Positive Behavior Support in the Classroom Tim Lewis, Ph.D. University of Missouri OSEP Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports pbis.org

Starting Point…. Educators cannot “make” students learn or behave Educators can create environments to increase the likelihood students learn and behave Environments that increase the likelihood are guided by a core curriculum and implemented with consistency and fidelity

Positive Behavior Support Social Competence & Academic Achievement OUTCOMES Supporting Decision Making Supporting Staff Behavior DATA SYSTEMS PRACTICES Supporting Student Behavior

Designing School-Wide Systems for Student Success Academic Systems Behavioral Systems Intensive, Individual Interventions Individual Students Assessment-based High Intensity Intensive, Individual Interventions Individual Students Assessment-based Intense, durable procedures 1-5% 1-5% Targeted Group Interventions Some students (at-risk) High efficiency Rapid response 5-10% 5-10% Targeted Group Interventions Some students (at-risk) High efficiency Rapid response Universal Interventions All students Preventive, proactive 80-90% Universal Interventions All settings, all students Preventive, proactive 80-90%

Continuum of Supports Intensive Targeted Universal Math Science Spanish NOTICE GREEN GOES IS FOR “ALL” Soc skills Reading Horses

Essential Features at the School Level Teams of educators within the school (administrator) Data-based decision making Instructional Focus Teach & Practice Acknowledge student mastery of social skills Positive Feedback Readiness across Tiers (universals always a priority)

Universal School-Wide Features Clearly define expected behaviors (Rules) All Settings Classrooms Procedures for teaching & practicing expected behaviors Procedures for encouraging expected behaviors Procedures for discouraging problem behaviors Procedures for data-based decision making Family Awareness and Involvement

The Challenge Students spend majority of their school day in the classroom Majority of “discipline problems” originate in the classroom and often result in removal from instruction Remaining engaged in instruction essential to student academic and social success “Culture” of education often reinforces ineffective practices and creates barriers to implementing effective practices

Basic Steps Focus on what you want students to do “instead” (replacement behaviors) Look for patterns of behavior that suggest “functional relationships” Teach replacement behavior and provide multiple opportunities to practice Deliver high rates of positive feedback/same similar outcome as problem behavior when students display replacement behavior

Setting up the Environment Establishing expectations (Kameenui & Simmons, 1990): What do I want my classroom to look like? How do I want children to treat me as a person? How do I want children to treat one another? What kind of information or values do I want to communicate to students about being an adult, an educator, a woman or a man in today's society? How do I want children to remember me when the last day of school ends and I am no longer part of their daily lives? How can I change my instruction to help pupils develop the skills I am trying to teach? Bottom line = ask yourself if students have pre-requisite and requisite skills to succeed based on each of your answers – if not, teach and practice

Essential Classroom expectations & rules defined and taught (all use school-wide, create classroom examples) Procedures & routines defined and taught Continuum of strategies to acknowledge appropriate behavior in place and used with high frequency (4:1) Continuum of strategies to respond to inappropriate behavior in place and used per established school-wide procedure Students are actively supervised (pre-corrects and positive feedback) Students are given multiple opportunities to respond (OTR) to promote high rates of academic engagement Activity sequence promotes optimal instruction time and student engaged time Instruction is differentiated based on student need

Routines Make smooth, rapid transitions between activities throughout the class period or school day Teach/practice transition behaviors Establish predictable schedules - illustrate with icons, time, etc. Schedule non-instruction time administration time personal time

Routines Clear set-up and instructions Student directed activities Whole group activities Independent activities

Routines Transitions a) Clear expectations for student behavior b) Clear expectations for staff behavior c) Avoid interfering activities d) Smooth set up and implementation e) Consistent routines f) Acknowledgment of student mastery

Routines Student directed activities Small group Teach group roles & responsibilities Group leader - insures all have say/turn Material manager - gets materials & distributes Group recorder - writes up outcome

Routines Small group Teach group processes {"problem solving"} a) Define the task b) Brainstorm ideas c) Choose an idea d) Determine what is required to implement the idea e) Implement the idea f) Evaluate the outcome

Routines Independent work What materials/areas? Minimal movement in classroom

Increasing Opportunities to Respond Encourages everyone to become involved in learning. Increases rates of responses of all learners. Increases attainment of material presented. Allows reluctant learners a secured environment to practice. Decreases inappropriate or off task behavior. Just read

Whole Group Oral Response Choral responding Strategy for reviewing or memorizing information Students repeat information in unison when teacher prompts Teach students the signal for whole group response and when they are going to respond in unison An example of when you might use this in the classroom Studying states and capitals Missouri Jefferson City Arkansas Little Rock Kansas Topeka Ill.

