It s Spring! Has Your Data Been Submitted?

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1 The Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network May Implementers Forum The fourth annual PAPBS Implementers Forum, which is being held on May at the Hershey Lodge, is quickly approaching. This year s forum will include some new activities. The PAPBS film festival and poster session will allow local implementers to showcase the great happenings at their sites, while encouraging multiple networking opportunities. The opening keynote will feature youth voice, including two youth presenters from Minding Your Mind and audio recordings of youth experiences with PBIS collected through the Hear Me project. Multiple content strands will also be featured throughout the forum: Universal Tier 1 exemplars, Advanced Tier Supports, Inter-Connected Systems/Systems of Care, Family/Community Partnerships, Early Childhood Implementation, Coaching Tactics, Higher Education Involvement, and High School Implementation. Each strand includes a variety of sessions designed to compliment the theme and to meet the needs of attendees at their individual level of interest and degree of PBIS implementation. The forum will also again host several nationally acclaimed speakers with expertise in PBIS. We are proud to have Drs. George Sugai and Kevin Moore presenting their research and application of evidence-based practices from the national perspective. More information about the PAPBS Implementers Forum is at See you in May! It s Spring! Has Your Data Been Submitted? The hallmark of fidelity for program or school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is routine data analysis and action planning. Data-sharing among team members helps determine how our decisions affect students, families and staff members. School-Wide Data: ptrack is Pennsylvania s school-wide PBIS database to examine data submitted by school sites affiliated with the PA Positive Behavior Support (PAPBS) Network. ptrack is a compliment to PBIS Apps, which is the larger evaluation tool data-management system. Together, both databases serve as an excellent platform for checks and balances of school-wide PBIS implementation. To maintain these data, facilitators should collaborate with their teams to enter the following data into ptrack each school year: (a) team members names, (b) PBIS action plan, (c) if conducted, the Benchmarks of Quality, Schoolwide Evaluation Tool, Self-Assessment Survey, and/or School Safety Survey, and (d) annual attendance data for students and staff, LRE data, and special education referral data. Items a and b should be entered at the beginning of the school year, item c should be entered as available, and item d should be entered at the end of the year. Direct questions about data submissions to local or regional facilitators. Network facilitators are responsible to enter data into ptrack. If you are a facilitator and have not logged into ptrack yet, please check your user name and password by going to If you have any difficulties or questions logging into the database or entering data elements, please alert your regional coordinator. Program-Wide Data: Program-wide data is especially valuable this year as we are finally anticipating the type of program evaluation that school-age has enjoyed from the beginning. Remember that the Early Childhood (EC) PAPBS Network data requirements are available at under the independent and provisional facilitators tabs. Because our data collection system continues to mature, there is a new version as of March 12, 2014, with minor edits on how to submit data. All program leadership teams and administrators should work with their facilitators to submit their data. If any administrators, coaches or facilitators have difficulty with the EC PBIS database ( or the behavior partnership database ( please contact your regional facilitator. The more complete the data received, the more accurately we can report progress and needs.

