Positive Supports for Behavior and Discipline Resource Database

This webiste provides resources to support school-wide implementation of PBIS, as a multi-tiered framework that focuces on three critical features – systems, practices, and data -- which work together to promote positive, predictable, safe environments for everyone in all school settings.

This brief summarizes research on the effects of Tier 1 PBIS for students with disabilities. In general, when schools implement PBIS with fidelity, students with disabilities experience: (a) improved social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes and (b) fewer exclusionary discipline actions (i.e., office discipline referrals, suspensions, restraint, seclusion). Given the promising, research-supported effects of Tier 1 PBIS, it is recommended that schools continue to prioritize Tier 1 supports that are inclusive and supportive of all students, including students with disabilities.

This brief discusses ways to design PBIS systems that are accessible to all students. It describes the importance of including all students in PBIS structures, gives practical strategies to help schools achieve this goal, and includes the story of a student who benefited from full access to his school’s PBIS system.

The use of school and class-wide PBIS shows promise in helping educators integrate evidence-based practices for the benefit of all students, including those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The purpose of this brief is to provide educators with a quick and easy resource for identifying effective practices for supporting all students, especially those diagnosed with ASD within general education contexts.

The purpose of the District Systems Fidelity Inventory (DSFI) is to guide District Leadership Teams in the assessment, development, and execution of action plans that promote the capacity for sustainable, culturally and contextually relevant, and high-fidelity implementation of multi-tiered social, emotional, and behavioral systems of support and practices. The DSFI and process have been designed to serve as a guide for initial action planning, progress monitoring and annual evaluation of fidelity of implementation and impact.

This Brief outlines strategies for district leadership teams to reviw multiple data courses related to discipilne and PBIS impementation to guide professional learning and technical assistance.

This fact sheet was developed to raise awareness of the issue of implicit bias and preschool suspensions/expulsions. The purpose is to provide information to change adult responses to challenging behaviors in order to reduce preschool suspensions/expulsions and create safe and nurturing environments for young children, particularly children of color.

Educational systems cannot be considered effective until they are effective for all student groups. PBIS provides an ideal framework for increasing equity in student outcomes. Schools implementing PBIS with fidelity have greater equity in school discipline, specifically for Black or African American students. However, most PBIS teams will need to include equity-centered strategies in their action plans to achieve equitable outcomes for all student groups. Multiple research studies show that schools implementing the Center on PBIS's equity approach have significantly increased racial equity in school discipline.

The Digging into Data recorded webinar series offers guidance on the use of data tools related to implementation fidelity of systems and practices and the use of the Behavior Incident Report System (BIRS). The sessions on the use of the BIRS can be used to guide programs in the implementation of the sysem and use of data for decision-making related to child challenging behavior and the use of exclusionary discipline.

This recorded webinar describes differences in how children from different backgrounds experience school discipline. It also explores an intervention for making school discipline more equitable.

Research shows that disproportionality in school discipline is related to implicit (unconscious) bias. This presentation provides an overview of this concept and describes a training approach for reducing the effects of implicit bias in discipline decision making.

Racial and ethnic inequities in school discipline are widespread and persistent, even in schools implementing PBIS with fidelity. Yet integrating components of a multicomponent equity-centered approach into existing tiered frameworks is showing promise for improving equity in student outcomes. This brief describes the Center on PBIS’s 5-Point Equity Approach and the evidence for its positive effects on discipline disproportionality.

These high-leverage practices help special educators and teacher candidates use effective practices for collaboration, assessment, social/emotional/behavioral supports, and instruction.

The IRIS Center develops and disseminates free, engaging online resources that help educators, leaders, and families use evidence-based instructional and behavioral practices to support the education of struggling learners and those with disabilities. These resources can be used in professional development activities for practicing professionals, as well as in college teacher preparation programs. Training modules include: Addressing Challenging Behaviors for early childhood, elementary and secondary aged students.

This document helps families of children who have an IEP ask questions to learn more about their child’s behavior in school. Sample questions and resources are included.