Whole Group Written Response Written responses should be short (not more than one item) A verbal signal to indicate completion should be given (e.g. put your pencils down and look up when you are finished) Materials to use could include: Paper, whiteboards, iPads Good for math problems 22x2= Spelling words States and capitals

Small Groups / Partners Used to give everyone a chance to: Express thoughts. Answer a question. Verbally participate when there could be a variety of answers. Answers can be shared with other groups or whole group. Answers can be written on smartboard by the teacher and presented to group. Think of example of classroom use…

Challenge: How to Insure All Staff Are Using Effective Practices

Systems Teach Brief in-service, single topic focus Practice (performance feedback) Peer coaching Principal “walk through” Direct observation / data collection 23

Effective Classroom Practices: Mini Modules MO SW-PBS pbismissouri.org Center for PBS College of Education University of Missouri

http://pbismissouri.org/educators/effective-class-practice

Typical School Day 17% Direct Instruction 33% Seatwork 20% Transitions 30% Discipline & Other Non-Instructional Activities Note to Presenter: See page 324 in the MO SW-PBS 2012-13 Team Workbook for further explanation of academic learning time. When the amount of time spent in various classroom activities was researched only 17% was spent in instruction and 33% in seatwork. Transitions take 20% of the school day. The typical elementary classroom loses 7-10 minutes each transition from one subject to another; with a typical day including at least 10 transitions, 70 minutes are lost each day; almost one day per week lost to transitions alone. Unfortunately discipline and other non-instructional activities such as taking attendance, announcements, etc, accounted for 30% of the school day. Think about your typical day and the time you spend in various activities. How does it compare to these statistics? Why is this information relevant to us? (discipline takes away from time to teach academic curriculum) Conclusion: We want to implement effective classroom practices to prevent and decrease interruptions caused by discipline problems and increase the amount of time we have to teach. Cotton, 1995; Walberg, 1988 MO SW-PBS 324

Discussion: Importance of expectations & behaviors? Pair Up 2-Minute Frenzy – Discuss: How has clarifying schoolwide/non-classroom setting behaviors/rules impacted student behavior in our school? Why do you think it is important to clarify classroom behaviors/rules? Take 2 minutes and talk to someone near you. Discuss the impact of schoolwide and non-classroom behaviors/rules in your building. Talk about how this relates to classroom behaviors/rules.

Guidelines for Writing Classroom Behaviors or Rules Consistent with school-wide expectations O = Observable; behaviors that we can see. M = Measureable–we could actually count the occurrence of the behavior. P = Positively stated–things to do to be successful. U = Understandable–student-friendly language. A = Always applicable. Classroom expectations and behaviors or rules must be consistent with schoolwide expectations and rules. School rules are in effect in the classroom. What we identify as classroom rules are additional, extra or specific to the classroom setting – anything not already covered by the schoolwide rules that you want in effect in your classroom. To enhance the effectiveness of classroom behaviors/rules, 5 guidelines need to be considered. Classroom rules need to be written in observable measurable terms. Observable means, “I can see it” Classroom behaviors/rules also need to be written in Measurable terms. Measurable means, “I can count it” Third, just as we do with schoolwide and non-classroom behavior/rules… classroom rules should be positively stated. Positively stated rules encourage the desired behavior. This means telling students what we want them TO do. Fourth, classroom rules need to be understandable. Rules are stated so students clearly understand what is meant. Vocabulary should be consistent with student’s grade and/or ability level (ie “use school appropriate language” might be ok at the middle school level, but perhaps is not understandable for a kindergarten classroom) The last guideline for writing classroom rules is…Always applicable. Rules should be based on problems which typically occur and they should not vary or change within the same setting. MO SW-PBS 93

Activity: Classroom Rule Writing Activity Option 1 List problem behaviors in your classroom List replacement behavior (what we want kids to do instead) List schoolwide expectations Categorize rules within schoolwide expectations This activity is for schools who have NOT identified classroom expectations/rules as a column on their matrix. If your school has not addressed classroom rules in any way, you should do this activity… You will need two handouts: 1) Rules Writing Worksheet Example 2) Rules Writing Activity Classroom Rules Worksheet If your school has identified CLASSROOM expectations/rules that apply to all classrooms in the building, then you will skip Activity Option 1 and complete Activity Option 2 instead. For Activity Option 1… First, look at handout Rules Writing Worksheet Example. This can be used as an example while you complete your own rules on handout entitled Rules Writing Activity Classroom Rules Worksheet Next, using handout Rules Writing Activity Classroom Rules Worksheet, list your schoolwide expectations (safe, respectful, ready) Then list problem behaviors in your classroom. The behaviors that take time away from learning. After you have listed problem behaviors, identify the replacement behaviors or what you want students to do instead of the problem behavior. Remember the guidelines we shared earlier, Observable Measureable Positively stated Understandable Always applicable – Something the teacher will consistently enforce Finally, categorize your replacement behaviors/positively stated rules into your schoolwide expectations. It is important to make that connection. Give participants 15 - 20 minutes to work on this activity. Discuss when finished.

