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School-wide Positive Behavior Support

Why Develop This Blueprint on School-wide Positive Behavior Support?

Conceptually, SW-PBS is appealing, and a growing research base supports SW-PBS application at the individual student and school-wide levels. The first real task is identifying what is required to enable schools to develop, expand, and sustain their SW-PBS efforts.

This blueprint is intended to serve as a catalyst for prompting and promoting the durable and expanded use of SWPBS for all students at the individual student, classroom, school-wide, district, regional, county, and state levels. In particular, this blueprint has been designed to address seven important assumptions and solutions about "going-to-scale" with SW-PBS:

  • Effective SWPBS must be implemented with high accuracy if maximum effects are to be realized.
  • Effective SW-PBS practices and systems must be durable if meaningful change and improvement are to be realized.
  • Effective practices and systems of SW-PBS must be sustained (i.e., in place for 5-10 years) if schools are to expand their efforts and maximize their effectiveness.
  • Implementation must be delivered by "typical intervention agents."
  • Data on child outcomes must be used to make decisions for continued adaptation and sustained implementation.
  • Implementation of effective practices at the local level will require modification of procedures to "fit" the culture, structure, and needs of the local setting; the same practices will look slightly different in different schools and communities.
  • Establish "systems" that support functional, doable, and durable implementation of effective practices.

What is a Systems Approach to the Implementation of School-wide Positive Behavior Support?

Commonly, when schools encounter a problem that cannot be solved by existing strategies and resources, an expert, typically from the "outside," is approached to provide technical assistance and training. An event is created to allow the expert to share and teach about ways to address the problem. The expert leaves, and the school is expected to implement the strategy. Borrowing a concept from Stokes and Baer (1977), this approach basically relies on a "train-and-hope" perspective:

  • Difficult-to-solve problem is encountered.
  • Expert is identified to provide a solution.
  • Expert provides or trains the solution.
  • Expert leaves and expects school to implement the solution.
  • Lacking supports and capacity, solution is not implemented effectively.
  • School waits for next problem to occur ("expert model" reinforced).

This approach to problem solving is likely to fail because attention is not focused on what system supports (e.g., resources, training, policies) are needed to enable the initial accurate use of the practice, continued use of the practice over time, expanded use of the practice to other contexts, and modification of the practice to maximize outcomes and increase efficiency.

A systems approach considers the school as the basic "unit of analysis" or "point of influence or action" and how the collective actions of individuals within the school contribute to how the school is characterized. Although important, individual students, parents, or adults are not the primary context for systems change. Horner (2003) indicates that

  • The organization does not behave, individuals within the organization engage in behaviors.
  • An organization is a group of individuals who behave together to achieve a common goal.
  • Systems are needed to support the collective use of best practices by individuals within the organization.

Thus, the SW-PBS approach gives priority to the establishment of systems that support the adoption and durable implementation of evidence-based practices and procedures, and fit with and be part of on-going school reform efforts. This approach focuses on the interactive and self-checking process of organizational correction and improvement around four key elements:

  • Outcomes: academic and behavior targets that are endorsed and emphasized by students, families, and educators.
  • Practices: interventions and strategies that are evidence based.
  • Data: information that is used to identify status, need for change, and effects of interventions.
  • Systems: supports that are needed to enable the accurate and durable implementation of the practices of PBS.

This graphic depicts a systems approach to school-wide positive behavior support that considers multiple points of support. In the center of the graphic is a large circle with the word, outcomes at the top. Below outcomes are three interlocking circles, each in a different color, that overlap like a Venn diagram. The circle at the top left is light blue and reads systems. The circle at the top right is pink and reads data. The circle at the center bottom is green and reads practices. Outside of the large circle are phrases, located at the top, right, bottom, and left of the circle. Beginning at the top and moving clockwise, these phrases read, Social Competence and Academic Achievement, Supported Decision Making, Supporting Student Behavior, and Supporting Staff Behavior.

