What is PBIS?

What is “Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports?

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports is a prevention framework for establishing and sustaining effective school-wide and individual behavior supports needed to enhance academic, social, and behavioral outcomes for all students.

What is the “Prevention Logic?”

The PBIS framework is based on a three-tiered prevention logic that has been promoted by the public health community (see following figure).

• Tier 1 or primary prevention practices are established in all classroom and school-wide settings to (a) teach and encourage expected behavior, (b) prevent problem behavior, and (c) most importantly, maximize academic achievement. Tier 1 practices are implemented for all students by all staff across all settings.
• Tier 2 or secondary prevention practices supplement Tier 1 to provide further behavior supports for students whose behaviors are at risk of failure and/or are unresponsive to Tier 1 practices. Tier 2 practices are implemented across small groups of students, usually across all school settings and by staff members who are responsible for teaching these students.
• Tier 3 or tertiary prevention practices are implemented for students who behaviors are high risk of failure and/or unresponsive to Tiers 1 and 2. Tier 3 practices are highly specialized and implemented at the individual student level by a team with behavior expertise.