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the evolution of discipline practices school-wide positive behavior supports george sugai robert horner summary in response to public requests to improve the purpose and structure of discipline systems schools have increased their emphases on school-wide positive behavior support the thesis of this paper is that the current problem behavior of students in elementary and middle schools requires a preventive whole-school approach the foundation for such an approach lies in the emerging technology of positive behavior support the features of positive behavior support are defined and their application to whole-school intervention articulated finally the steps that have been used to implement school-wide positive behavior support in over 500 schools across the nation are described [article copies available for a fee from the haworth document delivery service 1-800-haworth e-mail address

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24 behavior psychology in the schools

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george sugai and robert horner 25 ancy lack of discipline and drug use have been among the top concerns of the general public and teachers 1998 kappan/gallup poll in addition efforts to improve educational services and opportunities for students with disabilities and problem behavior have increased especially in general education settings p.l 94-142 idea 1997 us department of education thus management and control of problem behavior regardless of whether the student does or does not have a disability has drawn increased attention from schools families and communities however debates continue regarding where how and whether students with severe antisocial behavior should be educated in general education settings when teachers experience situations in which students are violent toward their peers or adults are insubordinate and noncompliant run away from school or disrupt the learning of others their basic reaction is to engage in actions that decrease or avoid such aversive situations gunter denny jack shores 1993 gunter jack depaepe reed harrison 1994 jack shores denny gunter debriere depaepe 1996 shores jack gunter ellis debriere wehby 1993 most school conduct codes and discipline handbooks detail consequence sequences designed to teach these students that they have violated a school rule and that their choice of behaviors will not be tolerated when occurrences of rule-violating behavior increase in frequency and intensity a monitoring and surveillance are increased to catch future occurrences of problem behavior b rules and sanctions for problem behavior are restated and reemphasized c the continuum of punishment consequences for repeated rule-violations are extended d efforts are direct toward increasing the consistency with which school staff react to displays of antisocial behavior e bottom-line consequences are accentuated to inhibit future displays of problem behavior ironically when these types of solutions are used with students with established histories of severe antisocial behavior increases in the intensity and frequency of antisocial behavior are likely mayer 1995 mayer butterworth 1979 mayer butterworth nafpaktitis sulzer-azaroff 1983 at the school and district levels reactive responses to occurrences of antisocial behavior also are likely for example when significant acts

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26 behavior psychology in the schools of school violence are experienced e.g shooting bomb threats illegal drug activity schools direct attention toward a b c d e f establishing zero tolerance policies hiring security personnel adding surveillance cameras and metal detectors adopting school uniform policies using in and out-of-school detention suspension and expulsion establishing alternative school placements and programs us department of health and human services 2001 ironically the effectiveness of these policy and structural responses has not been adequately studied demonstrated and validated increases in the uses of these reactive individual teacher and school responses are predictable because they often are associated with relatively immediate albeit short-term reductions in serious problem behavior mccord 1995 patterson reid dishion 1992 however alone they have been ineffective in creating more sustained positive school climates that prevent the development and occurrence of antisocial behavior in schools in the long term reactive and punishment-based responses create a false sense of security environments of authoritarian control are established antisocial behavior events are inadvertently reinforced most importantly the school s primary function to provide opportunities for teaching and academic engagement is decreased by themselves these reactive responses are insufficient to meet the challenge of creating safe schools and positive school climates and maximizing teaching time and learning opportunities numerous sources have advocated for the adoption of more proactive positive and preventive approaches to shape individual and school-wide discipline responses e.g center for the study and prevention of school violence center for positive behavioral interventions and supports institute on violence and destructive behavior american psychological association center on effective collaboration and practice office of safe and drug free schools office of special education programs for example a recent report on the prevention of school violence published by the office of the us surgeon general and prepared by the us department of health and human services recommends that schools emphasize prevention-based strategies that for example a b c d break-up the contingencies that maintain antisocial behavior networks increase rates and opportunities for academic success establish and sustain positive school and classroom climates give priority to an agenda of primary prevention us department of health and human services 2001

