PBIS Handbook
 

 

Dear Murdock-Portal Families, 

 

We are excited to share with you our school-wide behavior system that we are implementing this year! PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions & Support) is a framework to promote and maximize academic achievement and behavioral competence. It is a school-wide strategy for helping all students achieve important social and learning goals. We know that when good behavior and good teaching come together, our students will excel in their learning. Murdock-Portal Elementary School is proud to be a PBIS school. 

As part of the PBIS framework, we have established clear rules for the behaviors we expect in all areas of our school. These expectations are explained in our Behavior Matrix, which you will find in our handbook. We will explicitly teach these expectations to the students and reteach throughout the school year. Our staff will verbally acknowledge students’ appropriate behaviors and acknowledge their behaviors by giving them a Portal Pride Ticket. 

The expectations for all student behaviors will be clear throughout our classrooms, playground, lunch tables, bathrooms, Library, and hallways. Our expectations will provide a school environment where more time is spent instructing and less time spent disciplining. By teaching the expected behaviors in a positive way, we are providing a common language for everyone in our school, including students, teachers, and staff. We believe that by helping students practice good behavior, we will build a school community where all students can learn. PBIS is a framework, and one that we will continue to shift as needed to best meet our needs. We appreciate your help, support, patience, and understanding! 

Please contact us if you have any questions or need further information. Thank you for your support! 

Sincerely, 

Murdock-Portal Elementary School Staff 

 

PBIS Overview 

Murdock-Portal Elementary School has implemented the PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Supports) to benefit our entire student population. Here are the key points of PBIS: 

➢ We have clearly defined behavior expectations of Acting Responsibly, Behaving Respectfully, and Caring for Others. Every student will be taught our expectations in multiple settings throughout our school (see Behavior Matrix below). 

➢ We, as a staff, will continually self-evaluate our culture and seek behavior supports to effectively meet the social and emotional needs of all students. 

➢ We have established a supportive community here at Murdock-Portal Elementary School to encourage the expected behaviors of Acting Responsibly, Behaving Respectfully, and Caring for Others. 

➢ We will build discussions into our staff meetings for continued growth and to strengthen our PBIS practices. 

➢ We are developing a curriculum that is shared school-wide that discourages inappropriate behavior and teaches and encourages appropriate behaviors that optimize learning and social-emotional competence. 

➢ We are reducing the need to always be reactive by replacing it with a more proactive approach of teaching students our expectations first. Rather than waiting for a student to fail before we intervene, we provide the necessary support aligned with the Social and Emotional Learning Standards. 

➢ With this being the first year that we are implementing PBIS, we will focus on Tier 1 of the multitiered system. We will work on developing Tiers 2 and 3. 

➢ We are developing behavior report forms and support plans that target problem behaviors, while working on establishing environments that teach and reinforce functionally equivalent replacement behavior.

➢ PBIS reminds us that growth must occur for all students, even in situations of misbehavior. 

➢ Research has shown that PBIS not only improves a school culture, but it will also improve academic performance. 

Importance of Family Engagement

Research has consistently linked family engagement (or parental involvement) with positive academic outcomes, reductions in delinquent behaviors, and overall increase of self-esteem and self-worth.

Parents Role in PBIS

By working together, parents and Murdock-Portal Elementary School staff will reinforce the necessary skills for productive citizenship. Home and school communication is a must when it comes to providing a consistent environment with high, but reasonable expectations. Your help with PBIS is very important, and your support sends an important message to your child that we are working together as a team to help him/her be successful in school. We ask that you support the school’s expectations in the following ways:

1. Please spend time reviewing the behavior expectations with your student

2. Please remind your student of the expectations each day before he/she leaves for school

Acting Responsibly, Behaving Respectfully and Caring for Others

3. Our system is consistent and predictable, so if your student has earned a consequence, please support the decision and do all you can to have your student take responsibility for his/her actions. Your student will be told the reason for the consequence, and he/she should be able to tell you what occurred. If you have any questions regarding the situation, please call the classroom teacher and/or school administration.

4. When your student arrives home from school, talk with them about their day and ask if their behavior was acknowledged with a Portal Pride Ticket (ticket they receive for positive behavior). Ask your student what they did to earn the ticket. Please offer your student extra praise and reinforcement for these behaviors.

5. If your student did not meet the school expectations that day, use the matrix as a tool to go over and reinforce specific expected behaviors.

6. You might try to use the same language at home. You might even add additional behavior expectations for your home. 

Teachers & Staff Responsibilities: Tier 1 

How do we prevent negative behaviors? 

