Journal of

Positive Behavior Interventions

Volume 11, Number 3, July 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS AND ABSTRACTS

What's Inside: Highlights From This Issue
Mark Durand and Robert L. Koegel

Articles

A Randomized, Wait-List Controlled Effectiveness Trial Assessing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support in Elementary Schools
Robert H. Horner, George Sugai, Keith Smolkowski, Lucille Eber, Jean Nakasato, Anne W. Todd, and Jody Esperanza

We report a randomized, wait-list controlled trial assessing the effects of school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS). An effectiveness analysis was conducted with elementary schools in Hawaii and Illinois where training and technical assistance in SWPBS was provided by regular state personnel over a 3-year period. Results document that the training and technical assistance were functionally related to improved implementation of universal-level SWPBS practices. Improved use of SWPBS was functionally related to improvements in the perceived safety of the school setting and the proportion of third graders meeting or exceeding state reading assessment standards. Results also document that levels of office discipline referrals were comparatively low, but the absence of experimental control for this variable precludes inference about the impact of SWPBS. Implications for future research directions are offered.

Preliminary Validation of the Implementation Phases Inventory for Assessing Fidelity of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports
Catherine P. Bradshaw, Katrina Debnam, Christine W. Koth, and Philip Leaf

Schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) are becoming increasingly popular with schools across the country to help create safer learning environments for students. An important aspect of SWPBIS is the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of implementation fidelity. Although a few measures have been created to assess the degree to which schools are implementing the key aspects of SWPBIS, there remains a need for a tool to categorize a school's overall phase of implementation and document the schools' progression toward sustainability of SWPBIS. The present study examines the reliability and validity of the Implementation Phases Inventory (IPI), a new measure of SWPBIS implementation fidelity. The findings indicate that the IPI is an internally consistent measure with adequate test—retest reliability, interrater reliability, and concurrent validity. These findings provide preliminary evidence that supports the use of the IPI to assess phase of SWPBIS implementation.

Sustaining School-Based Individualized Positive Behavior Support: Perceived Barriers and Enablers
Linda M. Bambara, Stacy Nonnemacher, and Lee Kern

This qualitative interview study investigates the perceived barriers and enablers to implementing and sustaining individualized positive behavior supports (IPBS) by school-based team members across five stakeholder groups. The findings reveal specific factors across five broad themes: (a) school culture, (b) administrative leadership and support, (c) structure and use of time, (d) ongoing professional development, and (e) family and student involvement. The findings offer insight into the interconnectedness of factors that can interfere with or support IPBS in schools and suggest implications for practice and future research.

School-Wide Positive Behavior Support in High School: Early Lessons Learned
K. Brigid Flannery, George Sugai, and Cynthia M. Anderson

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is designed to promote positive teaching and learning climates supporting positive social behavior and academic achievement. As a proactive school-wide approach, all students and all staff across all settings are considered. This approach has been implemented in more than 5,000 schools across the United States to date, primarily in elementary and middle schools. High schools are complex organizations with multiple administrators, large numbers of staff and students, and varied expectations related to academic achievement and successful diploma completion. Although key features of SWPBS are similar across schools, specific implementation strategies often are different in high schools. In this article, the authors first delineate the critical features of SWPBS and then present results from a survey of sample high schools implementing SWPBS. They use survey results as a foundation from which to provide guidelines to school teams attempting to implement SWPBS in high schools.

Standing at Sinai With Autism: A Young Man's Bar Mitzvah Journey
Mia Hyman

This article describes the journey that a family and community took to prepare Leon, a young man with autism, for his Bar Mitzvah. A positive behavior support (PBS) intervention was used to prepare Leon for this symbolic rite of passage into the Jewish culture. He had specific problem behaviors that needed to be addressed for him to participate in the ceremony. Specifically, his problem behaviors included noncompliance, inappropriate self-touching in public places, and difficulty sitting for long periods of time. Setting event, predictor, teaching, and consequence strategies were put into place to address these issues. The outcome of these supports was twofold: Not only did Leon successfully participate in all aspects of his Bar Mitzvah ceremony and celebration, but in so doing, he also provided a lesson about inclusion and hope to his community.

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