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george sugai and robert horner 27 similar recommendations for a prevention-based response to school violence have been put forth by leading researchers elliott hamburg williams 1998 gottfredson 1987 gottfredson gottfredson hybl 1993 gottfredson gottfredson skroban 1996 guerra williams 1996 mayer 1995 skiba deno 1991 walker horner sugai bullis sprague bricker kaufman 1996 incongruously classroom practices and behavior management strategies that support a prevention agenda have been known for over 40 years for instance madsen becker thomas and colleagues published a series of studies demonstrating the importance of establishing and approving appropriate classroom rules and behavior to achieve positive classroom atmospheres becker madsen arnold thomas 1967 madsen becker thomas 1968 thomas becker armstrong 1968 in addition in the 1970s educators and psychologists berliner 1985 brophy 1979 brophy good 1986 emmer evertson anderson 1980 evertson emmer 1982 kounin 1970 rosenshine 1985 rosenshine stevens 1986 highlighted the importance of academic engagement and success in managing and preventing disruptive classrooms although less empirically supported the importance and features of a prevention agenda at the school-wide level also have solid historical and applied foundations for example mayer sulzer-azaroff and colleagues mayer 1995 mayer et al 1983 sulzer-azaroff mayer 1994 1986 have demonstrated improvements in social behavior and school climate by adopting constructive disciplinary practices e.g teaching and encouraging school expectations and behaviors which led to reductions of vandalism assaults and other antisocial behavior mayer butterworth 1979 mayer et al 1983 ron nelson and his colleagues have replicated similar positive outcomes in reducing rates of disruptive behavior and office discipline referrals nelson 1996 nelson johnson marshand-martella 1996 nelson martella galand 1998 nelson martella marchand-martella in press finally recent efforts have demonstrated improvements in school discipline patterns when a positive and preventive approach is emphasized colvin kame enui sugai 1993 taylor-greene brown nelson longton gassman cohen swartz horner sugai hall 1997 in sum research support for responding to concerns about school violence problem behavior and lack of discipline has a long history as schools have moved beyond simply excluding children with problem behavior to a policy of active development of social behaviors expectations for discipline systems have changed research indicates that

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28 behavior psychology in the schools a punishment and exclusion are ineffective when used without a proactive support system gottfredson karweit gottfredson 1989 mayer 1995 tolan guerra 1994 b behavioral principles exist for organizing successful support for individual students with problem behavior alberto troutman 1999 kazdin 1982 kerr nelson 1983 vargas 1977 wolery bailey sugai 1988 c effective instruction is linked to reduced behavior problems becker 1971 heward heron hill trap-porter 1984 jenson sloane young 1988 lee sugai horner 1999 sulzer-azaroff mayer 1986 and d school-wide systems of behavior support can be an efficient system for reducing the incidence of disruptive and antisocial behavior in schools chapman hofweber 2000 colvin fernandez 2000 horner sugai 2000 lohrman-o rourke et al 2000 nakasato 2000 nelson in press nersesian et al 2000 sadler 2000 taylor-greene et al 1997 taylor-greene kartub 2000 walker et al 1996 whole-school as the unit of analysis for positive behavior support from these behavioral foundations and research validations systemic efforts to implement and sustain effective behavioral interventions have evolved these efforts focus on taking specific behavioral strategies practices and processes beyond the behavior of the individual the effect has been an increased emphasis on the collective behaviors working structures and routines of educators and focusing on the whole school as the unit of analysis colvin kame enui sugai 1993 colvin sugai kame enui 1994 lewis sugai 1999 sugai horner 1999 sugai horner dunlap hieneman lewis nelson scott liaupsin sailor turnbull turnbull wickham reuf wilcox 2000 by focusing on the whole school as the unit of analysis efforts to arrange learning and social environments for the adoption and sustained use of research-validated practices have become increasingly important in addressing the social behavioral needs of all students in schools thus schools are being asked to organize their resources activities and initiatives in ways that efficiently occasion high quality and sustained improvements and positive change in teacher and student behavior.