How are you going to prevent it from happening again? “Learning Errors” How are you going to prevent it from happening again? Minors addressed quickly and quietly/privately School wide procedures for majors are followed Upon “return,” debrief and plan to prevent What does student need? What can we do to help?

Learning Errors Simple Error Correction (skill in repertoire?) a) Signal an error has occurred (refer to rules, "We respect others in this room and that means not using put downs") b) Ask for an alternative appropriate response ("How can you show respect and still get your point across?") c) Provide an opportunity to practice the skill and provide verbal feedback ("That's much better, thank you for showing respect towards others")

“Appropriate” Responses to Learning Errors If student removed from learning environment, create opportunities to teach/practice replacement behaviors Natural consequences (is it “punishment” from the student’s perspective) Changes within and across environments to promote appropriate behavior

A Classroom Example… Stichter, J. P., Lewis, T. J., Johnson, N., & Trussell, R. (2004). Toward a structural assessment: Analyzing the merits of an assessment tool for a student with E/BD. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 30, 25-40.

Study Basics Subject: Setting Concern Seven years old Identified with EBD and ADHD Setting General education 2nd grade classroom with 19 other students One licensed teacher and one student teacher Concern Student exhibits high rates of off-task Student shouts out answers and questions and comments at high rates and often inappropriate

“Function of Behavior” Descriptive (interviews and teacher reported ABC/ Scatterplot data) Function identified as Attention Significant antecedents: multiple step direction and group settings Very High rates of both problem behaviors reported/ inconsistency in accuracy of data collection

“Environment Assessment” Significant variables: clarity of expectations & directions consistency of expectations accessibility of class schedules lack of enforced procedures (especially regarding to hand raising and verbalizations or entire class)

Connecting Universal and Advanced Tiers of Support

Tier II/III Support Process Step 1 – Insure Universals, including Classroom, in place Step 2 – Student Identification Process Decision Rules Referral Screen Step 3 Classroom Problem Solving Team Classroom supports (function-based) Progress monitor Step 4 - Tier II/III supports Non-responders to classroom supports Match function of student behavior to intervention Step 5 - Evaluate Process

Step 1. Universals In Place Specific Focus on Classroom Review of essential features Implementation Plan

Classroom Quiz   1. When the teacher , most students stop and listen. Yes Sometimes No 2. When class starts, the teacher has everything ready. 3. Before we start a new activity, the teacher reminds us what we are supposed to do. 4. When we are asked to work by ourselves, all students work quietly and do what they are supposed to do. 5. I often finish my work and do not know what I should be doing while others are still working. 6. Our classroom rules are:

2. Identifying students Current data Teacher Referral Screening Confidence in numbers Consistency across data points Teacher Referral Screening Approximately 10% of total students

Data Decision Rules Office Discipline Referral (ODR) Major Minor Time out of Instruction Buddy Room Safe Seats “Discipline” Room

RRKS TOC (front side) RRKS – Time Out of Class Code: _____ Student: _________________________ Date:______________________ Incident Time: ____________________# of min. out of rm.: __________ Teacher: _______________________Subject: ____________________ What did you do/not do that got you sent out of class? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Circle the RRKS expectation that was not followed: Respect Responsible Kind Safe What will you do differently next time?______________________________________

RRKS TOC (back side) Processing Checklist: Processing data & time: Review with the student reason he/she was sent out. Teach & practice replacement behavior. Provide positive reinforcement for replacement behavior. Check the setting in which the behavior occurred. Whole group instruction Small group instruction Individual work Working with peers Alone 1-on-1 instruction Interacting with peers Other: Please identify below Minor List: Circle the appropriate code (MDD) Defiance/Disrespect/Non-compliance (MDS) Disruption (MI) Inappropriate Verbal Language ( MO) Other (MPC) Phys. Contact (MP) Property Misuse

Other Strategies to Identify Students Teacher Referral Questions to discuss: Who completes When What data must be used/cited Focus on externalizing and internalizing Screening (pbismissouri.org) What instrument Schedule

3. Classroom Problem Solving Grade level / combinations Once a week focus of meeting = social behavior concerns when decision rule met Standard problem solving steps

Classroom Problem Solving Process leader Classroom teachers, Specialist teachers Tier II/III Team partner School Psychologist, Counselor, Administrator Process Data-based decision making Guiding questions Function-based intervention Teach replacement Environmental alterations / supports Monitor progress

Classroom Problem Solving Process Develop intervention based on function of behavior Environment changes Student skills to teach/practice/reinforce Monitor progress Same data that brought them to your attention Problem and Appropriate behavior Teacher observations

Classroom Problem Solving http://www.vimeo.com/54954199