Full stakeholder support for any innovation can be difficult to achieve, particularly in complex systems such as middle and high schools. Increasingly, obtaining middle and high school teacher support for Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) is identified as a challenging yet crucial element of implementation. The reasons behind these challenges are not well understood; thus, the purpose of this study was to attain a better understanding of the SWPBS-related needs and concerns of middle and high school teachers. Thematic analysis was used to analyze open-ended concerns statements and statements of need from teachers working in 19 middle and high schools. Regardless of SWPBS implementation level, the most prevalent concerns pertained to staff support and consensus, and the most prevalent needs were related to collaboration. There were high levels of consistency in concerns and needs, with a few differences found in the concerns and needs statements of teachers in implementing and low-implementing schools. Full results, limitations, and implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is a whole school prevention and intervention approach applied at the universal, targeted, and intensive system levels. At the universal level, consistency in behavioral expectations for all students across staff and settings is established. Staff explicitly teach a set of three to five positively stated, social-behavioral expectations that apply to all students across school settings, acknowledge student behavior that meets expectations, and apply consistent consequences for behavioral violations. Classroom-based consequences are emphasized to ensure that students are only excluded from the learning environment (e.g., sent to the office) when no other alternative is appropriate. Students failing to meet the agreed-upon expectations, and who need additional social, emotional, and behavioral support, receive supplemental interventions such as group-based interventions at the targeted level and individualized behavior supports at the intensive level. Teams use local data to evaluate the effectiveness of the practices and identify areas of need. A strong body of research provides evidence of positive outcomes associated with SWPBIS, including reductions in office disciplinary referrals and rates of exclusionary disciplinary actions (e.g.,
: The practices of school-wide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) are dependent on teachers to implement them in their classrooms; thus, gaining the “buy-in” and support of teachers is a critical step in reaching full, building-wide implementation. One step toward achieving this support may be to gain a better understanding of the perceptions and practices of teachers. To this end, 69 preservice and practicing teachers were provided four fictitious student scenarios and asked to describe potential social, behavioral, emotional, and academic needs and the method in which they would address the needs of these students. Written responses were analyzed using a grounded theory approach, and major themes related to social, emotional, and behavioral supports were identified. Across all responses, we noted both common themes and tensions in teacher perceptions that may have important implications for SWPBS. Differences in responses were noted by level of teaching experience. Different trends were also noted in the responses of teachers in schools implementing SWPBS and those in schools without SWPBS. Detailed results, study limitations, and implications for future research are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.