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george sugai and robert horner 29 with the focus on schools to improve school cultures research-validated strategies and practices remain an important part of the school-wide discipline and behavior management picture however systemic factors like administrative support team-based problem solving and data-based decision making assume even greater importance this expanded view of school-wide discipline has caused behavior analysts to expand their unit of study to include systems or organized collections of adult behavior the result has been the evolution of school-wide positive behavior support pbs positive behavior support is the combination of four key elements a outcomes e.g academic achievement social competence employment options that are uniquely defined and valued by stakeholders e.g students families teachers employers b a behavioral and biomedical science of human behavior that provides fundamental principles for the design of support c empirically validated practices for achieving identified outcomes in applied contexts d the implementation of validated practices in the context of the systems change needed for durable and generalized effects sugai et al 2000 thus pbs has been described as the broad range of systemic and individualized strategies for achieving important social and learning outcomes while preventing problem behavior osep center on positive behavioral interventions and supports 2001 defining features of school-wide positive behavior support given this definition and characterization whole-school pbs can be operationalized by its a integration of four critical elements b multi-systems perspective c continuum of behavior support integration of four crtical elements schools are learning that the tricks i.e strategies practices interventions of behavior and classroom management are insufficient to achieve meaningful and sustained improvements in student behavior especially when the problem behaviors are chronic and intense more

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30 behavior psychology in the schools importantly the behavior management capacity of the school is not enhanced when the focus is on reacting to one situation at a time thus schools are integrating effective practices with four critical elements see figure 1 first school-wide pbs is guided by a careful acknowledgement and consideration of outcomes e.g academic achievement social competence career/work opportunities that are valued by significant stakeholders e.g students family members teachers employers schools must be able to articulate measurable student and staff outcomes if they are to be successful and efficient in a selecting and presenting relevant curriculum b conducting meaningful educational assessments and evaluations c utilizing dwindling resources d creating positive school climates second school-wide pbs is based on the adoption and sustained use of research-validated practices and curricula that maximize achievement of student and teacher outcomes schools must resist the impulsive and reactive temptation to discard proven practices whenever a figure 1 four elements of school-wide positive behavior support social competence and academic achievement outcomes sy st em s ta da supporting staff behavior supporting decision making practices supporting student behavior

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george sugai and robert horner 31 new initiative curriculum or strategy is presented consideration of new or different practices should be guided by questions of trustworthiness effectiveness efficiency and relevance carnine 1997 1995 1992 peters heron 1992 sugai horner 1999 for example a are educationally and/or socially relevant outcomes specified b will the efficiency of outcome achievement be improved e.g time effort c is research accessible and supportive d are adoption costs e.g training purchase justifiable e are sound conceptual and theoretical foundations indicated f are successful local applications available g does evidence exist to support a change in current practice h have previous practices been implemented with high fidelity i are supports in place to occasion and sustain implementation third school-wide pbs relies on data to guide decision making lewis-palmer sugai larson 1999 sugai sprague horner walker 2000 data-based decision making is applied at many levels i.e individual classroom school with multiple individuals i.e student teacher administrator support staff across contexts e.g general vs special education school vs home and with multiple outcomes e.g reading grades attendance discipline referrals as indicated above data should be used to guide the selection of new practices in addition data must be collected to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of implementation of current practices individual or system characterize and understand a situation e.g student s performance school setting teacher instruction guide the development of new or modification of current practices and monitor student or program progress finally school-wide pbs considers the systems e.g processes routines working structures administrative supports that are needed to ensure consideration of valued outcomes research validated practices and data-based decision making systems refer to the effectiveness efficiency and relevance for example of a organizational working structures e.g committees b policies and guiding principles e.g mission statement school purpose c operating routines e.g faculty meetings communications problem solving action planning d resource supports e.g families special education counseling e staff/professional development structures and opportunities f administrative leadership e.g participation visibility decision making

