Alabama's Partnership for Research and Training on Positive Academic and Behavior Supports (AL PaBS)
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A main focus of this partnership is to enhance the capacity of schools and districts to design effective learning environments that improve the fit or link between evidence-based practices and the environments in which teaching and learning occurs. Training and technical assistance activities initially revolve around implementing and evaluating School-wide Positive Behavior Support (SW-PBS) systems. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining school environments that make problem behavior less effective, efficient and relevant, and desired behavior more functional. PBS has been found to be an effective method for increasing school safety, enhancing students' social-behavioral skills, and creating a more positive school climate.
To date, approximately 280 public schools across 29 school districts have received initial training in SW-PBS. The training has been conducted by the Alabama PBS Network Staff at the Alabama State Department of Education and has been funded through the State Improvement Grant. However, it has been realized that the need and interest for training and technical assistance from individual schools and districts throughout Alabama outnumbers the resources of the Alabama PBS staff. Therefore, Auburn University's College of Education has partnered with the Alabama State Department of Education to expand the dissemination of training and technical assistance on Positive Academic and Behavior Supports in Alabama's K-12 public school systems.
Specific goals of the AL PaBS are:
- to increase the implementation fidelity/integrity of SW-PBS features as measured by a variety of research-validated assessment tools;
- to improve overall PBS team functioning and effectiveness;
- to decrease the rate of discipline problems/events and the rate of suspensions, expulsions and other exclusionary-type disciplinary consequences
- to improve teacher/staff satisfaction as a result of increased coaching and technical assistance support; and
- to increase the percentage of students meeting state standards in measured academic achievement areas including math, reading and writing.
Partnership staff will work directly with district and school leadership teams to lead and increase the working capacity of the system in four primary areas including training capacity, coaching capacity, evaluation capacity, and coordination capacity. Training topics include:
- establishing a foundation for collaboration and operation
- identifying problems through data
- basic behavioral principles
- evaluating and developing a coherent office discipline referral process
- identifying and teaching school-wide expectations and rules
- developing effective consequences
- developing a system for rewarding/acknowledging positive behavior
- developing lesson plans to teach student expectations
- developing wrap-around systems (parents, families, community agencies)
- evaluating the progress of PBS efforts at all levels/tiers (individual, classroom, targeted group, school-wide)
For more information about the Partnership or to find out how to request assistance from project staff, please contact:
AL PaBS Technical Assistance Specialist
Office: 334.844.8574
Fax: 334.844.7677 |
Project Director
Auburn University Dept. of Special Education, Rehabilitation, Counseling/School Psychology
Office: 334.844.2109 |
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