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Tier 2 practices and systems provide targeted support for students who are not successful with Tier 1 supports alone. The focus is on supporting students who are at risk for developing more serious problem behavior before they start. Essentially, the support at this level is more focused than Tier 1 and less intensive than Tier 3.

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Module 3: Creating School-Wide Expectations

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What is Tier 3 Support?

The PBIS Triangle-The red area represents Tier 3 that supports a few students. Tiers 1 and 2 supports are still used with students engaged in Tier 3 supports.

PBIS' framework doesn't just work with school-wide and targeted supports. It's also an effective way to address sometimes dangerous, often highly disruptive behaviors creating barriers to learning and excluding students from social settings.

At most schools, there are 1-5% of students for whom Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports have not connected. At Tier 3, these students receive more intensive, individualized support to improve their behavioral and academic outcomes. Tier 3 strategies work for students with developmental disabilities, autism, emotional and behavioral disorders, and students with no diagnostic label at all.

Foundational Systems

Tier 3 practices stem from strong foundations in Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports. With both tiers in place, schools are free to organize individualized teams to support students with more intense needs.

The foundational systems involved in Tier 3 supports are:

Multi-disciplinary Team

Tier 3 team membership includes an administrator, a coach/behavior representative, others with basic knowledge of problem solving. Team members should also include personnel who actively provide Tier 3 support in the school. This gives them input on decisions about interventions they provide to students they serve. Including school personnel from different departments ensures an array of perspectives.

Behavior Support Expertise

A school's Tier 3 team must include someone who has experience providing formal behavior support. They need to have applied behavior expertise and experience developing multi-agency support.

Formal Fidelity and Outcome Data Collection

Documenting student outcomes lets teams monitor how the resources allocated and the practices adopted affect student's outcomes. These data are essential to:

Supporting data-based decision making and problem solving

Identifying needed adjustments to Tier 3 practices

Maximizing resources

Ensuring all students are supported fully and equitably

Evaluating the system's overall effectiveness

Determining student eligibility for additional resources

Evaluating individual education programs·

Assessing how closely Tier 3 supports are implemented as intended (fidelity of implementation) ensures student outcomes can be attributed to the interventions provided.

For more information on how to setup Tier 3 supports, check out our guides:

Key Practices

Tier 3 practices start with strong Tier 1 and Tier 2 foundations. In addition to these practices, the key practices involved in Tier 3 supports are:

Function-based Assessments

Functional behavior assessment (FBA) is the formal process for ensuring a student's plan centers on why a student behaves the way they do. FBA allows teams to identify which interventions are most likely to be useful for an individual student. Plans resulting from a formal FBA process will include strategies for:

Preventing unwanted behavior

Teaching appropriate behavior

Positively reinforcing appropriate behavior

Reducing rewards for unwanted behavior

Ensuring student safety

For more information, check out our FBA guides:

Wraparound

Wraparound differs from many service delivery strategies, in that it provides a comprehensive, holistic, youth and family-driven way of responding when children or youth experience serious mental health or behavioral challenges. Wraparound puts the child or youth and family at the center of the process to develop a support plan. With support from a team of professionals and natural supports, the family's ideas and perspectives about what they need and what will be helpful drive all of the work in Wraparound.

The student and their family members work with a Wraparound facilitator to build their Wraparound team, which can include the family's friends and people from the wider community, as well as providers of services and supports.

With the help of the team, the family and young person take the lead in deciding team vision and goals, and in developing creative and individualized services and supports that will help them achieve the goals and vision. Team members work together to put the plan into action, monitor how well it's working, and change it as needed.

Bruns and Walker (2008) identified ten principles of the wraparound process that included:

1. Family voice and choice

2. Team Based

3. Natural Supports

4. Collaboration

5. Community based

6. Culturally Competent

7. Individualized

8. Strengths-based

9. Unconditional

10. Outcome based

All of these principles are consistent with a PBIS approach and can result in a seamless connection between PBIS practices at Tier3, that include Functional Behavior Assessments and Behavior Intervention Plans,and wraparound supports.

For more information about wraparound, please visit the National Wraparound Initiative. The Midwest PBIS Network also has an abundance of materials for both the wraparound and person-centered planning process.

Person Centered Planning

Person-Centered Planning (PCP) is a way for diverse people, who share a common need to align:

Their vision, purposes, and goals,

Their understanding of the student's past,present and future life, and

Their actions for change, mutual support,personal and team development, and learning.

