The Administrator’s Role in
Successfully Implementing
Positive Behavior
Interventions and Supports
What does a reduction of 850 office referrals
and 25 suspensions mean?
Kennedy Middle School
Savings in
Administrative time
Savings in Student
Instructional time
ODR = 15 min
Suspension = 45 min
ODR = 45 min
Suspension = 216 min
13,875 minutes
231 hours
43,650 minutes
728 hours
29 8-hour days
121 6-hour school days
Administrator’s Role
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Make a Public Statement of Support
Establish a SW-PBIS Leadership Team
Support the SW-PBIS Team Members
Guide the Decision Making Process
Take a Leadership Role in Problem Solving
Support the SW-PBIS Team Meetings
Provide Recognition for Faculty and Team for Their Work
Serve as the Point Person for School-Related Groups
Monitor Implementation Activities and Provide Feedback
Review Data and Provide Feedback Regularly
Ensure Innovation is Sustained
Make a Time Commitment
Make a Public Statement of Support
The words and actions of the principal are
powerful. As an active member of his or her
school’s positive behavior support teams, the
principal will work with the team and school staff
to develop a purpose statement to define why
schoolwide positive behavior support is
important and needed. The principal’s role is to
follow through by making the PBIS efforts visible
to staff, students, families and the community.
Establish a SW-PBIS
Leadership Team
The principal gives staff a leadership role for SWPBS by establishing a building level team to gain
staff support for implementation. The team
should be representative of the building. This
can be achieved by including members that
reflect the various stakeholders involved
(teachers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria
supervisors, parents, students in secondary
schools, etc.) It is important for the principal to
be a member of the team to provide the time and
financial resources needed, but the principal
shares leadership with the entire team.
Support the SW-PBIS Team Members
Team members assume a big responsibility
and time commitment to provide
leadership for SW-PBIS to the school. The
principal can support the team members
by recognizing, privately and publicly, the
effort of each leadership team member. In
addition, the principal needs to be
sensitive to members’ workload and limit
their participation in other committees and
school activities.
Guide the Decision Making Process
One leadership role the principal can
provide is to teach and guide the team and
entire staff through a process for making
decisions. Voting and building consensus
are decision making processes that the
principal can lead.
Take a Leadership Role in
Problem Solving
Some times when problems arise, they need
to be solved in a timely manner. The
principal may need to step in at this point
to lead the group to a workable solution.
Support the SW-PBIS Team Meetings
The most important thing an administrator
can do to support the team is to
consistently attend the SW-PBIS
Leadership Team meetings. If an assistant
principal regularly attends the SW-PBIS
Leadership Team meetings, the head
principal should attend the meeting when
possible to show support and unity for the
SW-PBIS initiative.
Provide Recognition for Faculty
and Team for Their Work
Showing sincere appreciation through notes
or personal comments of gratitude for the
effort of faculty and team members is
greatly appreciated. These efforts will help
all continue to work needed to plan and
implement SW-PBIS.
Serve as the Point Person for
School-Related Groups
An important role of the principal is to
communicate progress on the goals of the
SW-PBIS initiative. The principal will
communicate with school and community
groups such as the parent teacher
organizations, district administrators,
school board, and student organizations.
Monitor Implementation Activities and
Provide Feedback
Principals will need to learn the skills required to
implement SW-PBIS. Principals can provide
appreciation and recognition to staff members
planning and implementing SWPBS. This is an
important instructional leadership role.
Additionally, when staff members are not
upholding their responsibilities toward the
development of SWPBIS, the principal can
provide reminders of the expectations during
faculty meetings and in memos. The principal
may need to have private conversations to help
individuals understand expectations and to
identify any support they may need to be able to
implement the SW-PBIS practices.
Review Data and Provide
Feedback Regularly
Data collection, synthesis and review is an
essential component of SW-PBIS. The
principal will need to assign individuals on
the Leadership Team responsibility for
data monitoring. In addition, secretarial
support staff may need support to enter
and create efficient data charts for regular
review by the principal and Leadership
Team.
Ensure Innovation is Sustained
A principal plays a crucial role in sustaining the
SW-PBIS initiative over time. Staff interest and
attention to SW-PBIS may wane if too many
other initiatives are introduced or if the overt
problem behaviors have been resolved. The
principal must be diligent to keep all staff
focused on the SW-PBIS purpose and goals. A
plan must also be created to keep new staff,
students and families knowledgeable of the
school’s SW-PBIS efforts. Changing a culture
takes time.
Make a Time Commitment
The principal must understand that it takes
time to bring everyone on board and to
implement the SW-PBIS plan. Developing
and implementation of SW-PBIS is not a
sprint, it is a long distance run. The
principal must be patient and persistent to
continue the SW-PBIS initiative by
continuing to provide support, participation
and leadership. As the principal goes, so
goes the school.
Top 10 Reasons PBIS Implementation
gets Bogged Down
1.Lack of continuous administrative
support & involvement
2. Lack of awareness and understanding that staff set and change culture
in schools
3. Lack of understanding commitment and “buy-in” from staff
4. Lack of understanding that academic success is driven by school
culture
5. Not working through the PBIS processes on a consensus basis as a
team
6. Taking on too much too fast (generally with positive intentions)
7. Inconsistency of implementation by staff
8. Looking for the negative vs. looking for positives in student behavior
9. Focusing only on the high risk students
10. Not tracking, reporting out, and responding to school behavior data
Created by Pam Hallvick