Teachers and staff from Osseo Area Schools gathered to celebrate and share the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) techniques they used this school year. Teams from elementary, middle and high schools presented the goals they set at the beginning of the year and how they accomplished them. They also took time to connect and collaborate on their site improvement plans.
PBIS is a framework used in Osseo Area Schools to approach behavioral intervention. Instead of reactionary discipline, PBIS encourages educators to teach behavioral expectations the same way they teach academic subjects: by enforcing positive behaviors with evidence-based practices.
Park Center Senior High School has a BARR program with 48 students, aiming to highlight the strength of the students while monitoring student grades, attendance and observations. The team aims to help a wide variety of students succeed in and out of the classroom, focusing on individual interventions, community building and highlighting student accomplishments with a BARR student of the week.
“We wanted to make sure we support students not just academically, but socially and emotionally,” Paris Kyles, student management specialist and member of the Park Center PBIS team, said.
At the Osseo Education Center, the PBIS team evaluated and updated the Behavior Decision Flow Chart and multi-tiered systems of supports, and figured out how to address needs in an ages 17-21 special education program. The team planned various events and activities, including a polar plunge. They laid out their future work: expanding transition services and focusing on staff demographic representation to match the scholar population.
At Brooklyn Middle: A STEAM School, the PBIS team utilized Bulldog Way tickets to improve the relationship between students and staff, hoping to decrease the percentage of repeat referrals. The team outlined that their main goal was making sure every student felt valued and heard.
The PBIS team at Maple Grove Middle School is bigger this year after decreasing during the pandemic. This year, the team focused on getting the students reacclimated to being in the building. They helped to maximize student success with their trimester expectation reminders, Mustang Pride tickets, Mustang Mart and student led conferences.
This was the first year of implementation for the 279Online PBIS team. They plan to create a school community and make their students aware of DEN school expectations based on grade levels. They focused on staff and scholar shoutouts, end of trimester spirit weeks, pep fests and events, such as their recent pie challenge that they live streamed.
At Birch Grove Elementary School, the PBIS team set out to reduce the number of students classified as “at-risk.” The team focused on school-wide rewards, like the school store, to strengthen the PBIS program.
PBIS programs support the success of all students in the district, teaching behavioral expectations in the same way academic subjects are taught and providing support in and out of the classroom.
“It is focusing on how we go about teaching the skills that our students need, and how do we teach the strategy and skills within our staff. Every plan presented here has had elements of these things,” Superintendent Cory McIntrye said.