Latino Parents’ Perspectives on
Positive Behavioral Supports in
the Schools
Alicia Hoerner, Ph.D.
Christian Sabey, M.S.
Brandon Segura, Ph.D.
Utah MTSS & Effective Practices Conference
June 12-13, 2013
Layton, Utah
Purpose
Purpose of Presentation
 Discuss the results of a study which explored Latino parents’
perspectives and agreement with positive behavior
intervention and support (PBIS) principles as they relate to
behavior management in elementary schools.
 Outline the convergences and divergences between Latino
parents’ perspectives on behavior management and PBIS
principles and practices.
 Identify cultural barriers that may limit the effectiveness of PBIS
with Latino families.
 Present strategies for collaborating with Latino parents to
improve the effectiveness of PBIS in schools.
Hispanic or Latino?
 By the year 2050, Latinos will comprise nearly 30% of
the U.S. population (Passel & Cohn, 2008),
 Although the terms Hispanic and Latino are typically
used interchangeably, for a certain segment of the
Spanish-speaking population, the term Latino signifies
“ethnic pride” while Hispanic is seen as an imposition
of the Anglo establishment (American Heritage®
Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition,
2000)
 For purposes of the present study, the term Latino will
be used over Hispanic to signify Latino fathers and
mothers who reside in the U.S., are of Spanish
ancestry, and speak Spanish as their first language.
Latino Parents and Behavior
 Review of the literature suggests that Latino parenting
practices are heterogeneous and not necessarily
congruent with the principles of PBIS.
 Some Latino parents may perceive the use of positive
reinforcement as leading to the loss of their children’s
respect (Garrison, Roy, & Azar, 1999)
 Latina mothers of preschool children described praise
and social rewards as acceptable but objected to the
elimination of spanking from their repertoire of parenting
practices (Calzada, Basil, and Fernandez (2012)
 Educated Latino parents may talk to their children and
also use corporal punishment whereas less educated
parents may resort only to physical punishment (Fontes,
2002)
Latino Students and Behavior
 Despite its encouraging evidence-based outcomes,
it remains to be shown empirically whether PBIS
framework is in fact helpful among those of
linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds
(Kamps & Greenwood, 2005; OSEP on Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports, 2004)
 Latino students continue to be disproportionately
represented in discipline outcomes even in schools
implementing PBIS (Kaufman et al. 2010; Skiba et al., 2011;
Vincent, Swain-Bradway, Tobin, & May, 2011)
 Available SWPBS studies typically average data across entire
student populations and do not disaggregate results by racial
or ethnic background (Vincent et al., 2011)
Latino Parents, Students, and PBIS
 Since PBIS emphasizes the systematic teaching and
timely reinforcement of appropriate behaviors rather
than a focus on punishing inappropriate behaviors, it is
possible that it may represent a divergence from Latino
parents’ preferred strategies for behavior management.
 There is a continued interest for culturally responsive
PBIS implementation (Sugai et al., 2010; Wang, 2007)
 the foundational principles and values of PBIS may be
understood differently or be perceived as unacceptable
by families from other cultures (Cheremshynski, Lucyshyn,
Olson, 2012; Wang, 2007).
 future studies need to address preferred behavior
management practices of Latino parents and their
acceptability of common school based practices such as
PBIS
La letra con sangre entra
Goya (circa 1780)
What is PBIS?
Prevention
Participants
64 Latino Parents
 Spanish speakers
 Children in elementary school
Nation of Origin
5%
7%
Mexico
South America
9%
Central America
22%
57%
Caribbean
U.S.
Education
Elementary
28%
Middle School
39%
High School
Post-High School
15%
18%
8 Schools
 Greater Salt Lake City Area
 7 Title 1 Schools
Ethnic/Racial Makeup of Schools
Hispanic/Latino
Other
37%
63%
Linguistic Makeup of Schools
English Language
Learner
Other
43%
57%
Socioeconomic Make up of Schools
Free or Reduced Lunch
12%
Other
88%
Measure
Latino Parents Perspectives Survey
 25 multiple-choice questions





Establish
Teach
Reinforce
Correct
Prevent
 8 open-ended questions
 Vignettes
 Reactions
 Anonymous
 Translation challenges (“castigo” vs “punishment”)
Data Collection
 Procedures
 Face-to-face interview (25 minutes approx.) or
completed independently
 Descriptive statistics
 Demographic characteristics
 Frequency and proportions of responses
 Vignettes were reviewed and coded into
frequently occurring themes
 Themes that occurred in more than10% of responses
were included
Results
Establish Expectations
Prevention
4 Questions
 The importance of establishing expectations
 How to establish expectations
 Consistency of expectations
Establish Expectations
9%
Convergent
91%
Divergent
Observations
 The most endorsed PBIS concept
 Highly endorsed
 Consistent expectations
 Demonstrating the expectations
 Parent input
Teach Expectations
Prevention
4 Questions
 Who should teach expectations
 How often should they be taught or reviewed
 When should the expectations be taught
Teach Expectations
23%
77%
Convergent
Divergent
Observations
 70% of parents expressed the idea that parents
are at least partially responsible to teach the
school’s expectations
 Almost ½ of parents endorsed the idea that
appropriate behavior should be taught daily
 40% of parents endorsed the idea that behavior
does not need to be addressed until after it
occurs
Reinforce/Correct Expectations
Prevention
Reinforce Expectations
Convergent
Divergent
25%
75%
Correct Behaviors
Convergent
Divergent
24%
76%
Results: Reinforce and Correct
Rewarding Appropriate and Correcting Inappropriate
Behavior
100
94
90
80
70
60
50
Appropriate Behavior
45
Inappropriate Behavior
38
40
30
20
12
10
5
0
Always
Frequently Sometimes
Never
Results: Reinforce
Preferred strategies for rewarding appropriate
behavior
8%
8%
8%
Praise
Prizes
76%
Ignore
Other
Results: Correct
Preferred strategies for dealing with misbehavior
5%
Reprimand
46%
49%
Use pre-planned
consequences
Other
Results: Correct
Use of Physical Punishment
90
87
80
70
59
60
50
41
40
30
13
20
10
0
Never
If necessary or more
At school
At home
Prevent
Prevention
Prevention
 Questions addressed the idea behind a
preventative vs. a reactive approach to changing
behavior.
