Moving up the Continuum:
Building Systems to Support
Tier II and III Interventions
Tim Lewis, Ph.D.
University of Missouri
OSEP Center on Positive Behavioral
Interventions and Supports
pbis.org
Starting Point….
• We can’t “make” students learn or behave
• We can create environments to increase
the likelihood students learn and behave
• Environments that increase the likelihood
are guided by a core curriculum and
implemented with consistency and fidelity
Positive
Behavior
Support
Social Competence &
Academic Achievement
OUTCOMES
Supporting
Decision
Making
Supporting
Staff Behavior
PRACTICES
Supporting
Student Behavior
Designing School-Wide Systems for Student Success
Academic Systems
Behavioral Systems
Intensive, Individual Interventions
•Individual Students
•Assessment-based
•High Intensity
1-5%
Targeted Group Interventions
•Some students (at-risk)
•High efficiency
•Rapid response
Universal Interventions
•All students
•Preventive, proactive
5-10%
80-90%
1-5%
Intensive, Individual Interventions
•Individual Students
•Assessment-based
•Intense, durable procedures
5-10%
Targeted Group Interventions
•Some students (at-risk)
•High efficiency
•Rapid response
80-90%
Universal Interventions
•All settings, all students
•Preventive, proactive
Across the Continuum
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Teams - Administrator
Social behavior curriculum developed / adapted
Data-based decision making
Problem solving logic
Access to Technical Assistance
Working toward district/regional support
SW-PBS is a Marathon, not a sprint
Focus across is on what students should be learning
versus what they should not be doing
Creating Environments
Environments that increase the
likelihood are guided by a core
curriculum and implemented with
consistency and fidelity
Creating Environments to Increase the
Likelihood: Universals
• Annually:
– Revisit your set of expectations and teaching
activities
– Assess and address “problem spots” across school
environments
– Assess effective instruction and management in
each classroom
• High Rates of Positive Feedback
Teach & Practice……..
Post expectations across school
settings…
4:1 Positive Ratio?
Creating Environments to Increase the
Likelihood: Classrooms
• Keep in mind:
– Most problem behaviors occur in the
classroom
– Effective social and academic instruction is
essential for ALL classrooms
– Classrooms are “personal”
Inverse relationship between increased probability of compliance induced by effective teaching
on the rate of disruptive behavior
(Gunter, Shores, Jack, Denny, & DePaepe, 1994)
Importance of Effective Instruction
(Sanders, 1999)
• The single biggest factor affecting academic growth
of any population of youngsters is the effectiveness of
the classroom.
• The answer to why children learn well or not isn't
race, it isn't poverty, it isn't even per-pupil
expenditure at the elementary level.
• The classroom's effect on academic growth dwarfs
and nearly renders trivial all these other factors that
people have historically worried about.
So one of our own is now
blaming everything on the
teacher!!
If classroom teachers are
struggling, it is a systems issue NOT
an individual teacher issues
Creating Effective Classroom
Environments
• Insuring ALL faculty and staff engaging in
effective instruction and classroom
management
• Align resources to challenges
– Work within existing organization structure
– Raze and rebuild
• Must build an environment that
simultaneously supports student and adult
behavior
Top Eight
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Classroom expectations/rules defined and taught
Classroom routines defined and taught
“4:1” positive feedback
Active supervision
Students actively engaged
Multiple opportunities to respond
Minors are addressed quickly and quietly/privately
School wide procedures for majors are followed
Creating Environments
• Focus on socially important behaviors
• Inviting atmosphere / Friendly & Helpful
• Connections / relationships between:
– Staff-staff
– Staff-students
– Students- adults
Is your school a place where you would want
your own child to attend?