PCP makes a commitment and takes action to ensure that changes will be accomplished for the student. The PCP philosophy aims to 1) build support based on a capacity-based perspective of the student, 2) use natural school, family and community resources to fulfill a vision of a positive future for the student, and 3)build a circle of support for the student that includes friends, family, school personnel and service providers. The PCP team coordinates supports around the life of the individual rather than around the needs of the system and existing services. The team also recognizes that abilities of ordinary citizens, neighbors, fellow students, and school personnel, can teach students skills, help them participate, model appropriate behaviors, and foster interdependent relationships.

PCP is a planning process that involves long-term commitment to an action plan and a positive vision for the future of the student. This plan is not intended to replace an IEP or a Behavior Intervention Plan, but can be seen to supplement and extend those plans by addressing broader quality of life and community, personal, and life goals of the student. PCP has much in common with wraparound, with wraparound being a broader umbrella under which PCP can be used as an effective planning process. Both approaches, as well as PBIS, share a commitment to five essential goals of PCP that include:

Being present and participating in community life,

Gaining and maintaining satisfying relationships,

Expressing preferences and making choices in everyday life,

Having opportunities to fulfill respected roles and live with dignity, and

Continuing to develop personal competencies.

There are several Person-Centered Planning processes that have been developed using group facilitation techniques and graphic planning supports including:

Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope (PATH),

Making Action Plans (MAP),

Essential Lifestyle Planning (ELP),

Personal Profile,

Futures Plan,

Circle of Support, and

A combination of the above approaches into hybrid models.

For more information about Person Centered Planning visit the Administration for Community Living and the National Parent Center on Transition and Employment.

Cultural and Contextual Fit

With every practice, the student's and the school's culture and context must be considered. Each of these element influences and adds value to a school's Tier 3 practices:

Local environments such as neighborhoods and cities

Personal characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and nationality

Learning histories such as family, social routines, customs, and experiences

Language such as dialect and vocabulary

Tier 3 Teams

There are two types of teams associated with Tier 3 supports: the Tier 3 leadership team and individual student support teams.

Tier 3 Leadership Team

Tier 3 teams won't look the same in every school. Whether you have one team looking at Tier 3 specifically, or one team monitoring Tier 2 and 3 systems together, this leadership team meets regularly to be sure:

Students who need additional support have access to those systems

Students who receive Tier 3 supports are successful

Tier 3 leadership teams are led by someone with applied behavior expertise, administrative authority, multi-agency support experience, knowledge of students, and knowledge about how the school operates across grade levels and programs.

Tier 3 Student Support Team

In addition to a team committed to monitoring Tier 3 systems, there must be a problem-solving team for each student receiving Tier 3 supports.These teams meet regularly to design and refine strategies specific to one student. The team's goal is always to transition a student to fewer intensive supports.

Tier 3 student support teams typically include people from the student's school, home, and community. Students and their families input and approval on who is on the team. The school's administrator must have enough involvement to allocate resources as needed for a student's plan.

Assessments

The Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) assess how closely school personnel apply the core features of PBIS. The TFI includes three separate surveys - one for assessing each tier - schools can use separately or in combination with one another. Schools at every stage of implementation may use the TFI to assess any tier.

Explore the Evidence Base for Tier 3

At its foundation, PBIS is a framework supported by research spanning decades. Study after study confirms the positive impact Tier 3 systems and practices have on improving student outcomes. The evaluation brief, " Is School-wide Positive Behavior Support an Evidence-based Practice?" and " References for the Evidence Base of PBIS" each lay out some of the research and provide additional resources to explore the topic further.

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At most schools, there are 1-5% of students for whom Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports have not connected. At Tier 3, these students receive more intensive, individualized support to improve their behavioral and academic outcomes. Tier 3 strategies work for students with developmental disabilities, autism, emotional and behavioral disorders, and students with no diagnostic label at all.

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BUILD BUY-IN: Establish the "Why" for PBIS

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BUILD BUY-IN: Establish the "Why" for PBIS

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Learning System Missouri Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support

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What is SW-PBS? - Learning System Missouri Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support

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Supporting Missouri schools with a research-based, multi-tiered behavior framework that builds positive, safe, and effective learning environments.

