PBIS at Stemmers Run Middle School

Presented by Mr. Brian Muffoletto, Social Studies

School Demographics

• • • • Working class community Average enrollment: 850 students Predominantly Caucasian; with increasing numbers of African American and Hispanic students Student mobility: An average of 13% new entrants and 17% withdrawals each year

Reasons for Positive Behavior Intervention Program • • • • High numbers of office referrals Frequent instances of disrespect and disruption Teachers lacked knowledge of how to deal with challenging students Need for school to focus on providing a safe and orderly environment for all students

Overview of Program

PBIS Character Education Direct Instruction Incentives

Topics Covered in Presentation

• • • • • • • Professional Development Character Education SWIS Data Targeting Red and Orange (Yellow) Zone Kids Positive Reinforcement Incentives Results

Professional Development

Overarching Theme: Building a Culture of Positive Behavior in Our School • • • • PBIS philosophy School-wide data presented (establish rationale) Linking PBIS with other school-wide initiatives Setting school-wide goal to reduce number of office referrals • Establishing the need for teachers to teach appropriate behavior

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Professional Development

• Use of “high five” tickets and stamps Using code of conduct charts and matrices Using the language of the code of conduct when communicating with students and parents • Teaching strategies to address student behavior (tool box) • Teachers and teams created plans for dealing with students exhibiting negative behaviors

Professional Development

Helped teachers understand PBIS, the school-wide plan, the need to establish a PBIS committee, and created buy-in among the staff

Character Education

• • • • Monthly 45-minute sessions based on needs identified through SWIS data Pre-planned lessons distributed to teachers Students participate in large and small group sessions Teachers model and teach appropriate behavior as needed within the classroom

SWIS Data

• Specialized system to monitor student behavior through the use of office referrals • SWIS breaks down data by time of day, reason for behavior, location, student names, grade level, etc.

• SWIS data is used to guide planning for character education lessons or if the school chooses to focus on a specific behavior

SWIS Data

• • • SWIS data is reviewed frequently by the PBIS committee SWIS data drives behavioral decisions put in place to curb negative behavior SWIS data is presented to faculty at monthly faculty meetings for analysis and intervention

Targeting Red and Orange (Yellow) Zone Kids • • • Students with high numbers of office referrals (according to SWIS data) are pulled out of large group sessions for character education Red and orange zone students are given passes to work in small groups with administrators, the SRO, librarian, guidance counselors, and mentors for character education The small group sessions allow a mentoring relationship to form and more opportunity for problems to be addressed

Targeting Red and Orange (Yellow) Zone Kids • • At the beginning of the school year, teams are given a listing of the previous year’s red and orange zone students Each red and orange zone student is assigned a mentor teacher who is responsible for checking in with that student and building a relationship from the first day of school

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Positive Reinforcement

Code of conduct and behavior matrices posted throughout the building Students recite the code of conduct after the pledge during school-wide morning announcements over the PA system Stamps to reinforce good classroom behavior IOU tickets given to reinforce good hallway and common area behavior Reinforcing the code of conduct and character education in daily lessons and by using the language of the code of conduct when talking to students High interest incentives

Incentives

• • Student Incentives Teacher Incentives – Teacher to Teacher (Given from teacher to teacher as a teacher implements PBIS philosophy) – Student to Teacher (Tickets given to teachers who exemplify the values of the code of conduct) – By Number of Tickets Distributed (Given monthly to teacher who gave the most incentive tickets to students)

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Student Incentives

September: Ice Cream Social October: School-wide Sports Day November: Turkey Dance December: Basketball Game (students v. faculty) January: Snowballs/Cotton Candy/Popcorn March: MSA Mega Blast April: School-wide Sports Day May: End of Year Swim Trips

Teacher Incentives

• • • Teacher to Teacher: Golden Apple Award Student to Teacher: Gift Certificates By Number of Tickets: Special PBIS Parking Space In Front of Building

Intangible Results

• • • • • • Sense of connectedness among faculty Increased sense of safety in the building Clearer understanding of expectations for addressing student behavior in class Less time processing referrals (for teachers and administrators) More instructional time Increased PTA/parental involvement in process

Results School-wide Referral Data

2003-2004 2753 2004-2005 3257 2005-2006 2436

Downward Behavioral Trends

Abusive Language Truancy Disrespect Fighting Disruption 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 177 160 95 426 465 475 631 463 585 447 680 242 457 311 572

Closing Remarks/Questions