Behavior (PBIS)

Establishing school-wide positive behavioral systems of support

Schools across Wisconsin have created more effective learning environments for students and staff by implementing behavior supports. Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) establishes clear expectations for students and takes active steps towards teaching, modeling, and reinforcing appropriate behaviors school-wide.

Benefits of a systemic approach to teaching behavior

While schools often implement PBIS to help teach and correct behavioral error, research shows integrating behavior supports into your system also has these important benefits:

• Improved climate for students, families, and staff,
• reductions in problem behavior,
• decreased staff burnout and increased efficacy,
• improved social-emotional functioning and pro-social behavior,
• improved academic achievement, and
• reduced instances of bullying.

Our approach for systems change

We support schools and districts as they work towards implementing integrated systems of behavioral, social, emotional, and academic supports. This is called Wisconsin’s Framework for Equitable, Multi-level Systems of Supports. Behavior (PBIS) is one of the content areas in this integrated system.

Providing tiers of supports

When setting up your school’s behavior support system, we recommend a tiered approach. Tier 1, also called universal-level supports, is the foundation of the framework. In place for ALL students, tier 1 behavior supports are preventative. All students receive tier 1 supports including teaching and supporting expectations and related skills.

Additional levels of support (tier 2 and tier 3):

• build on the universal level (tier 1)
• are accessed by smaller numbers of students
• increase in intensity

Assessing school-wide positive behavior supports

How well is your system meeting the needs of your learners? Wisconsin schools assess their systemic behavior implementation using the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI). This free online tool gauges implementation of a school-wide positive behavior support system across all levels/tiers. The TFI is taken by school teams.