Aware May Final July 22 - Public Schools of Robeson County

PBIS Initiative Offers a Fresh Look
at Improving Student Behavior in the Classroom
In April, 14 schools in
the Public Schools of
Robeson County were
recognized for their
achievement through the
PBIS program. The 2012-13
Green Ribbon PBIS
Schools are Green Grove,
Pembroke Elementary,
Peterson, Piney Grove,
Rex-Rennert, Rosenwald,
Tanglewood, Townsend,
Union Elementary. The
Model PBIS Schools are
Janie Hargrave, Red
Springs Middle, Rowland-
Norment and W.H.
Knuckles. The highest
PBIS marks go to West
Lumberton for their
Exemplar status.
Kimberly Jacobs says
this year she has seen a real
difference in her son as the
PBIS program teaches him
to handle things positively.
Jacobs has two sons at
Orrum Middle School. “I
really see it in his behavior
as he is getting along better
with other children. He will
now stop before he speaks
and look for the positive,”
says Jacobs.
PBIS or Positive
Behavior Intervention and
Support is an initiative the
North Carolina Department
of Public Instruction is
spearheading across the
state. The initiative requires
school leaders to think in a
proactive versus reactive
way to behavior. Leslie
Drennan, the PSRC - PBIS
Coordinator, says school
staff members are being
trained to recognize
appropriate behavior in
students and call attention
to it.
One key component in
the program is student
incentives. Several
elementary schools across
the district have a school
store where students can
purchase items with school
bucks they earned for good
behavior. Oxendine
Elementary’s incentives
allow students to be a
teacher’s assistant
or sit in the
teacher’s chair for a
period of time.
Some incentives
allow students to
attend an ice
cream celebration
or class party.
In the past three
years, office
referrals at PSRC decreased
by 20 percent with PBIS.
Those include teacher, bus
driver or school staff writeups
sent to the principal.
The decrease gives teachers
more time to focus on
instruction.
“In the past teachers
might send students to the
office for not doing
homework or chewing gum,
but now they find other
alternatives to deal with
those behaviors. This allows
administrators to deal only
with behaviors which
seriously threaten the
instructional day or safety of
the school,” said Drennan.
PSRC began looking at
the behavioral initiative at
West Lumberton Elementary
in 2004. Today the district
has 34 PBIS schools in
kindergarten through 8th
grade. Each of these has a
PBIS team to collect and
analyze monthly behavior
data. That data is used to
resolve problem areas.
PBIS extends beyond
the classroom to the school
bus with some drivers giving
tokens or incentives. Poor
bus behavior also dropped
by 20% this year.
A third component of
the PBIS initiative is
recognition for teacher
accomplishments.
Educators receive rewards
such as a dress down day
or an early leave pass for
going the extra mile. One
school wanted to decrease
poor behavior on the school
buses by allowing teachers
to ride. Those teachers who
volunteer multiple times
receive a gift certificate.
“I had a principal tell me
since implementing PBIS
she found she is a more
positive person. If teachers
see behavior such as one
child help another child pick
up their books or another
good deed, they are trained
to recognize that pro-social
behavior as a part of
responsibility”, said
Drennan.
PBIS receives federal
funding which pays for
training, substitutes for
teachers to attend training
and coordinator training at
the state and national level.
For more information,
visit ncpublicschools.org/
Leslie Drennan
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