PBIS

We think of family as the people in a child’s life with a vested interest in their well-being and educational success. Family, school, and community members are critical partners in developing an effective and responsive support system where all benefit. However, authentic partnerships continue to be a challenging reality for educators and families alike; schools must be creative in their efforts to reach out to and engage with their stakeholders so that positive, trusting relationships serve as the foundation of ongoing collaboration and problem-solving.

What Is the Family Role in PBIS?

Including families in PBIS implementation means families and school personnel work together and share in the responsibility making educational decisions and improving student outcomes.

Through effective family engagement, families and schools work together to create the conditions and practices which allow for ongoing collaboration, coordination and partnerships.

• Set routines: Create a daily routine at home with times for learning, exercise, and play.

• Set home expectations: Adapt your school’s behavioral expectations for the behaviors you want to see at home.

• Teach, remind, reward expected behaviors with positive feedback: Try anticipating tough situations and remind kids about the expectations. When you see them doing those things, let the know you noticed by telling them something positive.

• Correct unwanted behaviors: Provide quick corrections or re-directions when someone makes an error.

• Share facts about the current state of affairs: Talk about what’s happening in the world and how your family responds to stay healthy and safe.

• Communicate with schools for instructional guidance: Find out how schools will provide on-line or virtual learning opportunities for their students and learn how to access it.  

• Be creative: Find ways to embed learning in your regular day and create space to connect with friends and family virtually.

• Model and Promote Emotional Wellness: Your responses in stressful situations teach your student how to cope during stressful situations.

To apply Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) at home for a middle schooler, establish 3-5 clear, positive behavioral expectations for the home and discuss what they look like in action. Implement a system to recognize and reward positive behaviors with things your child finds meaningful. Maintain consistency, model the desired behaviors, have family meetings to discuss goals and expectations, and communicate with the school to create a united support system for your child's success. 

1. Set Clear, Positive Expectations

• Create a Short List: Develop 3 to 5 positively worded, household-wide expectations. 

• Define Expectations: Discuss and explain what these expectations look like, sound like, and feel like in your home. For example, "Show Respect" could mean using a polite tone of voice. 

• Family Meetings: Hold a family meeting to present the expectations and even get input from your child. 

2. Implement a Recognition & Reinforcement System

• Positive Reinforcement:
  Consistently praise and acknowledge when your child meets the expectations. 

• Meaningful Rewards:
  Work with your child to identify rewards they find motivating, such as extra screen time, a special outing, or choosing a game for family game night. 

• Visual Tracking:
  Consider a sticker chart for tracking chores or behavior to earn a reward, says Grand Valley State University. 

• Set Goals:
  Work together to establish a bigger picture goal for the family or household to work toward, according to PBIS Rewards. 

3. Foster Consistency & Modeling 

• Be Consistent: Consistently reinforce expectations and follow through with rewards and consequences.

• Model Behavior: Act as a role model by demonstrating the behaviors you expect from your child.

• Stay Calm: Communicate with a calm, positive approach to encourage better outcomes.

4. Connect with the School

• Communicate:
  Keep in touch with your child's teachers and discuss their school-life accomplishments. 

• Partner Together:
  Work with the school to support your child's behavioral, social, emotional, and academic growth. 

• Connect Home and School:
  Discuss your school's PBIS motto and expectations to help your child see how they connect to everyday life at home. 

DARTMOUTH: We strive to SOAR:
S - Safety
O - Ownership
A - Acceptance
R - Respect

Why Include Families in PBIS?

Interventions connecting families and schools are essential to valued youth behavioral and mental health outcomes.[1]Including families’ perspectives, values and voices within the development and implementation of your PBIS system makes your school responsive to the needs of students and families. Intentional efforts to engage and partner with families shows they are valued as equal partners in the work of educating students. Asking families their preferences for how they want to communicate and collaborate with educators ensures a better use of limited resources.

Foundational Elements of Families in PBIS

The basic elements of partnering with families include:

• Building positive relationships

• Engaging in two-way communication

• Ensuring equitable family representation

• Making meaningful data-driven decisions

Positive Relationships

Relationships between educators and families are characteristically positive. Recognizing families' needs and cultural differences leads to greater understanding and respect among all involved. Schools make proactive efforts to build and maintain positive, trusting relationships with families such as collecting data on the perceptions of the home-school relationships.

Multiple Forms of Two-Way Meaningful Communication

Schools utilize student data as well as input from educators and families to design systems to support on-going, two-way communication with their families. Providing multiple avenues for families to receive and provide information regularly allows an opportunity for their needs and preferences to be identified and for the school to respond accordingly.

Equity, Access and Family Representation

Schools make intentional efforts to obtain input and diverse perspectives from families proportional to enrollment. School teams have a protocol for reviewing the effectiveness of their efforts to obtain family input and make adjustments to PBIS implementation as needed. Educators employ effective strategies to support families’ knowledge, skills and efficacy for supporting student learning which results in empowered families who serve as leaders, advocates, supporters, and partners in student learning. It is important for the school to cultivate social connections and networks among their families to support information-sharing and access to resources.

Meaningful Decision-Making

The school provides a diverse range of opportunities for families to make shared decisions about PBIS systems and practices. Families of children receiving Tier 2 and 3 supports are effectively engaged in all decisions related to support for their child.