Although there is a wealth of research supporting the effectiveness of using functional behavior assessment (FBA) to inform development of behavior intervention plans (BIPs), schools continue to find the FBA and BIP process challenging for implementation, particularly for students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBDs) in high school…

In this study, the authors explored the effect of prereading skills at the start of kindergarten and change in skills during kindergarten on response to Tier I (universal) Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support in Grade 5. A longitudinal data set of 473 students, including "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills" measures at the…

In 2008, the "Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions" ("JPBI") celebrated 10 years in publication. As the flagship journal of positive behavior support (PBS), it is important to periodically examine the research published in "JPBI" to determine whether it reflects the basic principles of PBS, to explore the ways in which PBS is being…

In this study, evaluation of direct behavior rating (DBR) occurred with regard to two primary areas: (a) accuracy of ratings with varied instrumentation (anchoring: proportional or absolute) and procedures (observation length: 5 min, 10 min, or 20 min) and (b) one-week test-retest reliability. Participants viewed video clips of a typical third…

The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the Class-Wide Function-related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) program, a group contingency intervention for whole classes, and for students with disruptive behaviors who are at risk for emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD). The CW-FIT program includes four elements designed from…

Several statewide evaluations of Tier 1/Universal Level Positive Behavior Support (PBS) implementation efforts have been conducted, adhering to the evaluation template developed by Horner, Sugai, and Lewis-Palmer in 2005. Building on these examples, Florida's Positive Behavior Support Project developed a comprehensive evaluation system that sought…

This study was a follow-up of a group of 29 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders at age 2 who attended an inclusive toddler program until age 3. Children ranged in age from 4 to 12 years at the time of the parent survey and follow-up testing. The majority of children were placed in a special education (noninclusive) preschool class,…

This study reports evaluation data from the statewide School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) initiative in Iowa. The study shows initial positive results over a 3-year period. The School-Wide Evaluation Tool, Team Implementation Checklist, and office discipline referral data were monitored to assess progress. Suggestions for connecting…

Problem behavior is a major barrier to successful community integration for people with developmental disabilities. Recently, there has been increased interest in identifying contextual factors involving setting events and discriminative stimuli that impact the display of problem behavior. The authors previously developed the "Contextual…

This evaluation report presents outcomes for the first cohort of 28 early childhood education programs and K-12 schools involved in implementing schoolwide positive behavior support as part of a statewide systems change initiative that began in New Hampshire in 2002. Results indicate that the overwhelming majority of schools were able to implement…

Direct methods of functional assessment--through which information is gathered by observing environment--behavior relations--vary with the degree to which environmental events are manipulated. Unstructured (ABC) assessments involve observing the occurrence of problem behavior without altering environmental events in any way. At the other extreme,…

Office discipline referrals (ODRs) are widely used by school personnel to evaluate student behavior and the behavioral climate of schools. In this article, the authors report the results of a review of the relevant literature to evaluate the validity of ODR data as indices of school-wide behavioral climate, the effects of school-wide behavioral…