Core Curriculum
Environments that increase the
likelihood are guided by a core
curriculum and implemented with
consistency and fidelity
Core Curriculum
• Based on local issues/problems – “What do
you want them to do instead”
• Clear goal/purpose
• Matched to student need
• Research-based
• Accompanying training and support for all
staff to implement
– Mini-modules + “tip sheets”
– Performance feedback
Meaningful PD Outcomes
Staff
Development
Change in
Teacher
Practice
Change in
Student
Outcomes
Change in
Teacher
Beliefs
A Model of the Process of Teacher Change
Guskey, 1986
Peer Coaching with
Performance Feedback
• 2 schools – one high SES, one low SES
• 4 teacher “cool tools” on instructional talk,
prompts, feedback, and wait time
• Implemented school-wide; provided a tip
sheet and mini in-service on each, weekly
email reminders from administrators
• Each cool tool 4 weeks long - cumulative
Percentage of Instructional Talk
Instructional Talk for all Participants
120
100
80
Baseline
60
DC IT
40
PC IT
20
Change
0
-20
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12
Consistency and Fidelity
Environments that increase the
likelihood are guided by a core
curriculum and implemented with
consistency and fidelity
Consistency & Fidelity
• On-going, sustained, and purposeful training
• On-going access to technical assistance
• Periodic checks
– Student outcomes
– Student perceptions
– Adult perceptions
• Working toward a District-Wide PBS initiative
that will sustain over time
Assess for Fidelity of Implementation
Consistency & Fidelity
• Boosters based on data
• Apply logic of SW-PBS to adult learners
– Tell-show-practice
– Data / Feedback
– Data Decisions
• Align Initiatives to SW-PBS work
– Eliminate competing initiatives that do not
produce measurable outcomes
Aligning Initiatives
Tier II & III
Essential Features
Emphasis is on continuum and
interrelated components of data,
practices, systems
Are School Teams Ready?
•
•
•
•
•
Universals in place (80% or better on SET)
Action plan to maintain Universals
Use data in team meetings
Create a decision rule to identify students in need
Assessment to identify what supports students
need
• Strategy to implement classroom-based supports
• Equal emphasis on practices, data and system
supports
Tier II & III Basics
• Teach/build pro-social replacement behaviors
• Attend to possible function of the problem
behavior
• Build maintenance and generalization
strategies to promote use
– Connect points to universals
Tier II & III Interventions
Consider
• Not fixed group of students
• Student’s needs vary across continuum over
time and within academic/social area
• Least intrusive but matched to student need
• Response may be environmental changes
without direct student intervention
Structural Analysis
Setting Factors Assessment Tool
• Level 1: Classroom Set-up and Structure
• Level 2: Context Specific Activities
• Level 3: Instructional Delivery and Tasks
• Level 4: Student Behavior
Stichter, J. P., Lewis, T. J., Johnson, N., & Trussell, R. (2004). Toward a structural assessment: Analyzing the
merits of an assessment tool for a student with E/BD. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 30, 25-40.
100
90
M ean Percen t of Teacher Behav io r
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Baseline
High Structure
Level 1
Materials Accessiblity
Level 1 & 2
Rules Visible
Level 1, 2 & 3
Assistance Consistent
Follow-Up
Answering Consistent
When Implementing Tier II & III
Supports
Common misperception is that these strategies
will “fix” the student and the classroom
teacher does not need to be an active
participant since “specialists” or outside staff
are often involved in the intervention –
Important to stress that these interventions will
require high level of involvement among ALL
staff within the school building
Critical Points for Success
• Part of a continuum – must link to school-wide
PBS system
• Efficient and effective way to identify students
• Intervention matched to presenting problem but
not highly individualized
• Staff implementing interventions have skills and
support
• ALL staff aware of interventions and their part in
promoting generalization
Analysis and/or
Full Assessment
Academic
Support(s)
Check In/
Check Out
Mentoring
Social Skill
Club
Avoid
Tasks?
Obtain
Attention?
Obtain
Attention?
Skill
Deficit?
Targeted Environmental Interventions
Phase 4:
Evaluate Outcomes &
Make Decisions
Phase 3:
Function-based Intervention
Step 2: Teacher & Team synthesize data to 1) Define Problem 2) Develop
Hypothesis 3) Identify Replacement 4) Select Intervention
Step 1: Teacher and Team Partner collect data.
Nonresponder as compared to typical peer?
Full access to Tier 1 supports? Is
Identification process accurate and durable?
