities,
when they should be happening throughout the year.
And it's just a great resource.
And TJ is mentioning they're not the coordinator
but are trying to get in as much training as possible.
That's great.
The more staff in your building that can be fluent
with PBIS, the more supported the coordinator is gonna feel.
So, like I mentioned, role descriptions.
The coordinator self-assessment, which I think Heather said
she's already starting to fill out.
So great.
A checklist of responsibilities,
so that you can kind of keep track of where you're at,
and where some areas for improvement might be.
So I'll just pause again.
If you have any questions or comments
about the role of the SU coordinator,
the school coordinator or the administrator or team members.
- I know that in our district,
that Barre Town School has been very active in PBIS.
I have no idea who our district coordinator is.
I don't believe I've ever seen it listed.
I think I searched for it at one point.
Not sure actually that we even have one.
Maybe we have to but-
- [Woman] Have one then must have we have one then.
If Barre Town has a program,
do we have to have somebody?
Somebody must be designated Amy, or not necessarily.
- There's no one in the role at your-
- Okay. - SU right now,
and there should be.
We're gonna be contacting the superintendent soon.
We've been caught up. - Okay.
- Doing certain things this year,
with all the craziness. - Right.
I'm kinda wondering for us
what collaboration might look like with Barre Town, Martha.
- Yeah, I know- - I'll reach out to them
and have some conversations, you know?
- Yeah, I know a lot of the people
who are doing the work there.
- I do, yeah. - 'Cause my kids,
friendly with each other.
And so that would be a good thing to do.
- I'm recognizing that it's 10:32 right now,
so maybe if we wanna finish up and people,
if they still have questions or comments,
stay on the line after.
Would that work?
- So for those of you who are implementing schools already,
this might be your chance to say goodbye,
'cause we're now gonna go through the steps
for how to become a PBIS school to begin with.
But if you're interested, you can stay on.
And if you are going to leave
but you have a question you wanna have answered,
feel free to unmute and jump in.
So we have a YouTube channel that hosts
our First Steps to Implementation Online Module Series.
Over the years we have updated this.
And so there's actually like a direction sheet
that goes along with it,
because certain things within the videos
have changed a little bit.
So you'll get a copy of that after this webinar.
And basically there are four modules that kind of lead you
through some pre-work,
before you would be coming to April or June training.
So you would wanna schedule the completion of these modules,
thinking about which training you'd be leading up to,
and kind of map out a timeline for your school.
The one I'm gonna talk about today,
'cause I just need to give a little more information,
is module three, which is around the data tools.
And so we're thinking about, in PBIS,
rather than just jumping from thinking there's a problem
to developing a solution,
we're developing a more in depth problem-solving process
and decision-making process, where we are spending some time
really identifying what the problem actually is,
before developing solutions.
And then actually creating an action plan
where we have assigned tasks and timelines
for things to be completed,
rather than just kinda crossing our fingers
and hoping that they happen.
So this first data piece of PBIS
during your readiness process
is just kinda the first step in that process.
So before coming to April or June training,
we're asking that each school complete
the self-assessment survey.
So this gives all staff the chance to weigh in about
whether they think certain PBIS practices are in place,
partially in place or not in place at all,
and what the priorities are for changes.
And then after your baseline year,
you'd be designing your action plan around that.
So, for instance, one of the questions is,
staff know which behaviors should be managed
in the classroom versus,
or there's agreement about which behaviors should be managed
in the classroom versus handled outside the classroom.
And school staff might say oh, this is not in place at all.
Like we've disagreed with the administrators
about what behaviors should be handled where.
And this is a high priority for us to work on.
So that might be an item that makes it
into your annual action plan.
So this is a link that staff get the link to
through an email and complete the survey online.
And once schools are implementing,
we ask them to complete this once a year,
preferably in the spring.
We open the window from January to March.
For schools that are exploring,
we would just ask that you complete it
before whatever the training is.
So, for instance,
if you're planning to come to June training,
you might send out the self-assessment survey in May.
This year for schools that are implementing,
we're giving them the option of completing
a school climate survey.
But to make things simple for new schools,
we're sticking with a self-assessment survey
for that reason.
And then when those responses are given,
they're compiled into these reports.
So you can see your scores from year to year
and see in different areas what's in place,
partially in place or not at all,
and what the level of priority is.
