Abstract or
Executive Summary
I
have decided to do my action research on the PBIS model to see if positive
reinforcement in the classroom and school can modify a student’s behavior in a
positive way. The PBIS model is a way
of rewarding students for their positive behaviors so that you teach the
students who has a trend to illustrate negative behaviors by using examples
positive reinforcement. You also create
mini lessons to model positive behaviors and behaviors that you are expecting
of the student while they are at school.
If you are constant at the beginning, then you can slowly length the
time period for things and lessen the rewards later after you start seeing
improvement. This reminds me Pavlov’s
law where he trained the dogs using the treat system. I decided on doing this model after
discussing the discipline issues our campus has had the past couple of years
with my principal. My principal or site
supervisor mentioned this might be a good model to look at because he had heard
good things about it from other principals in the district. After creating a PBIS matrix that fit our
campus and implementing it into the school routine for discipline, we have
noticed wonderful results. I think all
campuses need to be willing to look into creating a PBIS matrix for their
campus.
Title and
Author
Todd
Nix
Allie
Ward Elementary-Abilene Independent School District
The
PBIS discipline model
Introduction
/ Background (Section One)
I am doing my action research plan on the PBIS
method because I teach at Allie Ward Elementary and our demographics have
change dramatically in the past several years.
We still don’t fall under title 1, but we are heading that way at a
rapid speed. With the change in the
demographic, also came a change in student’s behaviors. We had never had many problems at our campus
before. I am interested in seeing if a
PBIS matrix would help the discipline issues we have faced the past couple of
years. I am interested in seeing if it
can also improve the morale of a campus, if it really works. I just kept the name PBIS method as my title
since I am testing it.
I originally was going to test the different
discipline models out there and my site supervisor or principal suggested that
I narrow it down to just doing one kind of discipline model. We decided to look into a positive
discipline model because the old style was no longer working. This was causing morale problems because
people started to blame each other for the issues. The principal and I decided on the PBIS
model after we talked to other campuses that are using it and looking at the
number of referrals we have had on deputy dawg. I will collect my data from deputy dawg with
the principal’s help and by using surveys.
The
past couple of years we have had a lot more discipline referrals then we have
ever had. Most of the discipline
referrals, in the past couple of years are due to fights, weapon making, and
bullying which we never had to deal with.
This is causing problems in several ways. We have students missing classroom
instruction time as well as those students distracting the other students who
are engaged in the lesson.
I
wanted to learn if the PBIS model can improve student behavior, so that you
have less office referrals and to see if the PBIS matrix can increase the
morale if it really works. I was
wondering if teachers and staff would be in a better mood if they do not have
to deal with discipline every second of the day.
My
action research was created in order to benefit everyone at the campus. I will work along a discipline committee and
share all my information with them. We
will then share all the information collected from everyone on the committee to
the rest of the staff.
The
PBIS model stands for positive behavioral intervention systems, which is a way
to reward students for positive behavior.
One of the evaluations we will use during this research is a computer
based program called deputy dawg. It is
a database program that keeps up with referrals to the office.
Literature
Review (Section Two)
According to the information and data I
have collected, the PowerPoint titled Active decision-making: Transforming Data into Useful Information
shows examples of how much office discipline referrals can be changed using
PBIS. (Horner, R., Todd, A., Newton, S., Algozine, B., & Algozzine,
K.) This PowerPoint illustrates how the
program can help the campus. During the
decision to change the campus to a PBIS campus, the principal, counselor, and I
were involved in the initial decision meeting.
We discussed how the old plan wasn’t working at our campus anymore, and
how we needed to do something to get the campus back under control again. We talked to other campuses to get ideas
from them and then we did a little research before coming up the final
decision. During the meeting we
decided who should be on the committee and when we planned to have the
meetings.
Action
Research Design (Section Three)
Subjects
The
target selection we used for this research and program is all of the students
on our campus. Our campus has students
from kindergarten to fifth grade. We
wanted to find a program that would fit across the board for all the grade
levels. We did notice that the rewards
at the different age levels sometimes needed to be modified to fit that
specific group. The parents and the
community are also important to get involved because they can help promote the
program to the students.
Procedures
At
the end of the 2011-2012 school year, the principal decided to go ahead and
have me do my action research on the PBIS model. Our principal called a final faculty and
staff meeting at the end of the year and he had a guest speaker come and talk
to us about the PBIS model. She had
been at a campus that had implemented it into their campus and saw a great
amount of success from it. She was also
working for the district now and has had the opportunity to go into the
campuses and see the program working. The principal then went ahead and named the
faculty and staff on the discipline committee and asked if we would be willing
to meet some in the summer to put the program into action. It wasn’t hard to get people to volunteer
their time because we decided to let it count as alternative staff development
hours. Also as far as motivational
strategies used, we didn’t have to really do anything to get people on board
because everyone knew something needed to change. The old discipline model the school was using
was no longer working. The principal
had me do some research on the program using the websites the guest speaker
suggested a long with looking into other information. I told him that I also wanted to see if this
would help the morale at our campus that was on a downward spiral. We met in July and the same guest speaker
helped us create a matrix that would fit our school. This took a lot of strategic planning. We used collaborative discussions, and
debates on what would work for our campus.