2 2 The PAPBS Network 2014 Executive Summary was completed in January 2014 and is now available at The highlights of the fifth annual program evaluation of Pennsylvania s School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) scale-up efforts are briefly provided below. What began as a small project, with training and implementation focused on 33 schools across the Commonwealth in the summer of 2007, has grown as a wave of enthusiasm as evidence convinces many schools to adopt a SWPBIS system. As many now know, the SWPBIS framework establishes a learning environment that meets the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of all students. As of Spring 2013, the PAPBS Network has trained over 400 schools in SW- PBIS, which speaks to these schools' commitment to improve outcomes for students. Such efforts could not have occurred without the support and expertise of over 100 certified PAPBS Network facilitators and approximately 112 private and public mental health partners collaborating with school districts. Seventy percent of all schools trained in SWPBIS are at the elementary level, with a growing percentage of middle and high Look How Far We ve Come by Timothy J. Runge, Mark J. Staszkiewicz, Stephen R. McFall, & Timothy E. Hall schools also being trained in SWP- BIS. Commonwealth schools currently implementing PBIS account for 13 percent of all students in Pennsylvania. Figure 1: Cross Sectional Analysis of Full Implementation Status for Combined Cohorts by Building Level Figure 2: Cross Sectional Comparison of Average Percentage of Risk and Protective Factors Cohort 1 Of all schools implementing PBIS, 114 schools reported full fidelity in Spring An additional 36 schools were designated as partially implementing SWPBIS with fidelity. While the number of schools achieving partial or full implementation status is encouraging, it still represents roughly only 35 percent of all schools known to have received training. (See Figure 1 for the number of schools achieving full implementation status by grade level designation.) The highest proportion of schools implementing PBIS were at the elementary level, a trend that is consistent with national data. Although not represented in these data, a number of preschools and Head Start centers have also fully implemented Program- Wide PBIS. Staff perceptions of risk factors and protective factors promoting school safety continue to trend in the desired direction for schools implementing SWPBIS. These results, summarized in Figure 2, provide compelling evidence that high fidelity SWPBIS implementation over an extended period of time is associated with substantial decreases in school/community characteristics typically associated with school violence concurrent with substantive increases in school/community characteristics that protect the school and its staff and students from the negative consequences of violence. SWPBIS at the elementary level resulted in the vast majority of students receiving one or no office discipline referrals (ODRs) in a given year. This percentage is markedly higher than the proportion of middle and high school students who receive one or no

3 3 ODRs in an academic year. Approximately five percent of all elementary students received 2-5 ODRs in a year, compared to approximately 11 percent of middle and high school students. At the highest rates of disruptive behavior, just under two percent of all elementary students received six or more ODRs. Five and eight percent of middle and high school students, respectively, fell in this same category. These data are visually displayed in Figure 3. Note: Elementary schools were statistically dissimilar from middle and high schools; PreK-8/12 schools were statistically dissimilar from high schools. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of years of successive implementation of SWP- BIS and Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) Math. The more years a school implemented SWPBIS, the larger the percentage of students scoring at proficient or advanced on the PSSA Math. Similar results were found between the years of implementation of SWPBIS and performance on PSSA Reading. Additional analyses confirmed that the strongest PSSA outcomes are associated with full implementation of SWPBIS. In fact, schools Figure 3: ODR Triangle Data by Building Level Combined Cohorts Figure 4: Average Percentage of Students in PSSA Reading and Math Reporting Categories Figure 5: Consecutive Years of SWPBIS Implementation Combined Cohorts that only partially implemented SWPBIS observed PSSA Reading and Math scores that were statistically weaker than results from fully implementing schools (see Figure 4). Reference Finally, at a time when the shelf-life of educational reforms typically is less than four years (Latham, 1988), one of the most encouraging findings of this annual review relates to SWPBIS apparently bucking the typical ebb and flow of educational initiatives. Longitudinal data from implementing schools indicate that some schools sustain implementation for four or more years. These data are especially encouraging given that the majority of SWPBIS schools are only recent adopters, so they are well-positioned to sustain for the foreseeable future. Check the papbs.org website for the full executive summary. The collective efforts of the Community of Practice on School Based Behavioral Health, advocacy by many organizations, provision of comprehensive training and technical assistance, adherence to the PBIS framework, regard for implementing with fidelity, collection and submission of outcome data, and analysis of these data have provided compelling evidence that SW- PBIS, and the larger PBIS framework, is positively affecting many schools, staff, and students across the Commonwealth. Latham, G. (1988). The birth and death cycles of educational innovations. Principal, 68,

