Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Jose Otaola

Abstract

School staff was concerned that disruptive student behaviors at an urban, middle school in central Ohio had continued even with positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) implementation and professional development (PD) for more than 4 years. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' perspectives of school training on the implementation of the PBIS system. Skinner's reinforcement theory and Bandura's social learning theory served as the conceptual frameworks for this study. Specifically, this study explored the training of teachers using the PBIS framework in diminishing students' negative behaviors. This study used triangulated data from interviews, observations, and document analysis. Of the 13 study participants, 7 participated in both interviews and observations. The remaining 6 participants were split evenly with 3 participating in the interviews and 3 in the observations for a total of 10 participants in each data source. The findings revealed the following: PBIS was not given full administrative support; PBIS did not have full funding for an effective implementation, and embedded continuous professional development was added to the PBIS program for all staff. Based on 1 of the findings, quarterly professional development programs led by the school leader were developed to address the inconsistent implementation of PBIS and the ongoing professional development that was needed. Effectively implementing PBIS should increase positive behaviors of students. As such, there are implications for social change in the quality of the school environment; change in school rating that results in more attractive neighborhoods; and increase academic achievement due to more instructional time on task.

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