Positive Behavior Support for ALL Michigan ... - Oakland Schools

Preface
All contributors to the document Positive Behavior Support for ALL Michigan
Students: Creating Environments That Assure Learning are firm in their conviction
that the door to a meaningful education must not be closed to any student
who could, with our help, pass through. Students who persistently exhibit
inappropriate behavior limit their learning opportunities and compromise
teaching and the learning of others. It is no longer acceptable to continue with
the status quo approach to problem behavior. It is time to systematically address
challenging behaviors in a comprehensive, research-validated, humane manner.
Michigan needs schools in which ALL students are taught how to act within
accepted norms. Effective schools are safe and orderly. Positive Behavior Support
(PBS)—with its Functional Assessment of Behavior and Behavior Intervention
Plan components—provides a way for us to commit our talent and our
resources to making our schools safe. We must be unequivocal in our resolve to
teach students how to pursue their own needs and interests legitimately, without
compromising the rights and privileges of others. Society expects this, and
our students deserve nothing less.
In pursuit of these goals, a representative group of professionals, advocates,
administrators, and parents first met in the fall of 1998 with the intent of producing
a document to explain the conceptual framework and practical implementation
of PBS, the umbrella framework that covers multiple types of interventions.
As this core team wrestled with the known information about PBS, it became
clear that implementing PBS in isolation is insufficient, and that PBS includes a
range of best and promising practices that exceeded the personal philosophies of
individual core team members. Collaborating on this document expanded the
core team members’ knowledge of best practice, rekindling their passion for the
concept of PBS. This initial document is offered to the field in the hope that
readers will be similarly inspired to learn about and implement PBS in our
schools to enhance learning and improve the quality of life for students, their
families, school personnel, and service providers throughout the state.
Adults in the state of Michigan who face complex situations need access to comprehensive
PBS support and resources to successfully teach students new ways of
behaving. It is our intent to initiate ongoing conversation about what really matters
in the lives of our students. It is our hope that people who really care about ALL kids
will join this conversation and extend the dialogue. The Reader Response form in
Section 14 provides one way for you to enter into the conversation.
Proposed changes in perspective and practice articulated in this document are
offered in the sincere belief that traditional methods have failed to address
ongoing challenging student behaviors. The new philosophy and promising
practices of Positive Behavior Support are offered here in the belief that ALL
students are worth the effort.
Introduction – 5