4 4 The Good Behavior Game Preparing Practicum Students to Successfully Promote Appropriate Academic and Classroom Behaviors By Kate Nichols, PhD, BCBA-D As pre-service educators prepare to engage in practical experiences, they may feel well prepared to teach grade level and specific subject matter. Yet, many feel less confident managing classroom behaviors that compete with academic engagement. It is critical that pre-service educators experience success with implementing preventative classroom management procedures in tandem with delivering whole group academic instruction prior to becoming employed as an in-service educator. To address this issue, the McDowell Institute trained pre-service educators to implement an effective PBIS-oriented classroom management intervention, the Good Behavior Game (GBG). The GBG has been demonstrated to be effective in promoting appropriate pro-social and academic behaviors. The components of the GBG include: 1) explicit teaching of expected behaviors, 2) active supervision and behavior-specific praise, and 3) group contingencies for meeting or exceeding projected performance. In May 2013, the GBG was implemented by Bloomsburg University pre-service educators during their two-week urban practicum experience in Bethlehem Area (Marvine Elementary, Fountain Hills Elementary, and Lincoln Elementary) and Easton Area (Paxinosa Elementary and Shawnee Middle) School Districts. For the purposes of the practicum, the GBG was customized for the specific practicum sites and called the Huskies Game to connect it to Bloomsburg University. The objectives of implementing the Huskies Game during the urban practicum experience include: 1) impact on practicum students (i.e., social validity) and 2) impact on classroom students (i.e., social validity). Prior to beginning the practicum, the students attended a one-hour workshop conducted by Dr. Kate Nichols to learn about the rationale and implementation of the Huskies Game. During the workshop, the students received the Huskies Game manual and requisite materials for implementation (e.g., daily points tally sheet and magic numbers that were selected for the mystery criteria to win the game). The practicum students viewed videos of implementation of GBG at a local school. The videos presented examples of introducing the game to the students, conducting a preference assessment, implementing the game, providing contingent reinforcement, and conducting the social validity survey with the classroom students. The practicum students were encouraged to contact their cooperating teachers to explain the intervention, identify the schoolwide/classroom behavioral expectations, develop examples and non-examples for teaching the expectations to the students, identify what subject and time period the practicum students would be in charge of while implementing the Huskies Game, and confirm potential reinforcers to provide when students win the game. Detailed instructions regarding implementation of GBG, along with videos and materials are available at The objectives of the Huskies Game implementation were measured via surveys and permanent products review. Upon completion of the urban practicum experience, the practicum students completed a social validity survey to assess how well the features of the Huskies Game aligned to their perceptions of behavioral management in the classroom and the perceived impact of intervention on student academic and behavioral performance. Additionally, the practicum students evaluated the classroom students perceptions of the Huskies Game by asking them to indicate their opinions of the game (i.e., two thumbs up yes, one thumb up sometimes, or hands flat on the table no ). The three social validity questions were: 1) Did you like playing the Huskies Game? 2) Did you earn rewards when playing the Game? 3) Did the Huskies Game help you do better when the practicum student was teaching? A review of completed Huskies Game tally sheet submitted at the end of practicum was conducted to confirm that the game was implemented and determine the number of days the game was won in participating classrooms. The results indicated a generally positive opinion towards the ease

5 5 of implementation and effectiveness of the GBG. Furthermore, the majority of the participating classrooms met the mystery criteria and earned the daily mystery prize. The results of the social validity surveys of classroom students perceptions of the Huskies Game were overwhelmingly positive. Additionally, numerous practicum students indicated that they would implement the GBG when employed as an in-service educator. The GBG is a well-established class-wide intervention designed to promote appropriate classroom and learning behaviors. With minimal training, pre-service educators were able to implement the intervention with positive results. The McDowell Institute will continue to engage in professional development activities to equip pre-service educators with effective tools to create successful learning environments for students. Program-Wide PBIS on a Company-Wide Level by Aimee Newswanger, MSW Do you think that implementing PBIS is a challenge in your program? What if you had 44 buildings across three states? Hildebrandt Learning Centers (HLC), currently the largest program in Pennsylvania to tackle implementing program-wide PBIS is doing just that. They got their start in July 2010 when a few enthusiastic staff attended the first PA PBIS summer institute and left at the end of the week convinced that this was a project that they needed to tackle. HLC has been formally pursuing implementation of Program-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PWPBIS) since the summer of Throughout , they gained full administrative buy-in, developed a company leadership team, established company-wide expectations (Be safe, Be responsible and Be respectful) and developed a series of short segments of the modules created by the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations of Early Learning (CSEFEL). The leadership team determined during these years that this focus could not merely be added into other job descriptions, as this significantly limited fidelity of implementation throughout the company. Gains made early in the process began to crumble and since the goal was