A systems approach to SW-PBS considers multiple points of support:

  • Individual Student: intensive and individualized behavior intervention planning based on function-based behavior assessments and implementation for students who are unresponsive to school-wide (primary) interventions.
  • Classroom: expectations, routines, structures, and practices for presenting curriculum, designing instruction, and managing social climate of classroom environments that serves as the basis for individual student behavior support planning.
  • School-wide: behavioral expectations and supports (i.e., proactive discipline) for all students and staff, across all school settings that together serve as the foundation for classroom and individual student behavior support.
  • District: specialized behavioral supports, organizational leadership, and implementation resources that as a unity serves as the foundation for effective implementation.
  • Community: collaborative intervention and support efforts for students and families that involve mental health, public health, juvenile justice, and other community agencies and resources.
  • State: behavior support policy, organizational leadership, and resource management that collectively serve as the foundation for district and school-wide implementation of PBS.

This graphic depicts the multiple points of support for implementation of PBS. It is a series of five concentric ovals that get progressively larger. Each oval contains one word. Beginning with the smallest oval at the center, these words are: student, classroom, school, district, state. There is a large arrow leading from state up to student and another large arrow leading down from student to state.

At all levels of implementation of SW-PBS, four perspectives are emphasized:

  1. Three-tiered Approach to Prevention (Lewis & Sugai, 1999; Sugai et al., 2000; Walker et al., 1996).
    • Primary prevention focuses on preventing the development of new cases of problem behaviors by focusing on all students and staff, across all settings (i.e., school-wide, classroom, and nonclassroom/noninstructional settings).
    • Secondary prevention focuses on reducing the number of existing cases of problem behaviors by establishing efficient and rapid responses to problem behavior.
    • Tertiary prevention focuses on reducing the intensity and/or complexity of existing cases of problem behavior that are resistant to primary and secondary prevention efforts.

Graphic of triangle depicting a three-tier model. The triangle is divided into three sections. The bottom section is green and represents primary interventions used for eighty percent of students. The middle section is yellow and represents secondary interventions used for fifteen percent of students. The top section is red and represents tertiary interventions used for five percent of students.

A preventive approach focuses on

  • Removing antecedent or preceding factors that prompt, trigger, or occasion problem behavior in children and undesirable intervention practices.
  • Adding antecedent or preceding factors that prompt, trigger, or occasion appropriate behavior and desirable intervention practices.
  • Removing consequence or following factors that maintain and strengthen occurrences of problem behavior and undesirable intervention practices.
  • Adding consequence or following factors that maintain and strengthen occurrences of appropriate behaviors and desirable intervention practices.
  • Arranging environments so opportunities are maximized to teach and practice appropriate behavior and desirable intervention practices.
  • Teaching social skills and adopting intervention strategies that are more effective, efficient, and relevant than problem behaviors and undesirable intervention practices.
  • Removing consequence or following factors that inhibit or prevent occurrences of appropriate behaviors and use of desirable intervention practices.
  1. Instructional Emphasis (Colvin, Sugai, & Patching, 1993; Kame’enui & Darch, 2004; Kerr & Nelson, 2002; Sugai, 1992) in which social skills are taught in the same way as academic skills, and the reduction of problem behaviors is addressed by teaching functional replacement behaviors.
    • At the school-wide level, schools focus on defining, teaching, and encouraging school-wide expectations.
    • For students who are at-risk of social failure, instruction is active and focused on "core" skills, often within pre-defined curricula.
    • For students who are high risk for social failure, specific social skills are taught based on functional behavioral assessment of problem behaviors.
  2. Functional Perspective (Horner, 1994; O’Neill et al., 1997; Sugai, Lewis-Palmer, & Hagan-Burke, 1999-2000) in which the factors that maintain observed problem behaviors (positive and negative reinforcement) are used directly and primarily to build effective, efficient, and relevant behavior intervention plans.

    A function-based approach has the following features:
    • Foundations in behavioral theory, applied behavior analysis, and positive behavior support.
    • Attention to environmental context.
    • Emphasis on "purpose" or function of behavior.
    • Focus on teaching behaviors.
    • Attention to implementers (adult behaviors) & redesign of teaching & learning environments.


