Laura L. Feuerborn

Gaining Staff Support for Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports: A Guide for Teams

S choolwide positive behavioral intervention and supports (SWPBS) is a multitiered framework of supports designed to address a wide variety of social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Universal supports promote an encouraging school climate whereby all students are actively taught behavioral expectations and reinforced for appropriate behavior; supplemental supports are provided at the targeted level for those who are unresponsive to universal supports; and intensive supports are implemented for individual students with chronic levels of challenging behavior. At all levels of support, local data are utilized to determine student needs and response to interventions (Sugai & Horner, 2006; Sugai, Horner, & McIntosh, 2008). Many positive outcomes are associated with SWPBS, including reduced rates of office disciplinary referrals, detentions, and suspensions (e.g., Bohanon et al., 2006; Bradshaw, Reinke, Brown, Bevans, & Leaf, 2008; Scott & Barrett, 2004) and increased instructional time (e.g., Lassen, Steele, & Sailor, 2006; Luiselli, Putnam, Handler, & Feinberg, 2005). Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that SWPBS may be particularly beneficial to students at risk for and with emotional and behavioral disorders. Without the infrastructure of multitiered assessment and intervention that SWPBS yield, the prognosis for students with emotional and behavioral challenges becomes increasingly bleak (Gunter & Jack, 1994; Lewis, Jones, Horner, & Sugai, 2010; Severson, Walker, HopeDoolittle, Kratochwill, & Gresham, 2007). Despite the positive student outcomes associated with SWPBS, many schools struggle with implementation. One reason for this struggle may reside in the complex nature of systemic change and the propensity of educators, administrators, and policy makers alike to underestimate this complexity (Fixen, Naoom, Blasé, Friedman, & Wallace, 2005; Muscott et al., 2004). When the complexity of schoolwide reform is not appreciated, creating systemic readiness may be a neglected step. Without readiness, challenges in initial implementation may result in failure to achieve meaningful and sustainable change. Too often, we prioritize the procedural tasks associated with an innovation and underestimate the need to actively foster the readiness and support from the very school staff crucial to implementation (Adelman & Taylor, 2007; Hall & Hord, 2011). Only within the last decade has the field of SWPBS begun to address the importance of staff perceptions in implementation, and, as found with other innovation adoptions, staff support or ‘‘buy-in’’ appears to be key. For example, SWPBS coordinators and coaches have rated staff buy-in as one of the top facilitating factors to implementation and lack of buy-in as a critical barrier (Kincaid, Childs, Blase, & Wallace, 2007). Similarly, in interviews of SWPBS coordinators, Lohrmann, Forman, Martin, and Palmieri (2008) also found that main barriers to successful implementation were directly related to staff perceptions. Notably, this study highlighted the philosophical differences held by teachers in opposition with SWPBS principles. For example, many staff emphasized punitive responses rather than proactive or instructional ones, and even more so with students with emotional and behavioral challenges. Many also were opposed to providing rewards for behaviors, believing that students should be intrinsically motivated to do the right thing (Lohrmann et al.). Furthermore, team members supporting student needs at the individual level reported that variables related to teacher perceptions and practices were among the most pervasive barriers to implementation (Bambara, Nonnemacher, & Kern, 2009). Most (84%) reported that conflicting beliefs of staff interfered with the implementation of behavioral supports. For example, attempts to understand environmental influences of problem behaviors were often viewed as ‘‘making excuses for the child.’’ Difficulty with staff perceptions and support for SWPBS may be particularly challenging in secondary schools. Recently, high school behavior leadership teams rated staff commitment or buy-in to SWPBS as one of their most salient challenges and top priorities. In fact, only 30% of team members reported that they obtained a majority of staff support for implementation. Similar to the previous studies, teams reported challenges with differing opinions over the philosophy such as ‘‘old values and attitudes’’ about school discipline, perceptions of lack of sustainability, staff stress from multiple mandates or initiative STAFF SUPPORT FOR SWPBS

How Do Staff Perceive Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports? Implications for Teams in Planning and Implementing Schools

Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) offers an alternative to reactive and exclusionary school discipline practices. However, the shift to SWPBS requires substantial change in the practices of staff, and many leadership teams struggle to rally staff support for implementation. With a more thorough understanding of staff perceptions, level of understanding, and support for SWPBS, teams may be better positioned to assist staff in the change process. To achieve an understanding of staff perceptions and how they may differ in schools on the basis of level of implementation, the authors directly assessed staff perceptions in seven planning schools and seven implementing schools. Significant differences were found between planning and implementing schools in knowledge of SWPBS, as well as perceptions of behavior and discipline.

A Qualitative Analysis of Middle and High School Teacher Perceptions of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports

Full stakeholder support for any innovation can be difficult to achieve, particularly in complex systems such as middle and high schools. Increasingly, obtaining middle and high school teacher support for Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) is identified as a challenging yet crucial element of implementation. The reasons behind these challenges are not well understood; thus, the purpose of this study was to attain a better understanding of the SWPBS-related needs and concerns of middle and high school teachers. Thematic analysis was used to analyze open-ended concerns statements and statements of need from teachers working in 19 middle and high schools. Regardless of SWPBS implementation level, the most prevalent concerns pertained to staff support and consensus, and the most prevalent needs were related to collaboration. There were high levels of consistency in concerns and needs, with a few differences found in the concerns and needs statements of teachers in implementing and low-implementing schools. Full results, limitations, and implications for future research and practice are discussed.

The Minority Report: The Concerns of Staff Opposed to Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports in their Schools

ABSTRACT Low staff support for schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is a barrier to implementation and sustainability. In this qualitative study, we identify staff opposed to SWPBIS among staff in 36 schools across 9 districts in western Washington. Nonsupportive staff (n = 44) are compared to supportive staff (n = 1,166) on demographic variables. Then, open-ended statements provided by nonsupportive staff are coded and analyzed to identify themes and develop an understanding of concerns about the SWPBIS initiative in their schools. Nonsupportive staff were concerned for the commitment and participation of all stakeholders, including staff, administrators, and students. Some sources of opposition were attributable to misunderstandings of SWPBIS and outright philosophical disagreements. Other sources of staff opposition were attributable not to the SWPBIS framework, but to school-level factors such as negative climate. We provide consultants with suggestions for engaging nonsupportive staff as well as directions for future research.

Classified Staff Perceptions of Behavior and Discipline: Implications for Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports.

Classified staff are important stakeholders in schools and commonly interact with students across grade levels, subject matter areas, and physical locations—making their involvement in the implementation of schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) essential. However, their voice, including the intentional and systematic consideration of their perspectives and concerns, is virtually absent in this field of research. Hence, the purpose of this mixed-methods study was to develop a general understanding of classified staff perspectives of behavior and discipline. We used quantitative analysis to compare survey data from teachers and classified staff (n = 1,833) and then applied qualitative thematic analysis to classified staff responses (n = 243) to an item derived from the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). As compared with teachers, classified staff reported lower levels of knowledge or understanding of SWPBIS, less SWPBIS-related training, poorer quality communication, and more philosophical beliefs that were inconsistent with SWPBIS. Qualitative analysis of classified staffs’ SWPBIS-related concerns yielded the following 10 themes listed in order of prevalence: consistency, communication, effectiveness, amount of discipline, specific procedures and behaviors, climate and stress, student and parent involvement, acknowledgment systems, leadership, and resources. Limitations and implications for research are provided herein.