Ohio Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports
What is Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)?
Many Ohio schools and districts support all students’ needs by implementing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Ohio’s plan for overcoming the impact of the pandemic, Future Forward Ohio, addresses barriers that prevent students from engaging in learning including attendance, health and mental health issues. The plan provides supportive structures and effective opportunities for students to learn through supplemental activities (for example, after school tutoring). PBIS directly dismantles barriers and creates a consistent, safe and positive school climate. PBIS is a framework that provides support to students, families and educators. The framework helps students by focusing on their strengths and building on their confidence to succeed. PBIS is a research-based system that utilizes a positive approach to discipline, which leads to a reduction in office referrals, in-school suspensions and out-of-school suspensions that decrease instructional time for students.
PBIS is a framework that guides school teams in the selection, integration and implementation of evidence-based practices for improving academic, social and behavior outcomes for all students. The PBIS process emphasizes four integrated elements: data for decision making, evidence based interventions and practices that support varying student needs (multi-tiered), systems that efficiently and effectively support implementation of these practices and continual progress monitoring to ensure outcomes are met.
PBIS is not a curriculum or a one-day training. PBIS is a systems change process that requires on-going commitment in order to create effective systems for teaching and addressing student needs.
Ohio Rules and Policy
Ohio’s adopted strategic plan for education, Each Child, Our Future, explicitly recognizes the need for a positive climate in every school to support student well-being, academic achievement and future success. Most recently, Ohio enacted the Supporting Alternatives for Fair Education (SAFE) Act, House Bill 318. It is one of the strongest state laws in the country addressing multi-tiered behavioral supports in the interest of reducing disciplinary referrals, especially for prekindergarten through grade 3 students. This bill strengthens existing requirements for school districts to implement PBIS.
Ohio PBIS Network
The Ohio PBIS Network was initiated by the Ohio Department of Education Office for Exceptional Children to develop materials, resources and training to support the scaling up of PBIS in Ohio schools. The Ohio PBIS Network is primarily composed of professionals from each of the 16 Ohio State Support Teams, Educational Service Centers and the Office of Integrated Student Supports.
The PBIS Network vision is that all learning environments in Ohio will implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as an effective and proactive framework for improving safety, social competence, and academic achievement for all students.
Ohio PBIS Training and Professional Development
The primary source for PBIS training is through your regional State Support Team (SST) or Educational Service Center. Scheduled trainings would be listed with registration available through STARS.
Ohio's Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports website provides online professional development to schools at no cost. The site includes flexible, on demand videos for use of all members of the school community regardless of role.
Federal Guidance
SchoolSafety.gov was created by the federal government to provide schools and districts with actionable recommendations to create safe and supportive learning environments for students and educators.
The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the United States Department of Education (USDOE) issued a letter of significant guidance related to the implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), reminding states and districts of the responsibility for ensuring a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with disabilities, including the IEP team addressing the implications of a child’s behavioral needs. OSEP further clarifies that a failure to consider and provide for needed behavioral supports through the IEP may result in a student not receiving a meaningful educational benefit or FAPE. The letter provides IDEA requirements for PBIS as well as resources that support planning and implementation of services.
Last Modified: 9/7/2023 12:24:59 PM