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Teaching SW Expectations-Steps, Tips 2025 .docx

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PBIS Systems Support - Feature 1.9 - Feedback and Acknowledgement

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Essential Learning Complete the online course: Encouraging Expected Behavior
OR Read pages 161-184 of the Tier 1 Workbook to gain a foundational knowledge on Encouraging Expected Behavior
Read Description of Schoolwide System for Encouraging Expected Behavior and have the PBIS Leadership Team

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Tiers of intervention are a useful way of identifying the group of students that may benefit from a given intervention, from all students (tier 1), to students at-risk or showing signs of behavior difficulty (tier 2), to students with chronic or intense behavior needs (tier 3). While some strategies are specifically designed for a particular tier of intervention, many strategies can be adapted for implementation across more than one tier or target groups. Below are lists of strategies for improving student behavior and implementing effective discipline organized by their recommended tier(s) of intervention. For more information on tiers of intervention, click here.

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Behavior and Discipline Briefs by Tier | Student Engagement Project | Nebraska

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sw-pbis - Training 4 - Acknowledgement Systems

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The fourth training will focus on developing and implementing acknowledgement systems to recognize and encourage students engaging in positive behavior. the acknowledgement system can also be extended to include the recognition of staff and adults. Goals of the acknowledgement system are to

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Tiers of intervention are a useful way of identifying the group of students that may benefit from a given intervention, from all students (tier 1), to students at-risk or showing signs of behavior difficulty (tier 2), to students with chronic or intense behavior needs (tier 3). While some strategies are specifically designed for a particular tier of intervention, many strategies can be adapted for implementation across more than one tier or target groups. Below are lists of strategies for improving student behavior and implementing effective discipline organized by their recommended tier(s) of intervention. For more information on tiers of intervention, click here.

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Behavior and Discipline Briefs by Tier | Student Engagement Project | Nebraska

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SWPBIS Core Features with Guiding Questions

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resource padlet for system development

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Creating Consequence Hierarchy and Prob Beh Response Process

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How Student Voice Fits Into Your District's MTSS

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Learn how student voice enhances your district's MTSS. Discover how integrating student perspectives can lead to more supportive learning environments.

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PBIS Team Session on Misbehavior Responses and Data

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How to Integrate PBIS & Restorative Practices: Doing it WITH People, Not TO them or FOR them

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PBISApps | Teach By Design—Including Student Voice in Your PBIS Implementation

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​Give students ownership over the way their school feels and center their voices in your school’s PBIS implementation.

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PBIS VIDEO: Create an Expected Behavior Matrix Chart

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Link to tools and other resources for implementing an early warning system to identify at risk students and develop interventions

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​In this episode of Expert Instruction: The Teach by Design Podcast, we continue the conversation we started in November about culturally responsive practices in PBIS implementation. We are joined by three experts to explore the role of including student, family, and community voices in your implementation.

Dr. Jennifer Rose is a psychologist with Loyola Community and Family Services, a mental health clinic providing services for children and families in the Chicagoland area. In her advocacy work, she supports children impacted by exclusionary disciplinary policies as well as students with Individual Education Plans (IEPs). As a nationally certified school psychologist and licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Rose has provided psychological services in diverse settings including traditional k-12 buildings, juvenile corrections, alternative schools, psychiatric hospitals, and community mental health.

Melaney Leverson is a nationally certified school psychologist and a regional technical assistance coordinator working with schools in Wisconsin to implement PBIS and culturally responsive practices. She has also collaborated with state teams looking to embed culturally responsive practices in their state-level framework.

Kent Smith is a school social worker with 22 years of experience. He works for the Wisconsin Response to Intervention and PBIS Network. Throughout Wisconsin, he trains and supports schools implementing culturally responsive practices.

During our conversation, we talked about why including student, family, and community voices in PBIS implementation matters. We discussed the need to create spaces where folks not only share their perspectives, but also gain agency and ownership in the systems we are building. The work of including more voices in your implementation will involve questioning why your school's systems and practices are in place and what would happen if they were different. This episode has a lot of food for thought and it's sure to linger in your mind long after you finish listening.

For more information about the resources mentioned, check out the following links:

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PBISApps | Expert Instruction Podcast-Ep. 5: Voice's Role in Implementation

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​In this episode of Expert Instruction, we're joined by three experts to explore the role of including students, family, and community voices in PBIS implementation.