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32 behavior psychology in the schools multi-systems perspective together the four above elements of school-wide pbs emphasize the need for schools to improve the effectiveness efficiency and relevance with which they do the business of supporting student behavior however this task can be daunting unless schools organize their work around a four systems perspective school-wide classroom non-classroom individual student lewis sugai 1999 sugai horner 1999 sugai et al 2000 see figure 2 school-wide discipline systems a review of the published research and demonstrations of school-wide discipline implementations comer 1985 gottfredson 1987 gottfredson gottfredson skroban 1996 knoff 1995 mayer butterworth nafpaktitis sulzer-azaroff 1983 sprick nolet 1991 sulzer-azaroff mayer 1994 weissberg caplan sivo 1989 indicates six common features 1 statement of purpose that expresses the explicit objective of and rationale for a school-wide discipline structure this statement should a be positively phrased b focus on all staff all students and all school settings c link academic and behavioral outcomes for example george ikuma school is a community of learners we are here to learn grow and become good citizens 2 clearly defined expectations and behavioral examples that permit consistent communications and establish an effective verbal community for all staff and students and across all settings five or fewer positively stated expectations are expressed in a few common words for example respect ourselves respect others respect environment respect learning 3 procedures for teaching expectations and expected behaviors that staff can use to ensure students know and understand school-wide rules expectations routines and positive and negative consequences basically the same procedures that are used to teach academic skills and concepts are applied a teach directly tell/show practice test b supervise use c provide positive and/or corrective feedback a b c d.

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george sugai and robert horner 33 4 procedures for encouraging expected behaviors that are organized and provided along a continuum of a tangible to social forms of feedback b staff to student administered c high to low frequency d predictable to unpredictable presentations 5 procedures for preventing problem behavior that are organized and provided along a continuum of a minor to major rule violations b increasing intensity and aversiveness of responses these procedures should provide clear definitions and examples of rule-violating behaviors focus on preventing future occurrences of problem behavior by teaching and strengthening prosocial replacement behaviors consider the contextual function purpose of rule-violating behavior and delineate between teacher versus administrator managed problem behaviors 6 procedures for record keeping and decision making that allow for regular weekly and monthly feedback to staff about the status of school-wide discipline implementation efforts teams should be able to examine patterns at least across students time locations behavior types appropriate and inappropriate consequences and staff members to improve the effectiveness efficiency and relevance of their efforts classroom setting systems behavior management practices and routines in classrooms have many parallels to the six features of school-wide discipline systems however teachers also must organize their classrooms in ways that support the presentation and use of academic instruction and curriculum colvin lazar 1997 gettinger 1988 kame enui darch 1995 martens kelly 1993 northwest regional education laboratory 1984 smith misra 1992 for example teachers must directly teach students expectations and routines for typical classroom activities e.g large vs small group instruction whole vs independent activities making transitions between activities such as a being prepared e.g materials taught the features and expectations of typical routines b asking for assistance c getting teacher attention d solving problems.

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34 behavior psychology in the schools direct instruction on these expectations and routines should occur at critical times of the year e.g first day and first week just prior to and following grading periods or vacation breaks and practiced and reviewed regularly e.g daily/weekly paine et al 1983 sprick sprick garrison 1992 wong wong 1991 teachers also must maximize their use of fundamental behavior management practices for example teachers must engage in active supervision e.g move scan interact so that students learn that teachers are monitoring and evaluating their social behaviors teachers must have frequent positive contacts with students individually and as groups latham 1992 recommends that teachers maintain a ratio of six to eight positive social engagements for every negative interaction to promote a positive social classroom climate and to support instructional success teachers must organize their classroom environments in ways figure 2 multiple systems of school-wide positive behavior support classroom setting systems om s ro ss tem la ys -c on ng s n tti se in div id sy ual ste stu m de s nt school-wide systems