➢ Establish regular, predictable, positive learning and teaching environments. 

➢ Teachers and staff will teach, model, and practice each of the behavioral expectations throughout the year.

➢ Students and teachers together develop specific classroom rules, procedures, and routines that are aligned with the school-wide expectations.

➢ Teachers and staff will acknowledge student behaviors that meet our expectations.

➢ Pre-correction methods will be provided. We will work on anticipating and preventing behavior by correcting the behavior before it occurs (e.g., The teacher is aware the student becomes upset when making mistakes; therefore, prior to a challenging assignment, the teacher discusses this with student, reminding him how to remain calm if frustrated and how to assertively seek help). 

➢ Teachers will provide interesting and engaging instruction aligned with student’s needs and interests. Students will be provided with multiple opportunities to respond during instruction to maintain attention to lessons. 

➢ Teachers and staff will provide non-verbal cues (gestural, facial expression, moving closer to student) to redirect misbehavior prior to verbal correction. 

➢ Teachers and staff will praise immediately by naming positive behavior observed (e.g. “good job Anthony, you raised your hand before speaking”). The ratio of teacher acknowledgement of appropriate behavior to correction of inappropriate behavior should be HIGH (e.g. 4 positive comments to every one correction). 

➢ Teachers and Staff will focus on relationship building. Positive teacher-student relationships support students' adjustment to school, contribute to social skills, promote academic performance, and fosters students resiliency in academic performance. 

Positive Behavior Acknowledgement System 

When appropriate behaviors have been identified and taught, they should be acknowledged on a regular basis. All staff at Murdock-Portal Elementary School are able to acknowledge student’s positive behavior throughout the school day and throughout the school campus. 

Acknowledgement occurs in various levels as described below: 

➢ We have defined our expected behavior for students. 

➢ We have taught our expected behavior to our students. 

➢ Now we will encourage expected behavior through acknowledgement and positive praise           

 Student Matrix 

On the following page, you will find our PBIS student matrix that defines how to show our ABC’s - Acting Responsibly, Behaving Respectfully, and Caring for Others.

The Behavior Matrix is the foundation of how we will teach our students the behavioral expectations here at Murdock-Portal Elementary School. This work is a collaborative effort of our teachers and staff. This has not been done by an outside source. The students, staff, and parents will continue to align our goals with our student needs. Our PBIS curriculum is never set and will always change with our culture. Everyone plays a significant role in helping our students. 

Tier 2 -  Interventions 

As you can see, we are creating a strong foundation of how we are going to help 100% of our students become successful. As we continue on this with the implementation of PBIS, our interventions will strengthen over the years. 

Below is a chart that shows how the tiers of PBIS are almost identical to the tiers of academic success. This year, as we roll out PBIS to our students, we will have a focus on Tier 1. We will also be developing Tiers 2 and 3 throughout the course of the school year. 

 

 

Consequences for Classroom Managed and Office Managed Incidents 

When students do not follow the outlined schoolwide discipline plan they will receive consequences based on the philosophy of progressive discipline. Progressive discipline uses a consistent approach that starts with a minor consequence for first offenses to a more severe consequence for repeat offenses. 

Classroom managed behavioral issues will be handled by the teacher. Teachers will refer to the chart below when they believe the classroom behavior requires a consequence. 

The following is a sampling of the consequences teachers may use: 

➢ Redirection 

➢ Reteach expectations

➢ Think Sheet

➢ Behavior Report Form

➢ Conference with student 

➢ Note and/or phone call to parent 

➢ Removal to another setting (no longer than 30 minutes and as a last resort to preserve instructional learning time) 

➢ Parent conference 

Office managed offenses will be handled by administration. Each child is an individual whose needs will be considered when determining the consequence. 

The following is a sampling of the consequences administrators may use: 

➢ Natural consequence (clean desk that student wrote on, letter of apology, etc.). 

➢ Parent phone call 

➢ Suspension (if behavior is severe in nature) 

 

As a school, we will use a consistent procedure for handling discipline. Teachers will address minor infractions in the classroom. Teachers will document the minor infractions. Teachers will refer all major infractions to the office. In most cases our school, Behavior Report Form, will be completed and sent home for parent signature. If a student receives a behavior report form and is sent to the office, parents will be notified by administration. 

 

Summary 

We hope this handbook helped with the learning process of PBIS and how we will implement it this school year. Please use this handbook as a quick reference for questions you may have. 

Your support, flexibility, and understanding is greatly appreciated and will make for a positive impact! We appreciate all of your help with our PBIS program and what it can do for our students. We are looking forward to a great year