So really helpful to be able to look at both within a year
and across years, where some areas for improvement might be.
And some areas of success that you could celebrate.
So you can see it by subscale
and then also by individual items.
And we'll kinda teach you how to get to that assessment,
how to look at the results, and how to analyze them.
And then typically, like I mentioned before,
we have schools complete the school-wide evaluation tool,
the set, that involves an outside person
coming into the building.
But because we can't do that this year,
we're asking that schools complete
the tiered fidelity inventory.
This is the tool that you'll use
throughout your time implementing PBIS.
We didn't typically use it as a pre-assessment,
but this year we are.
So the tiered fidelity inventory has three tiers.
So tier one, tier two, tier three.
And for pre-implementation,
you would just be completing tier one most likely.
And we would expect your scores,
both on the self-assessment survey
and the tiered fidelity inventory, to be somewhat low,
if you're not already implementing PBIS.
So it's not a judgment of any kind.
It's to be able to show pre post growth.
Once you're an implementing PBIS school,
you would use this tiered fidelity inventory
to assess what features are in place
and what features need some support,
to be able to form your action plan,
along with your self-assessment survey.
And the tier one, I believe, has 15 questions.
So it's a pretty simple assessment
that your leadership team would take.
So again, that's an online survey.
We'll teach you how to get to it.
And we do recommend that someone external to your team
complete that with you.
So that might be one of us as your TA,
if you have a coach already, or your SU coordinator
if you have one.
And we ask that you complete that before implementation,
and then it will likely next year serve
as your post assessment.
And so that would be six to 12 weeks after rollout
in the fall.
And then once a year after that.
So that's another one that we open up the window
from January to March,
for schools to complete as a leadership team.
And just like the self-assessment survey,
you get some reports back.
So this is just an example of one of the questions.
So it gives you the feature, it gives you some examples
of what data sources you might use
to assess whether that feature's in place,
and then gives you the scoring criteria
of what a zero, one or two is on that item.
So then you will get your report.
You can see it broken out by sub-scales.
So which teaming features are in place,
what implementation features, and which evaluation features.
And then you'll be able to see
how that changes over the years.
And then you also can see it by item,
just like for the self-assessment survey.
So after this webinar,
if you are a school who is exploring implementation
for the first time, or a reboot,
look for an email from us with the intent to implement form.
So in a typical year, for April training,
that would have been due by January 1st.
However, this is not a typical year.
So this is a document that walks you through
the readiness pieces and allows us to know
that your school is ready to come to training.
We'll also send you the link
to the YouTube channel and the instructions
for the first steps online module series.
And we're happy as TAs to sit with you virtual
for those online modules,
to help you complete them as a team.
We'll also send you the information
about the SAS and the TFI as the pre-assessment.
And then your most important next step would be
to schedule the time to do those modules with your team,
and hopefully with a TA or coach before the training.
And so it utilizes the staff, universal staff handbook,
to get started on some activities.
We also have a checklist for you
with all the readiness activities for you to complete
and keep track of, before you come to training.
So that's linked in the materials as well.
And then just a reminder of the supports
that are available to you.
Our state TAs, coaches, SU coordinators.
We have a map on our website
of all the PBIS schools in Vermont.
So you can see which schools are maybe nearby to you
or similar to you in some way.
And it has the contact information for the administrators
and the school coordinators there.
So you could reach out to someone.
Our website, pbisvermont.org.
The national website is pbis.org.
And if you're not already getting the
Vermont PBIS updates emails from Anne Dubie,
if you put in the chat box
or if you email anne.dubie@uvm.edu,
you can get on our email list
to get all relevant information that you'll need.
And then we also have a Twitter and a Facebook page
where we post updates and ideas from schools.
So after this webinar,
if you take a look at the staff handbook,
there's a place for you to type in
who your school coordinator is or will be.
Who your SU coordinator is or will be.
Your TA, and if you have a coach.
So you can kind of start to keep track
of these support people and how to contact them.
And if you don't know who fills one of these roles,
you can email Anne.
Basically, if you don't know anything about
whatever you're thinking about, you can email Anne
and she will know how to get you to the right person.
Okay.
So now we have time for any questions, concerns, ideas,
whatever you would like.
If you've gotten everything you need, feel free to sign off.
And if you are a school that's thinking about
April or June training, please type that into the chat box
so we make sure you get the materials that you need.