Teacher/Parent
Nomination
If Yes, then
Data Decision
Rules
Tier 1
implemented
with fidelity?
–Classroom System
–Nonclassroom System
–Schoolwide System
Phase 2:
Identification Process
Universal Screening
Instrument
Phase 1:
Provide Adequate Instruction
Process for Accessing Support
Gentry Middle School
Process for Disseminating Practice
SAT Process
Teacher Training and
Support
Targeted Interventions
Individual Student Plans
Core Team/Classrooms
Implement AIS
Monitor Progress
Refer to SAT
SAT Team
Administrator
Counselor
Behavior Specialist
STAT Team
Core Team Representative
SAT Partner
Core Team Teachers
*Meets Weekly
School-Wide Systems
Matrix
Lesson Plans
School-Wide Data
Acknowledgement
Communication
RRKS Team
Core Team Representative
District PBS Support
Building Administrator and
Counselors
*Meets Monthly
Provide Skills-Based Training
• Training Model
– SAT members with behavior specialist
• Behavior basics and management
• SAT process
• Function-linked strategies
– SAT members with STAT team representative
– SAT and STAT with core team teachers
Provide Tools
• Tools for Teachers
– SAT flowchart
– Pyramid to Success
– RRKS TOC
– AIS guide (Alternative Intervention Strategies)
Pyramid to Success for All
Office Issues
Bus referrals, Truancy, Chronic offender, Threatening student or adult, Fighting,
Refusal to go to or Disruptive in Buddy Room, Sexual harassment, Weapons,
Drug/cigarettes/ tobacco/alcohol, Assault – physical or verbal
Teacher Method for handling student behaviors
Referral Form – send student to office with completed form
Process with student before re-entry
Office Method for handling student behaviors
Proactive: RRKS Review, Parent Contact
Corrective: Loss of Privilege, Saturday detention, Opportunity Center, Suspension, etc.
Team Issues
Repeated minor & major disruptions in multiple classrooms, Throwing things, Hallway/Lockers problems, Attendance,
Repeated disrespect to peers or adults, Cheating, Inappropriate to substitute, Insubordination, Chronic Disruptions
Method for handling student behaviors
Proactive: Parent contact (mandatory), RRKS review, Team conference, Team conference with student, Team conference
with Parents, Team conference with Administrator/Counselor, Triage in the AM with the student, Triage at lunch with the
student, Team Focus, etc.
Corrective: Removal of privilege on team, Recovery Study Hall, Buddy Room, etc.
Classroom Teacher Issues
Out of seat, Talking to classmates, Talking out, Off-task, Violation of class rules, Inappropriate language, Lack of
materials, Gum, Disrespect, Cheating, Tardies, Minor destruction of property
Method for handling student behaviors
Proactive: Positive call to parents, Use praise, Use Rewards, Daily/Weekly Goal sheets, Proximity to instructor,
Provide choices, One-to-One assistance, Pre-correct for transitions/trouble situations, Regular breaks for exercise,
Give a job, RRKS Review, Reward lunch with teacher, etc.
Corrective: One and only one REDIRECT, RRKS Review, Safe-seat, Buddy Room, Think Sheet, Parent Phone call,
Lunch Detention, Recovery Study Hall, Removal of privilege in classroom, etc.
Some Final Thoughts
On Building a Continuum
of Supports
Remember, Building a Complete
Continuum is a Marathon not a Sprint
All of us will have set-backs on the
journey
Allow yourself plenty of time to get there
Remember to bring the kids along
No matter how tempting….. Stay Positive!
Teach & Practice, Teach & Practice,
Teach & Practice……
Big Ideas
Understand interaction between behavior and the
teaching environment
Behavior is functionally related to the
teaching environment
• Build Positive Behavior Support Plans that teach
pro-social “replacement” behaviors
• Create environments to support the use of prosocial behaviors (practice, practice, practice)
– Around individual student need / self-management
– Classroom
– School-wide
Moving up the Continuum:
Building Systems to Support
Tier II and III Interventions
Tim Lewis, Ph.D.
University of Missouri
OSEP Center on Positive Behavioral
Interventions and Supports
pbis.org