I began this action research study in April, 2012, and have been actively involved with it since that time. Our campus PBIS Implementation Team met twice over the summer to make sure things were in place for a smooth beginning of the school year. We discussed the positive and negative aspects of Phase I from last school year, and made modifications as necessary. We knew the positive behavioral interventions and supports had greatly improved our students' school behavior, as well as the attitudes of our staff. We wanted to do everything possible to duplicate that success during year two.
Due to extensive construction on our campus during last spring and summer months, and the addition of over 100 new students and families to our campus, we decided to begin this school year with the familiar Phase I that was implemented a year ago, and postpone the beginning of Phase II until January, 2013. Our principal and PBIS Team felt our students and teachers were experiencing enough changes during the beginning of the school year in August, and we wanted Phase II to be a welcomed addition and successful upon implementation. We felt introducing Phase II in the midst of so many other changes would overwhelm both students and staff.
Phase I was extremely successful. Our goal was to have office referrals decrease by 20% with the implementation of positive behavioral interventions and supports during the 2011-2012 school year. When all behavioral data was collected and tallied, our office referrals had actually decreased by over 58% from the prior school year. This exciting news was shared with parents and students at the beginning of the year during our first PTO meeting. It was a time for great celebration for all concerned. Our PBIS team is now planning for the implementation of Phase II, in hopes that our behavioral success continues. The beginning of the school year has been a very good one. We're looking forward to continuing this successful program with the introduction of Phase II in just a few short months, and measuring the success of year two next June, before the implementation of the third and final phase of the program.
