Behavior

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Pennsylvania’s Chapter 14 Special Education Regulations emphasize that student behavior should not interfere with learning. School districts are responsible for providing safe learning environments to protect the rights of students. Discipline efforts must be focused on designing and implementing a positive and proactive school-wide behavior support system for all students, effective instruction/class-wide management systems, and intensive individualized approaches for students with chronic behavioral difficulties.

In line with this, Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is an evidence-based, cost-effective, systems approach for establishing the social culture needed for schools to be effective learning environments for all students. PBS helps schools teach students expected behaviors/social skills, provides supports for behavioral health and academics, and emphasizes data-based decision-making. PBS uses the three-tiered approach of universal interventions (for all students and settings), secondary interventions (for students who are at-risk), and tertiary interventions (for individual students needing specialized assistance).

The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is a universal intervention for the reduction and prevention of problems associated with the act of bullying. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is designed for students in elementary, middle, and junior high schools (students ages 5–15 years old). Research has shown that the OBPP is also effective in high schools, with some program adaptation. Support for schools that are implementing OBPP is available by our OBPP trainer consultants.