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Oh yes! This creative idea is what you think. A Teacher vs. Student Beanboozled® Jelly Belly jelly bean challenge. Make this a public challenge for your classroom or challenge the pricinpal at an assembly.

Proceed with caution. Some of these flavors are out right disgusting!

Price: Inexpensive

Category: Privilege

Submitted by: Rachel Brooks (Moline, IL)

Students can participate in a canvas painting party.

See pictures from Rise Academy's canvas party on Twitter.

Price: $5 or More

Category: Privilege

Submitted by: Rise Academy, Covington, GA

Choose Video Conferencing Virtual Background

Student chooses the virtual background the teacher will use during video conferencing with the class

Price: Free

Category: Privilege

Students can enter into a monthly drawing/raffle to win a Door Dash lunch delivery.

In distance learning, this can be delivered to their home, instead of to them at the school.

Price: $5 or More

Category: Tangible

Submitted by: Esperanza Soria (Wrenn Middle School, TX)

A schoolwide PBIS celebration. Group student to match the number of rooms you have and have them work together to solve puzzles to find the next clue. Find all the clues in within the time limit to save the day.

Check on this post on Instagram.

Price: Inexpensive

Category: Privilege

Submitted by: Katie Ritchie, Oglesby Washington Jr. High (IL)

A game of "reality" Hungry Hungry Hippos. Students are rolled into the ball area to fetch and retrieve balloons with a laundry basket. Game(s) could be played tournament style or as a single.

Watch a video.

Price: Inexpensive

Category: Privilege

Submitted by: Donny Sikora, Warren Woods Middle School (MI)

Students enjoy a limo ride and lunch.

Check it out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSkPrLaBP_D/

Price: $5 or More

Category: Privilege

Submitted by: Madison Elementary School (Marshfield, WI)

Teachers can create personalized backgrounds for students based on the qualities they wish to recognize.

This is easy to do using Canva, a digital product/print creating platform that has a free upgrade for educators. Educators can use already created Zoom templates and individualize them to match the student.

Price: Free

Category: Recognition
Value:
Submitted by: Tiffany Garbiso (Santa Ana High School)

Student(s) can redeem this rewards and get a fun, silly, or energetic photo ( or video) with their friends that is shared by the teacher or school. This could even be shared via social media by the school, PBIS team, or teachers.

See example on Instagram

Price: Free

Category: Privilege
Value:
Submitted by: Mrs. Ashton, Rio Vista Elementary in Anaheim, CA

Spirit Week

Participate in a Spirit Day activity, i.e.:

Elementary:  Monday - Wear Pajamas, Tuesday - Crazy Hair, Wednesday - Crazy Socks, Thursday - Dress Like Your Teacher, Friday - Hat Day

Secondary: Monday - Wear Pajamas, Tuesday - Wear School Colors, Wednesday - Crazy Socks, Thursday - College Gear, Friday - Hat Day  Being on time for video lessons

Price: Free

Category: Privilege

Spoon Balancing Challenge

Students can challenge the teacher or other students with the spoon balancing challenge. Place the spoon on the bridge of your nose so that the handle is pointing down towards the floor and whoever can get the spoon to stay on their nose for the longest period of time wins!

In distance learning, this can be adjusted to be during a Zoom/Classroom video session.

Price: Free

Category: Privilege
Value:

Allow students add X test points for use on a future test of their choice.

Price: Free

Category: Privilege
Value:
Submitted by: Maria Price, Nimitz Sr High School, Houston, TX

Turkey Trot

Teachers dressed as turkeys run a race against the students. See the story and photos here.

Price: $5 or More

Category: Privilege

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PBIS Incentives for High School Students | PBIS Rewards

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Oh yes! This creative idea is what you think. A Teacher vs. Student Beanboozled® Jelly Belly jelly bean challenge. Make this a public challenge for your classroom or challenge the pricinpal at an assembly. Proceed with caution. Some of these flavors are out right disgusting!

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Princeton Middle School PBIS Behavior Chapter 1

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Late last month, I attended a teach-in focused on equity in education and anti-oppressive pedagogy. (Check out the link to the registration page for resources and recordings from the week-long event!) During Thursday's sessions, culturally responsive practices were the topic of discussion. The chat window on my Zoom screen was busy that night. Folks shared their own school's behavioral expectations, asked clarifying questions about PBIS implementation, and engaged in dialog around how existing practices may end up excluding some of our students. One comment stuck with me.

