ELMS Achieves PBIS Exemplar Status

This summer, the ELMS PBIS committee received an Exemplar Award on behalf of our students, staff and parents for doing an outstanding job implementing a schoolwide, systems approach to teaching and rewarding positive student behaviors with documented results.

What is PBIS?

As stated on the Maryland PBIS website (http://www.pbismaryland.org/), PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) is a process for creating safer and more effective schools. PBIS is a systems approach to enhancing the capacity of schools to educate all children by developing research-based, school wide, and classroom discipline systems. The process focuses on improving a school’s ability to teach and support positive behavior for all students.

At ELMS, our team is made up of a large cross-section of the staff in our building. Members of the team include the Assistant Principal, the Alternative Education Coordinator (who also serves as the PBIS Coach in the building), the School Psychologist, the Math Instructional Support Teacher, and a representative from each grade level team as well as a representative from the related arts team. We are a strong team because of our vision and dedication to the implementation of the PBIS ideologies in our building.

ELMS uses the following schoolwide expectations for student behavior:

Prepared
Responsible
Respectful
Safe

Our staff’s goal is to have at least six positive interactions with each student for every negative interaction. One way we try to achieve this goal is by using STAR cards.

When students display the ELMS expected behaviors, they can earn STAR Cards from any staff member including teachers, bus drivers, secretaries, para-professionals, substitute teachers and administrators. Star Cards can be used to earn incentives in each classroom, to purchase items at our school store and during our quarterly socials. In addition, a copy of each completed STAR card is placed in a bin for a chance to win prizes during our monthly drawings.

Since 2001, we have reduced office referrals from nearly 1000 to 257 in 2007/2008.

What have you found works at your school?