We discussed the needs of the
students at the different grade levels.
We were also fortunate enough to finally get an instructional
coordinator at our campus and we decided to place her on the committee as
well. The instructional coordinator
that we inherited just happened to be from a campus that was already doing
PBIS. We also came up will rewards that
wouldn’t cost money, like getting to use the computer an extra 5 minutes during
free time. We came up with some rewards
that would cost money as well. These we
had to look into how we would finance them.
We went out and got donations from businesses in the community and we
financed some of the rewards from the schools budget. The principal wanted me to help evaluate the
program and look into ways of making it even better. After the summer was over, we met as a group
during our first district alternative staff development days and put the final
touches together. We used EXCEL to make
the matrix, we created a PowerPoint teaching PBIS, and made signs for all the
areas of the school. We then presented
it to the faculty and staff at the beginning of the year meeting. The committee members then went to our grade
levels and taught it again more in details to the smaller groups. This allowed us the opportunity to make sure
everyone understood the program correctly and gave us a chance to see if anyone
had any questions about PBIS. We
started the program, day one and so far we have seen much improvement when it
comes to behavior. The students have
been right on board, and we are seeing the morale rise from the students who
always do the right things and never get rewarded for it. We sent letters home discussing the new
policy, put signs around the campus, and discussed the plan with some local
businesses in the community in order to get their help in financing
rewards. I have talked to some of the
parents and they informed me that it is nicer to come on the campus and eat
lunch with their children now that we are doing PBIS. Every month we meet with our grade levels
and ask for concerns to take to the committee and then we meet and discuss the
concerns. We then collaborate on how to
help teachers having trouble and how to modify the program to make it
stronger. We look at deputy dawg for
comparisons of referrals the past couple of years to see if there is any
improvement. I also volunteered to
survey the teachers and students at the mid-year period and the end of the
school year to see if they like the program.
I have noticed that the morale is growing and it seems that everyone is
on board with the program. This is how
we are implementing our vision on how to have less discipline issues.
Data Collection
Data
collection comes from a couple of ways.
We use deputy dawg once a month to compare office referral the past two
years during those time periods. We
also use surveys that I am conducting on students and teachers to see how they
feel about the program and campus since going to PBIS. I did the first survey at the end of the
first semester and surveyed all the teachers on the campus. I also surveyed the fifth grade students to
see how they felt about the program. I
will do this survey again at the end of the year to see if they still feel the
program is beneficial and to see if everyone is still on board.
Findings
(Section Four)
We
have seen a great amount of change so far.
Our office referral numbers are down quite a bit and the surveys showed
a significant change of the staff’s morale for the most part. Most people believe something needed to
change and they have embraced PBIS so far.
The surveys from the students showed that they like the program and that
they feel like they are recognized more and rewarded more for acting right. The mid-year survey of the teachers showed
that most of the teachers are on board.
There was a few who think the program still has a few flaws, but they
did think it was better than before.
The parents keep telling us positive things about the student’s
behaviors. I have a couple of parents
tell me that their children are even acting better at home.
Conclusions
and Recommendations (Section Five)
In
conclusion we have seen wonderful result, but I still question whether the
results show a false representation. I
wonder what the results would have been like with the past two years of fifth
graders which we had a lot of trouble with.
Is this group just and easier group, or is the program really
working? I think that this decision can
be made in the future, but it is too early to make my final decision. I will be interested in following the data
the next two to three years to see if the data keeps following the same
pattern. The PBIS matrix that our
school has adapted so far has helped promote a positive school culture by increasing
the morale, keeping students in the classroom more during instruction, and we
are seeing fewer distractions that affect the rest of the students. The one change or modification I see so far
that I will look into next year is seeing if I can get more community awareness
of the program done, and more help with rewards through donations from the
community. I hope next year I will be
able to teach a staff development at the beginning of the year to help the teachers
that need more help implementing PBIS into their classroom, and this would give
me a chance to illustrate examples of behaviors to reward students for. I think that at the end of the year, when
the principal and committee meet with the staff at the final meeting and show
the data comparing the past two years discipline office referrals, there will
be no questions wondering if PBIS is really working throughout the campus.
I
would recommend using PBIS to any school that had the same problems we have
had. I think any staff on the campus
would verify and agree with this recommendation. I think our instructional coordinator and
principal would be willing to assist in this recommendation. The data so far is showing wonderful results
and students seem to follow the Pavlov Law pattern. My question to the people who are having the
same problems we were, but just are not sure if they should try PBIS is, what
do have to lose?
References (Final Section)
Horner, R., Todd, A., Newton,
S., Algozzine, B., & Algozzine, K. Active
Decision-making:
Transforming Data into Useful Information. Retrieved from
Transforming Data into Useful Information. Retrieved from
Powerpoint presentation)
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