"Respect is an ambiguous term."

Every school creates its own set of school-wide expectations, but from the day I first learned about PBIS, there have been three expectations that come up time and time again: Respectful, Responsible, and Safe. On top of these expectations, there is a group of three unwanted behaviors that keep coming up as the ones contributing the most to inequitable discipline outcomes: defiance, disruption, and disrespect.[1]

Does this stir up some something for you? It stirred up something for me.

We expect all of our students to be respectful, and yet our Black students are the ones most often referred for disrespect.[2] Black students are not more disrespectful than White students, so to address these referral rates, we ought to look directly at the systems and practices we've established in our school. Either we haven't done a great job of defining what constitutes disrespectful behavior ( which is entirely possible) or our definition of respectful behavior doesn't match with the definitions found in our students' homes or in their community. We spend so much time talking about appropriate student behavior. When was the last time we stopped to address what appropriate means? Who was at the table when we decided which behaviors were expected and which were problematic?
Are you ready to dig into this? Let's start by defining what we mean when we say "appropriate".

Defining Appropriate

The Center on PBIS' Cultural Responsiveness Field Guide defines situationally appropriate behaviors as the kinds of behaviors that "will ensure positive outcomes in a given setting."[3] It goes on to say that expecting those behaviors might mean "altering one's behaviors when settings, contexts, or companions change." Essentially, if you're looking to be successful, there is generally a certain way you want to act. How I act with my friends at brunch versus how I act in a staff meeting are two very different sets of behaviors. I'm not showing up to brunch with a notebook and I'm not walking into a meeting with a mimosa.

Ok. Maybe that's an extreme example. Even subtle behavior differences can lead to big conflict depending on the setting. For example, when I'm comfortable around people and we're talking about something I'm excited about, I can get loud. I like a dynamic conversation. I use my hands. Sometimes, when someone else is talking, I'll start finishing their sentences to show them I'm listening and following their train of thought. What I think of as appropriate behavior to show someone I'm engaged, someone else might say I'm interrupting. They might even call my behavior disrespectful.

Over time, I've learned when, where, and with whom those effervescent conversations work. The same is true for the way you and your students behave at school. There are certain behaviors that make you more successful as an educator and certain behaviors that make students more successful in class. In PBIS, these positive behaviors align with your school-wide expectations. Ideally, your school-wide expectations and the appropriate behaviors you define match with your students' own expectations and definitions. What happens when they're different?

"I respect the rules you make for your children at home. I promise not to interfere with those, but I need some help." Those two simple sentences affirmed the importance of family rules, and invited families to help her find some common ground.

The Mama Rule

Rita Pierson knows all about the rules students follow in their personal lives and the way those rules sometimes don't match with the school's rules. The mismatch often landed students in her office - the principal's office. As she talked with students about what happened, as she tried to understand, their explanations sometimes started with, "Well, my mama said..." At that point she'd listen closely because they were about to share a hidden rule - the Mama Rule.

A mama rule is a rule that overrides nearly every other rule. It's a rule engraved in stone. Whenever she heard a mama rule as an explanation for breaking a school rule, she knew she needed to make a call home. In that call, Rita would always say, "I respect the rules you make for your children at home. I promise not to interfere with those, but I need some help." Those two simple sentences affirmed the importance of family rules, and invited families to help her find some common ground. What strikes me about Rita's method in particular is: She didn't jump to teaching her students how to dismiss their families' rules when they're at school. Instead, she asked them to help her make room for a second set of rules, a set that would align more closely with the rules they have at home.

There's a strategy in PBIS that works just like Rita's invitation. It's called the Personal Matrix, or Behavior Dictionary, and it's one way to make those mama rules not so hidden.

The Behavior Dictionary

You won't know where the mismatches are between your school's expectations and those from your students' outside world unless you ask. The Behavior Dictionary can be your ice breaker. Create a table with your school's expectations listed down the far left-hand column. Across the header row, label three columns: At school it looks like, At home it looks like, In my neighborhood it looks like. ​

The purpose of filling out this table is for everyone to check their own knowledge and understand where there might be gaps between home and school. Once it's completed, the Behavior Dictionary becomes an outline for figuring out where some additional instruction might be needed. It also serves as a brilliant way of finding overlap between these spaces.

But, wait! There's more!