implementation of PWPBIS with fidelity in all 43 centers representing the company, the company decided to hire a Positive Behavior Support Specialist (PBSS) to work with the rest of leadership toward embedding PWPBIS into the HLC way of life. Implementation on this scale is a state implementation as well as a program implementation. Understanding this, the HLC corporate leadership team used the new state Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ) to inform their implementation. The PBSS position is an example with parallels to the need for state committees to have a designated leader with time to commit to this project. Most programs will never have to think on such a large scale but it is useful to have this blend of statewide support and local implementation within one program. Some lessons learned can inform the PA state leadership team as well as local implementation. Aimee Newswanger is positive behavior support specialist for Hildebrandt Learning Centers Recognition Ceremony at the PAPBS Implementers Forum The recognition ceremony at the annual Implementers Forum has become an exciting and much-anticipated event. We expect well over 100 local education agencies (LEAs) to be recognized this year for their successful, fidelity-based implementation at the Universal level (Tier 1). As in past years, all the recognized teams will be spotlighted during the forum s opening keynote session. In addition, there will be a special recognition ceremony to present the fidelity of implementation banners and badges to all the teams and to provide group photo opportunities. Last year, the recognition ceremony was touted as one of the favorite sessions, everyone throughout the conference center celebrated the teams who were recognized. We anticipate that this year s recognition ceremony will be just as successful and encourage you to join us as we celebrate the great outcomes of PBIS implementation throughout the commonwealth! For more information about recognition within PAPBS, please check

6 6 national Connections Pennsylvania Receives Federal Grant The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services has awarded grants to Pennsylvania and six other states to build model programs through the Safe Schools Healthy Students (SS- HS) Partnership. The purpose of this grant is to create safe and supportive schools and communities by building cooperative partnerships between Systems of Care and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) over the next four years. Three LEAs have been chosen as demonstration sites for Pennsylvania's SS-HS Partnership project, including Lehigh Learning Achievement School through the IU21 in Lehigh County, PEN- NCREST School District in Crawford County, and Northeastern School District in York County. Each LEA will establish evidencebased promotion, prevention,and interventions that lead to safe and effective schools and communities. Other goals include creating state and local leadership teams, developing comprehensive and longitudinal plans to sustain and expand to other school districts, and using data-driven decisionmaking in all aspects of the safe school model. By implementing these programs, within a PBIS multi-tiered system of support framework and Systems of Care collaboration, Pennsylvania expects to evidence an increase in the number of children and youth who have access to behavioral health services, a decrease in the number of students who abuse substances, an increase in supports for early childhood development, improvements in school climate, and a reduction in the number of students who are exposed to violence. For further information regarding the SS-HS Partnership, contact James Palmiero, Ed.D., Director, PaTTAN Pittsburgh, or jpalmiero@pattan.net. Participation in national networks The PAPBS Network is part of a larger State Community of Practice on School-Based Behavioral Health. As our network continues to support the sustainability and scale-up of PBIS, we have partnered with leaders across the country to bring cutting edge projects that assist in system development, data collection and progress monitoring, and the use of evidence-based practices. Some of these projects include RENEW, universal screening, the Family Check-Up, and a newly-formed professional learning community for high schools implementing PBIS. Leaders from the network have featured Pennsylvania s efforts at several national conferences. This includes the National PBIS Leadership Forum, the National Center for School Mental Health Annual conference, and the Association for Positive Behavior Support Annual Conference. In addition to conference presentations, a recent monograph has been published highlighting work at the state, regional, and local level, which includes insights from Pennsylvania's experiences. The monograph, Advancing Education Effectiveness: Interconnecting School Mental Health and School- Wide Positive Behavior Supports, is available for download on several websites ( and can also access presentations given at the conferences on these sites. Pennsylvania has been a case study state for the IDEA Partnership National Community of Practice on School-Based Behavioral Health. Pennsylvania was featured in January as a keynote at the IDEA Partnership winter meeting in Washington, D.C. Proudly, Pennsylvania will be the host of the National Center for School Mental Health Annnual Conference, which will be held in Pittsburgh in September MARk YouR CALenDARS! School Mental Health: enhancing Safe, Supportive and Healthy Schools 19th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health September 18-20, 2014 Wyndham Grand Hotel Pittsburgh, PA presented by Center for School Mental Health in collaboration with IDEA Partnership Be part of a national community of practice and participate in workshops, advanced skills sessions, symposia, and intensive trainings led by diverse and knowledgeable stakeholders. Attendees include clinicians, educators, admininstrators, youth and fmaily members, researchers, primary care providers, advocates, and other youth-serving professionals.