The notion of "function" is based on the behavioral principle of "reinforcement," specifically, positive and negative reinforcement (Crone & Horner, 2003; O’Neill et al., 1997). Positive reinforcement is defined as the increased probability of a behavioral occurrence that is associated with the contingent presentation of a consequence stimulus (reinforcing). Negative reinforcement is defined as the increased probability of a behavioral occurrence that is associated with the contingent removal or withholding of a consequence stimulus (aversive). The following flowchart depicts how these two behavioral principles are operationalized from a function-based perspective:

This graphic is a flow chart depicting the way in which positive and negative reinforcement are operationalized from a function-based perspective. At the top of the flow chart is a box with the words, 'Problem Behavior,' which leads to two more boxes, 'Obtain/Get Something' on the left, and 'Escape/Avoid Something' on the right. From these two boxes come three more boxes, 'Stimulation/Sensory' on the left, 'Social' in the middle, and 'Tangible/Activity' on the right. From the middle box that reads 'Social' come two final boxes, 'Adult' on the left and 'Peer' on the right. A green arrow indicating positive reinforcement points to the box that reads 'Obtain/Get Something,' and a green arrow indicating negative reinforcement points to the box reading 'Escape/Avoid Something.'

A function-based approach is incorporated into behavioral intervention planning at the individual student level (Crone & Horner, 2003). The steps and elements that comprise this approach are illustrated in the following figure:

This graphic has several parts and depicts the steps and elements that comprise a function based approach. The bottom left section of the graphic is composed of a large blue triangle containing two bullets, 'Team-Based' and 'Behavior Competence.' Going down, parallel to the long end of the triangle are a series of phrases connected to each other by green arrows. These phrases are: 'problem behavior,' 'functional assessment,' 'intervention and support plan,' 'fidelity of implementation,' and 'impact on behavior and lifestyle.' The next row of the graphic contains a series of green boxes with arrows pointing to the phrases just listed. Pointing to 'functional assessment' is a box containing the bullets, 'response class,' 'routine analysis,' and 'hypothesis statement.' Pointing to 'intervention and support plan' is a box containing the bullets, 'alternative behaviors,' 'competing behavior anlaysis,' ' contextual fit,' 'strengths, preferences, & lifestyle outcomes,' and 'evidence-based interventions.' Pointing to 'fidelity of implementation' is a box containing the bullets, 'implementation support' and 'data plan.' Pointing to 'impact on behavior and lifestyle' is a box containing the bullets, 'continuous improvement' and 'sustainability plan.'

  1. Sustainability Priority (Latham, 1988; Sugai et al., 2000; Zins & Ponte, 1990) which emphasizes
    • Practical applications in which implementation is based on the smallest change that will result in the largest impact.
    • Multiple approaches to ensure the correct approach for the defined problem.
    • On-going collection and use of data because conditions continuously change and affect the status and best use of resources.

The outcome of an effective systems approach is an organization (school, district, state education agency) that has three basic features (Gilbert, 1978; Horner, 2003):

  • A Common Vision: The organization has a mission, purpose, or goal that is embraced by the majority of members of the organization and serves as the basis for decision making and action planning.
  • A Common Language: The organization establishes a means of describing its vision, actions, and operations so that communications are informative, efficient, effective, and relevant to members of the organization.
  • A Common Experience: The organization is defined by a set of actions, routines, procedures, or operations that is universally practiced and experienced by all members of the organization and that also includes a data feedback system to link activities to outcomes.

Thus, instead of engaging in "train-n-hope" efforts, the SW-PBS approach gives priority to problem solving and action planning that emphasizes accurate, durable, and expanded implementation:

  1. Establish a visible, effective, efficient, and functional leadership team.
  2. Review existing information/data.
  3. Analyze, describe, and prioritize issue within context.
  4. Specify measurable outcome that is related directly to issue and context.
  5. Select evidence-based practice to achieve specified outcome.
  6. Provide supports for accurate sustained adoption and implementation of practice.
  7. Monitor practice implementation and progress toward outcome.
  8. Modify practice implementation based on analysis of progress data.

The following figure illustrates the working or operational relationship among these implementation elements:

This graphic depicts the working relationship among implementation elements. There is a yellow circle representing leadership team, which sits inside a larger blue circle representing school-wide. Under the leadership team label is a series of seven ovals. The first four ovals are smaller, green, and connected to each other. They read, clockwise from the top, 'build data system,' 'collect, analyze, and prioritize data,' 'select evidence-based practice,' and 'establish measurable outcome.' The bottom three ovals are connected to each other and to the set of four ovals just described. The bottom three ovals are larger, pink, and read, from right to left, 'ensure efficient, accurate, and durable implementation,' 'implement,' and 'monitor implementation and progress.'

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