In a recent study, researchers found classrooms that completed the behavior dictionary saw an increase in respectful behavior, a decrease in disruptive behavior, and overall, teachers and students felt like the matrix was a good way to get everyone on the same page.[4]

Are you ready to create your own Behavior Dictionary? Here's what you need to do.

Give It Purpose

Before diving into how these expectations play out in their lives, it's good to start at the very beginning. The first question you should have for your students is: Why? Why do we have school-wide expectations anyway? The goal is to get them thinking about the benefit of establishing ground rules. Talk about how different places have different rules. Think about how you learned about the rules in different places, sometimes by accident, and how much easier it might have been if those rules had been spelled out for you ahead of time.

Make It Local

It's time to talk about the expectations at school. During the discussion, you could have that first column already filled out, or you could fill it out as you talk through the expectations. The goal here is to review the expectations at school. Get specific about what you hope to see from them. You might even talk about the expectations you have for yourself as a teacher and how those fit into this column.

Make It Personal

Now, it's your students' turn to talk about how these expectations come up in their homes and in their communities. How do their friends show each other respect? What would they say if you asked them what respecting their parents looks like? How about respecting their neighborhood? What keeps them safe when they're not in school? Which responsibilities do they take on in their families? In their jobs? In their homes? Remind your students that they all come from different places and that it's important to you and to the community you're all trying to create in your classroom that everyone's expression of these expectations is valued. Make sure they write them down on their own sheet of paper, or you can write them down as students shout out their answers.

A filled out Behavior Dictionary might look like this:

Make It Collective

Take a step back and look at the table you created. Where do you see the similarities? Where is there a big discrepancy? Can we find ways to close the gap between a school expectation and an expectation from your home or your neighborhood? Remember, the goal is not to force students to assimilate to your school's culture. Rather, in this step you're asking for their help the same way Rita asked her students' families. In the places where there is a mismatch, go back to that definition of situational appropriateness and ask yourself, "Do the school rules ensure positive outcomes in a way that your students' definition does not?" If the answer is no, that's a school-level behavior you can expand to include your students' definition. If the answer is yes, everyone knows this is the place where you're asking students to take on a second set of rules.

Make It Theirs

Something not included in the instructions for this activity is redefining expectations using your students' language. This idea comes from Dr. Christopher Emdin's book, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood...and the Rest of Y'all Too[5] in his chapter called Code Switching. He encourages us to privilege our students' language in the classroom as a way to "recognize that there are different worlds, each with their own language codes, that students need to navigate across and between." The example he gives is a chart highlighting an English word and providing a scientific and slang alternative for that word.

So, when students described what happened to a leaf during photosynthesis, they could say, "The sun gets lyte and blings on the whole joint" and that is considered equally as valid as if they said "The light shines on the whole leaf." Asking students to restate the expected behavior in their own words has the effect of:

Validating their language in an academic space

Making the expectation relevant

Imprinting the expectation in their mind as a review

The way you define subjective terms like "respect" and "disrespect" establishes some of the cultural norms in your school. Depending on who is at the table when you define those terms, the norms may not reflect the cultural diversity represented in your building. If it's been a while since you evaluated your expectations and the behaviors you defined as appropriate, it might be a good time to do it now. Creating a behavior dictionary helps students understand the purpose behind your expectations and it gets them familiar with how you might ask them to behave differently than they would at home or in their neighborhood. Maybe more importantly, the behavior dictionary you create helps you get to know your students and it points out the places where you can make space to include their cultural definitions of appropriate behavior

1. Girvan, E., Gion, C., McIntosh, K., & Smolkowski, K. (2017). The relative contribution of subjective office referrals to racial disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Quarterly, 32(3), 392-404. doi: 10.1037/spq0000178

2. Forsyth, C., Biggar, R., Forsyth, Y., & Howat, H. (2014). The Punishment Gap: Racial/Ethnic Comparisons in School Infractions by Objective and Subjective Definitions. Deviant Behavior, 36(4), 276-287. doi: 10.1080/01639625.2014.935623

3. Leverson, M., Smith, K., McIntosh, K., Rose, J., & Pinkelman, S. (2019). PBIS Cultural Responsiveness Field Guide: Resources for trainers and coaches. OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. www.pbis.org.

