|
PBSIS in Schools
New Jersey schools are being asked to educate an increasingly diverse
population of students. At the same time, school personnel report a steady
increase in discipline problems and rising school violence. Building
the capacity of New Jersey schools to address school-wide, classroom,
and individual student behavior problems is possible in the face of these
challenges, if school policies, environments, and routines emphasize
the identification, adoption, and sustained use of research validated
practices.
Positive Behavior Support in Schools (PBSIS) is a partnership
between the New Jersey State Department of Education, Office
of Special Education Program, State Improvement Grant and
the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities,
Pediatrics Department at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical
School. The goals of the PBSIS initiative is to increase the
capacity of local school districts to develop programs and
intervention strategies that reduce occurrences of discipline
and behavior problems and subsequently increase student achievement
and the inclusion of students with disabilities engaging in
challenging behaviors within general education programs.
Collaborating school buildings send a building team of eight members
to participate in six days of center-based training in conjunction with
.5 day a month of on-site technical assistance. Training and technical
assistance activities are designed to assist local school district to
develop the capacity to:
• Conduct school wide self assessments of behavior problems and patterns
• Design and implement effective school and class wide interventions
• Design environments that encourage prosocial behaviors
• Use data based decision making to evaluate and modify programs and interventions
• Assess, design, and implement interventions for students who engage in
chronic patterns of problem behavior |