• Addressing behavior before or after it occurs
• Changing of the environment vs. the student changing
Prevention
 61% of the responses on prevention questions were
convergent with PBIS approach (e.g. teaching replacement
behaviors or reinforcement of positive behaviors)
39%
61%
Prevention
Divergences
 Less of a behavioral perspective (1/3 endorsed environmental
change)
 Internal processes need to be addressed
Convergences
 Need for consistency of intervention with the teaching of
replacement behaviors
 Parents endorsed the idea of preventing misbehavior from
happening before it happens, but they often did not endorse
specific practices that would prevent misbehavior
Vignette Themes
Results: Themes from vignettes

Dealing with aggressive behavior or
inappropriate behavior
 “dialogue” with both students involved
 Find out “why”
 Explain why aggression is inappropriate, then
apply consequences
 Talk to parents in private, avoid shaming students
 Use “punishment”
 consequences such as removing favored items
or activities
 Suspension is not aversive as “kids like to stay
home”
Results: Themes from vignettes
Use of rewards
“Ok but not use candy”; “use certificates for
highlighting good effort and good grades”
Do not reward all the time or “student will
only behave when rewarded”
Reward with praise
Rewards are good if used to build motivation
and enhance self-esteem
Desire that justice be served
 “teachers ignore misbehavior”; “they are not strict enough”
Barriers
 Unfamiliarity with behavior management
strategies needed to establish and maintain
appropriate behavior, specifically:
 Antecedent control
 Environmental manipulation
 Only 1/3 of respondents endorsed it as an effective
strategy
 Belief that talking -> understanding -> change
 Misbehavior perceived as a skill deficit?
 Belief in the power of punishment and reactive
strategies (e.g., behavior only needs to be
addressed when there is a problem)
 Language differences, which may contribute to
the lack of communication between school
and home that many parents reported
Strategies
 Have an effective culture broker
 Increase parental awareness of the effectiveness of
behavior management strategies specifically,
antecedent control and environmental
manipulation.
 Misconceptions related to reinforcement
 As suggested by Fontes (2002), discussing with
parents the way their preferred approaches for
dealing with behavior “are and are not working”
may prepare the way for presenting alternative
approaches such as the principles of PBIS
 Improve the quality of the communication between
schools and parents so that it is bilateral.
 Utilize existing avenues of parent involvement to
increase and improve communication and parent
knowledge of management strategies etc.
Conclusions
Encouraging results
 Latino parents moderately endorsed PBIS
principles and practices (between 61% and
91%)
 Parents expressed a desire to be involved in
improving behavior management practices in
the schools
 Anecdotally, Latino parents were excited to
provide input into the behavior management
strategies
Limitations and Future Research
Directions
 Volunteer sample
 Self-selection
 Findings may not be related specifically to
culture differences
 No comparison group
 Measure was created for purposes of the
study
 Psychometric properties are unknown
Comparison Group (Preliminary Data)
72 Caucasians
From four of the same schools as
the Latino sample
Same survey
Your Perceptions?
Compared to a Caucasian sample, did Latino
parents agree…
 More
 Less
 The same
with a PBIS approach to teaching and
establishing clear behavior expectations?
Your Perceptions?
Compared to a Caucasian sample, did Latino
parents agree…
 More
 Less
 The same
with a PBIS approach to reinforcing appropriate
behavior?
Your Perceptions?
Compared to a Caucasian sample, did Latino
parents agree…
 More
 Less
 The same
with a PBIS approach to correcting inappropriate
behavior?
Your Perceptions?
Compared to a Caucasian sample, did Latino
parents agree…
 More
 Less
 The same
with a PBIS prevention approach to inappropriate
behavior?
Your Perceptions?
Compared to a Caucasian sample, did Latino
parents agree…
 More
 Less
 The same
with a PBIS approach generally to managing
behavior?
Establish and Teach
Latino Parents
Caucasian Parents
68%
71%
The Same
Reinforce
Latino Parents
Caucasian Parents
58%
59%
The Same
Correct
Latino Parents
Caucasian Parents
65%
66%
The Same
Prevention
Latino Parents
Caucasian Parents
60%
81%
Less Than
SWPBS Overall
Latino Parents
Caucasian Parents
63%
69%
The Same
What does it mean?