PBIS

In the State College Area School District, we teach students to demonstrate expected behaviors in order to foster and maintain a welcoming, safe, supportive, and fun school environment for all students, families, faculty, and staff.  Students are intentionally taught how to engage in various spaces and activities and opportunities for recognition, reinforcement, and reteaching takes place as needed. PBIS efforts are led at each building by teams and, at the district level, by a district leadership team.

PBIS is a proactive approach to behavior management on a school-wide level for creating and sustaining safe and effective schools. PBIS places emphasis on prevention of problem behavior, development of prosocial skills, and the use of data-based problem solving for addressing existing behavior concerns. 

PBIS methods are evidence-based and research shows that PBIS: 

• Addresses the behavioral needs of all students with proven, easy to implement strategies.
• Allows the school to create the “right fit” for them, so that practices are appropriate to the context and sustainable over time.
• Is doable and does not have to overwhelm staff given the limited time and resources that schools generally experience.
• Is affordable.
• Helps to create a positive school climate.
• Improves student outcomes, such as increases in academic achievement, student engagement, prosocial behaviors, attendance, and emotional regulation, as well as decreases in bullying, substance use, and office disciplinary issues.
• Results in increased time for instruction and fewer disciplinary incidents.

One of the keys is to focus on prevention. It is based on the idea that when students are taught clearly defined behavioral expectations and provided with predictable responses to their behavior, both positive and corrective, 80-90% of students will meet these expectations. The 10-20% of the students not responding to universal interventions will receive additional support through group and individual interventions.

Another key element is an analysis of discipline referral data. This data-based approach allows PBIS Teams to identify problem areas, brainstorm interventions, acknowledge students exhibiting positive behavior, and communicate the findings to staff and students.

The key components of an effective SWPBIS system involve:

• Clearly defining and teaching a set of behavioral expectations
• Consistently acknowledging and rewarding appropriate behavior
• Constructively addressing problem behavior
• Effectively using behavioral data to assess progress

Elementary

During the 2024-2025 School Year, the district will be rolling out a new Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program across all eight elementary schools.  This new program will focus on STAR behaviors as we teach students to show kindness, take responsibility, act safely, and be ready to learn.  This alignment across all schools will help to ensure that all K-5 students are learning the same expected behaviors and will be coupled with ongoing improvements and professional development for faculty and staff.

Elementary Student Expected Behaviors Matrix

Middle School

At the middle level, we call our School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program ROAR which stands for Respect, Organization, Attitude, and Responsibility.  The students start the year with lessons on behavioral expectations in all school settings, as well as community building activities. Students also participate in social-emotional learning lessons utilizing the Character Strong curriculum. Lessons on resilience, social skills, emotional regulation, goal-setting, anti-bullying, and safety are taught once per six-day cycle throughout the year during AREA (period 9).  Students can earn “ROAR Bucks” from staff members throughout the school year for exhibiting ROAR expectations and positive behaviors. The students can use these tickets to enter weekly raffle drawings, purchase items from the ROAR store, or to participate in whole-school quarterly incentives. In addition, each marking period, students from each team who exemplify the ROAR expectations are chosen and recognized at grade level assemblies.  

Middle Level Student Expected Behaviors Matrix

High School

At the State College Area High School, our student-generated School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports program’s motto is “Represent SC: yourself and our community. Respect it. Own it. Advocate for it.” This play on “SC” was cleverly designed by our staff and student PBIS team to represent both the individual “self” and how we all contribute to our “community.” We hold high expectations of ourselves and all who represent State College. Each year, data and feedback help to build responsive lessons focusing on the best practices for staff and students to explicitly discuss, teach, and learn respectful behaviors. These behaviors proactively help to eliminate issues that can arise due to frustration or poor communication. Our PBIS team plans quarterly school-wide celebrations to promote student achievement. We focus on celebrating the good in all. Students attend full class meetings where our administrative team shares academic and behavioral expectations, district policies concerning bullying and harassment, proper reporting tool use, and resources on ways students can get connected. Throughout the year there are multiple opportunities designed for our entire staff and student body to recognize one another in meaningful ways. We are proud to be a Jostens Renaissance School of Distinction Platinum winner for our programs dedicated to building a positive culture and climate. 

High School Student Expected Behaviors Matrix