PBIS at Stemmers Run Middle School

1. PBIS at Stemmers Run Middle School Presented by Mr. Brian Muffoletto, Social Studies

2. 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

3. 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

4. Overview of Program

5. Topics Covered in Presentation • Professional Development • Character Education • SWIS Data • Targeting Red and Orange (Yellow) Zone Kids • Positive Reinforcement • Incentives • Results

6. 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

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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)

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. ResultsSchool-wide Referral Data

20. Downward Behavioral Trends

21. Closing Remarks/Questions