4. Muldrew, A., & Miller, F. (2020). Examining the effects of the personal matrix activity with diverse students. Psychology In The Schools, 58(3), 515-533. doi: 10.1002/pits.22461

5. Emdin, C. (2016). For white folks who teach in the hood - and the rest of y'all too. Boston: Beacon Press Books.

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PBISApps | Teach By Design-Respect: Find Out What It Means to Me... Actually Ask Your Students

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What's your definition of respectful behavior? How would your students define it? Get on the same page by creating something called a behavior dictionary.

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Tier II (Secondary)

Based on the public health model, a key component of the PBIS Framework is offering a continuum of support and services to help students succeed behaviorally and academically. Some students will respond to the Tier 1 level of support but will still exhibit some specific difficulties. These students may be demonstrating academic and/or behavioral deficits that will require more intensive supports. It is estimated about 10-15 percent of students will need additional supports beyond, yet in combination with, Tier I-level (Universal) interventions.

Tier II interventions are direct interventions implemented in a standardized approach, meaning key features of the intervention look similar across all children receiving the intervention. Since Tier II interventions are standardized, there should be continuous availability, which allows for quick access to the intervention. These interventions are geared toward skill development and/or increasing protective factors for students and their families. Examples of Tier II interventions include, but are not limited to, Check-In and Check-Out programs and skill development groups.

Tier II interventions typically occur after an identified concern generates a referral from the parent(s), teacher(s) or counselor(s) or when a universal screening measure identifies a student or group of students at potential risk. Risk factors do not necessarily indicate poor outcomes, but rather refer to statistical predictors that suggest barriers to learning. Examples of risk factors may include loss of a parent or loved one, frequent moves resulting in multiple school placements or exposure to violence and trauma.

Tier III (Tertiary)

Tier III interventions are intensive, individualized interventions for students exhibiting severe or persistent behavioral challenges who have not responded to prior supports at the Tier I or Tier II levels. Typical Tier III interventions involve in-depth, individual behavior analysis and behavior intervention planning. Examples of Tier III interventions include, but are not limited to, creation of the Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavioral Intervention Plan and linkage with community mental health agencies and/or wraparound support.

Tier II and Tier III Resources

Motivation and Engagement PBIS

Motivation and Engagement PBIS is an expanded PBIS framework that integrates PBIS systems and practices with developmentally appropriate strategies to support student motivation and engagement. Motivation and Engagement PBIS involves many elements, and all of the elements are tied to the instructional practices and positive expectations that characterize PBIS. Some of the main elements of include:

Adoption of motivation or engagement focused expectations for the school.

Brief but regular (at least weekly) activities that challenge students to make mindful choices in support of responsible self-improvement.

Teaching students the tools and processes they need to take more ownership of their own motivation.

Promotion of strategies for adults to maintain their personal motivation and thereby be better instructors of such for others.

Adoption of a multi-tiered system to support students with these efforts, where ever they may be beginning.

Promotion of a motivated and positive school culture.

Why is Motivation and Engagement PBIS Important?

Promoting student motivation and engagement facilitates all basic forms of student learning, whether academic, behavioral, or social. Improving the efficiency of how students learn is highly valuable to both the educators and those who are learning. Although educators regularly use strategies in an effort to engage students, these strategies may not always instill a sense of personal responsibility for self-improvement. Current efforts to motivate and engage students rely heavily upon stimulating lesson plans and external rewards. These efforts are very important but not sufficient to foster a lifelong value of achievement and resilience.

Students come to Ohio schools from a wide range of settings and backgrounds. While respectful of all personal and cultural backgrounds, ME-PBIS strategies help students focus upon choices that promote academic success and social competence.

Interconnected Systems Framework: PBIS and Mental Health

The Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) builds upon Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports to include School Mental Health programs and services to promote prevention and intervention within multi-tiered systems of support. The Interconnected Systems Framework is an emerging approach for building a single system to address mental health and social-emotional well-being in schools. The Interconnected Systems Framework uses MTSS core features to ensure mental health is embedded in all aspects of the learning environment.

PBIS and mental Health Resources

Additional Links

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Based on the public health model, a key component of the PBIS Framework is offering a continuum of support and services to help students succeed behaviorally and academically. Some students will respond to the Tier 1 level of support but will still exhibit some specific difficulties.

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A Snapshot of the PBiS 4:1 Ratio In a Middle School Classroom

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A Snapshot of the PBiS 4:1 Ratio In a High School Classroom