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george sugai and robert horner 35 that communicate the importance of teaching and learning e.g student work current events prompt socially desirable behaviors e.g posted rules positive reinforcers and maximize the delivery of instruction e.g curriculum seating arrangements supplies teachers must adopt and sustain their use of curriculum that is empirically supported culturally and developmentally appropriate modifiable to accommodate individual differences and outcome-oriented finally teachers must have opportunities to develop and maintain fluency with the delivery of the above practices through for example regular staff development experiences formative collection and review of student progress and constructive supervisory feedback non-classroom setting systems school settings like hallways restrooms parking lots and cafeterias present a different set of behavior management challenges typically these settings are characterized by large numbers of students strong social or student-to-student interaction emphasis relatively minimum adult presence in number and influence and limited interpersonal relationships between adults and students behavior management in these non-instructional contexts must emphasize supervision that is overt active and efficient colvin lazar 1997 colvin sugai good lee 1997 kame enui darch 1995 lewis colvin sugai in press sprick sprick garrison 1992 first students must be taught directly how school-wide expectations relate to the specific expected behaviors and routines for specific non-classroom settings and they must have regular opportunities to practice these expected behaviors and routines second all staff members must engage in active supervision when assigned to a non-classroom setting or when moving through these environments active supervision can be operationalized as a scanning­keeping head up and looking for rule following and violating behaviors b moving­routinely move through locations where expected behaviors are more difficult for students to demonstrate or where large numbers of students congregate or transition c interact­make prosocial positive and preventive contacts with as many different students as possible latham s 6-8 to 1 rule third all staff members must provide precorrections colvin sugai patching 1991 in situations where rule-violating behaviors are likely or with individual students in situations where problem behaviors are probable precorrections are structured reminders or practice that are presented before a student or group of students enter into a

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36 behavior psychology in the schools situation in which problem behaviors have been displayed in the past for example teachers precorrect students about appropriate ways to use playground equipment as they move from their classrooms to recess bus drivers remind students about acceptable hallway behaviors as they exit the bus and enter the school supervisors give students verbal reminders about keeping their hands and feet to themselves as they move from the playground into the hallways and into their classrooms finally if all staff members do not provide positive reinforcement for student displays of rule and expectation-following behaviors they cannot expect displays of these behaviors in the future especially when competing problem behaviors receive reinforcement from peers and when adult presence is insufficient to inhibit problem behaviors colvin sugai good and lee 1997 demonstrated that student behavior is functionally related to supervisor behavior in settings where active supervision was absent problem behaviors were more likely to be observed regardless of the number of staff members who were present given the competing factors that occasion and maintain unacceptable behaviors staff must provide overt and high rates of specific and general positive reinforcement for rule-following behaviors students must learn that expectation-following behaviors are important and valued by adults individual student support systems systems of pbs for students whose behaviors have proven to be unresponsive to general school and classroom-wide systems must be more specialized comprehensive and individualized and of higher intensity sugai et al 2000 individual student systems of pbs have been characterized as having for example a a team-based approach to problem solving b a function-based approach to behavioral assessment and behavior intervention planning c a person-centered approach to comprehensive intervention and service planning d an emphasis on individualized and targeted social skills and self-management instruction e an overt link with school-wide academic and behavioral expectations f an early identification and intervention philosophy horner 1994 o neill et al 1997 sugai lewis-palmer hagan-burke 1999-2000 to ensure that these characteristics are implemented with high fidelity behavioral competence must be available daily and within the schools in which behavioral programming is required a sample of ar-

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george sugai and robert horner 37 eas of behavioral competencies related to individual student support is listed below 1 school-wide pbs systems practices outcomes and data-based decision making 2 functional behavioral assessment-based behavior intervention planning 3 multi-disciplinary team-based problem solving and facilitation 4 case management facilitation and evaluation 5 coordination of cross-disciplinary planning and intervention implementation 6 staff training and implementation support 7 specialized design of instruction curriculum accommodations and instructional delivery strategies 8 family support and communication continuum of behavior support finally pbs relies on a continuum of behavior support in which the intensity of behavior support necessarily increases relative to increases in the behavioral needs and challenges of the student walker et al 1996 across the above four systems see figure 3 this continuum also iterates how a prevention based perspective is applied across all students within a school the goal of primary prevention is to inhibit the development of problem behavior by emphasizing the teaching and encouraging desired social behaviors maximizing academic success and removing the factors that promote and sustain problem behavior secondary prevention strategies focus on removing or reducing the impact of risk factors e.g poverty unsafe neighborhoods lack of supervision that students bring to school by bolstering the availability of protective factors e.g specialized community and/or school supports remedial programming family assistance tertiary prevention is focused on reducing the complexity intensity severity of problem behaviors that become well-established in the behavioral repertoire of individual students when the interplay among outcomes practices systems and data multiple systems and continua of behavior supports are considered collectively the importance of the school-as-the-unit of analysis becomes more apparent and important educators will need to look beyond basic behavior and classroom management and toward the collective functioning of the members of the school community.

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