Another Thing Positively Happening at St. Francis High School
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a systems approach to preventing and responding to classroom and school discipline problems, is a program already underway at St. Francis High School (SFHS). The school started to implement the program and process at the start of the 2012-2013 school year. The staff went through some extensive training to put PBIS into the school.
The goal of PBIS is to reduce behavioral problems using a positive approach in order to create and maintain safe learning environments where teachers can teach and students can learn. When the school year begins each year, SFHS students will be taught what is considered proper behavior in the classroom, hallways and bathrooms, the library, cafeteria, computer labs, at sporting events, and other areas in and around the school.
St. Francis High School uses a school-wide information system (SWIS), which offers a data-based monitoring tool to track and provide reports on student behavior. SWIS will help the PBIS team determine where most discipline problems are and then the PBIS team, staff, and students can work together to improve the environment.
Teachers and staff will use a referral system where they will handle minor behavioral problems while major issues are referred to the office. We believe PBIS will help address minor behavior problems before they become major ones.
To focus and encourage good, positive behavior, a “Mariner Merit” acknowledgement program has been established with students earning a merit, which makes them eligible for rewards that include free movie tickets to Marcus Cinemas, school spiritwear, water bottles, gift cards to local fast food establishments, school yearbooks, parking privileges, keychains, and more. Students can also accumulate merits and use them to make purchases in the school store.
The PBIS program establishes a clear set of expectations and a common language for students and teachers at the high school. Deer Creek Intermediate School and Willow Glen Elementary School in St. Francis are also highly engaged in this work and have implemented similar systems with very positive results.
School-wide expectations are based on the Mariner Way and we have the Mariner MAP, which asks students to be motivated, be accountable, and show pride. Teachers in each homeroom (or PORT) provide periodic lessons to students (their crew members) that focus on specific targeted behavioral outcomes.
St. Francis High School has already seen a huge reduction in negative student behaviors including a dramatic drop in out-of-school and in-school suspensions. Students are responding to PBIS and are positively growing in developing personal attributes or characteristics that will help them become more successful in the future.
The Wisconsin PBIS Network (www.wisconsinpbisnetwork.org) is a collaborative project between Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the 12 CESAs to provide high quality PBIS professional development and technical assistance regionally throughout Wisconsin. The PBIS model has been successfully implemented in thousands of schools in over 40 states, resulting in dramatic reductions in disciplinary interventions and increases in academic achievement.
For more information on PBIS in Wisconsin, please visit the Wisconsin PBIS Network at www.wisconsinpbisnetwork.org.
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