Sustained Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Implementation: Exploring Leadership Practices

• Main Author: Scaletta, Michael J
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2019
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Educational administration; Educational Change; Educational Environment; Educational Facilities Improvement; Educational Research; Elementary education; Fidelity; Individualized Instruction; Instructional Leadership; Outcomes of Education; Skill Development; Special education; Student Behavior
• ISBN: 9798643171447

School administrators are tasked with ensuring school-wide safety and the adoption of practices and programs that promote student success (Moreno & Scaletta, 2018; Smith & Piele, 2006). Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is a proactive, school-wide approach for teaching, maintaining, and addressing student behavior through a three-tiered system or framework which sets the stage for enhanced opportunities for student academic growth (Simosen, Jeffrey-Pearsall, Sugai, & McCurdy, 2011). The purpose of the study was to investigate the inherent leadership practices that school administrators and leadership teams utilize to promote effective, successful, and sustainable school-wide PBIS. The study will explore three research questions: (a) What practices and processes do administrators and leadership teams of elementary schools that successfully implement PBIS utilize to facilitate the implementation of a PBIS framework to address the social/emotional wellbeing of students and setting the stage for learning? (b) What challenges do elementary school administrators and leadership teams report encountering while establishing and sustaining a successful PBIS framework and how do they adjust for said challenges? and (c) How do elementary school administrators and leadership teams describe the impact of successfully implementing a PBIS framework at their schools? Participants in the study included school administrators (n=6) from five elementary schools that were awarded platinum recognition for their high-quality PBIS implementation. The study also included members (n=18) of the school-wide PBIS leadership teams from each of the participating administrators’ schools. School administrators participated in an in-person interview and completed an electronic survey. The interviews provided insight as to the reflective thoughts that administrators had regarding their practices at the time when they were attempting a school-wide PBIS implementation. School leadership team members participated in a focus group interview (n=5) and completed the electronic survey. The focus groups were used to further explore the ways in which the team promoted the success of PBIS and positioned themselves in a way that enhanced the approach resulting in a high-quality implementation. The electronic surveys consisted of items that allowed for further insight into the types of practices that school administrators as well as the school-wide leadership teams relied on as they worked to facilitate a successful PBIS implementation at their schools. The data was analyzed through a side-by-side analysis exploring both quantitative and qualitative data allowing the researcher to better identify and understand common themes that emerged while allowing for a better understanding of the ways that school leaders carried out a high-quality school-wide PBIS implementation. Results from the administrators and leadership teams revealed that their successful school-wide PBIS framework implementation was promoted by establishing a distributed leadership approach that leveraged teachers as leaders while shaping their buildings’ systems of practices and processes, providing training and professional development to staff, establishing buy-in by stakeholders, and engaging families in their PBIS efforts. Participants noted that barriers or challenges were faced along the way including moving too quickly, inconsistencies in their developed practices, and not having an established plan for engaging families in the process. Overtime, however, the schools established a comprehensive school-wide PBIS framework implementation that was authentic to their school and reduced student behavior issues by defining school-wide expectations and maintaining authentic systems for implementation. This study adds to the literature as a resource for schools currently implementing PBIS as well as school administrators or leadership teams who are working to begin their initial implementation endeavors.