The Schoolwide Positive Behavior Plan (SWPBP)
The Schoolwide Positive Behavior Plan (SWPBP) is designed to ensure that student achievement will continue to improve by creating a safe and respectful environment that is inclusive of all students. The Schoolwide Positive Behavior Plan will assist the schools to identify the social-emotional needs of their students and select interventions that will assist the students to learn the skills necessary to enhance a positive school climate. It will also identify the professional development that may be needed to build staff competency as well as the system supports staff need to implement the evidence-based practices effectively.
The SWPBP is composed of five sections, each with component parts:
Section 1—Initial Steps
- School Climate Team
- Equity Lens
- Data Analysis
- Climate Goals
Section 2—Developing and Teaching Expectations
- Expectations Defined
- Classroom Plan for Teaching and Reinforcing Expectations, Routines, and Procedures
- Family and Community Engagement
Section 3—Developing Interventions and Supporting Students
- Resource Mapping of MTSS
- Social and Emotional Learning
- Character Education
- Professional Development for Staff
Section 4—Reporting and Responding to Student Behavior
- Recognition and Incentives
- Hierarchy of Behavioral Referrals and Consequences
- Response for Intensive Behaviors
- Monitoring the SWPBP and Data Analysis
Section V—Miscellaneous Content
The Schoolwide Positive Behavior Plan template is revised each school year.
Schools are strongly encouraged to post their SWPBP on their school website.
Visualizing the Decision-Making Model
The School Climate Team is an interdisciplinary group of school representatives which will provide guidance and direction for the implementation of the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Plan and will monitor its effectiveness and progress. The team will want to consider the following model as a way to conceptualize and integrate their thinking using the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle for continuous improvement, analyzing the specific content of Outcomes, Data, Practices, and Systems to focus on details, and aligning the identified practices in accordance with a Multi-Tiered System of Supports, all while keeping equity as the center focus.
Developing an Effective Decision-Making Model
As noted in the figure below, components of the SWPBP Decision-Making Model incorporates the Multi-tiered System of Support (on the left), the Plan-Do-Study-Act model (in the center), and the more specific Outcomes-Data-Practices-Systems model (on the right). Schools should consider all components during the decision-making discussions.
The Three-Tiered Model—BCPS identifies its three tiers as Prevention, Early Intervention, and Intensive Intervention. The universal interventions, or Tier 1, are for all students. When students do not respond to the universal interventions, a multi-disciplinary team will determine which students and what interventions they should receive based on their needs. Some students may need a targeted intervention or supports at the Tier 2 level. These interventions are in addition to, not instead of, the universal interventions. There will be some, hopefully few, students who need intensive and individualized supports. This would be the Tier 3 level. There should be teams to address the students at each level to identify student needs, select appropriate interventions, and monitor the effectiveness of the intervention,
The Plan, Do, Study, Act Cycle (PDSA) guides the team toward the goal of continuous improvement. Note that Equity serves as a guiding principle and should be embedded in every phase of the cycle. This is the decision-making model with which administrators are most familiar. PLAN—Develop measurable, achievable goals, align actions, pinpoint progress metrics, and identify needed professional learning and support for staff. Using an equity lens, consider multiple data sources to identify needs and examine practices and structures which may lead to or perpetuate inequalities. DO—Implement actions, gather evidence of progress, and facilitate professional learning and support for staff. Collect quantitative and qualitative data that demonstrate implementation of the plan. Using an equity lens, note if there are any discrepancies in the implementation of your practices. STUDY—Analyze the data, compare the results to the established goals, and report progress to the stakeholder community. Compare the data to your predictions and determine if the plan resulted in improvement. Using an equity lens, determine if the data indicate differences in improvement between or among student groups. ACT—Adjust plans as necessary and communicate changes to the broader stakeholder community. Determine what modifications should be made and refine changes. Using an equity lens, consider what changes need to be made to reduce and then eliminate disparities between or among student groups.
Overlapping Circles Model—To guide the specific content of the problem-solving process as the team is utilizing the Plan-Do-Study-Act model, teams should know what the Outcomes are intended to be. Without knowing the outcomes schools will have difficulty determining their path to get where they want. The team needs to be driven by the Data. The data need to be available initially in order to make relevant decisions and the data need to be available on an on-going basis to progress monitor. Based on the data the team would determine the Practices that would most likely bring about change. These practices should be evidence-based. Then the team needs to consider the Systems piece (which is often neglected or minimized by teams). The systems piece include the things that need to be considered to support the staff to implement the practice effectively and efficiently. This might require professional learning, mentoring, coaching, and/or reminders.