Relationship Between School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and Academic, Attendance, and Behavior Outcomes in High Schools

Abstract

Attendance, behavior, and academic outcomes are important indicators of school effectiveness and long-term student outcomes. Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), such as School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS), have emerged as potentially effective frameworks for addressing student needs and improving student outcomes. Much of the research on SWPBIS outcomes has taken place at the elementary and middle school levels, leaving a need for a more thorough examination of outcomes at the high school level. The purpose of this study was to explore the links between implementation of SWPBIS and academic, attendance, and behavior outcome measures across a large sample of high schools from 37 states. Despite some of the difficulties of SWPBIS implementation at the high school level, evidence suggests positive relationships between SWPBIS implementation and outcomes in behavior and attendance for high schools that implement with fidelity.

Impacts of school‐wide positive behaviour support: Results from National Longitudinal Register Data

“…Experimental studies have not found any effect of SWPBS on academic achievement (Benner et al, ; Bradshaw et al, ; Horner et al, ), while quasi‐experiments have reported mixed effects (Caldarella, Shatzer, Gray, Young, & Young, ; Freeman et al, ; Gage et al, ; Gage, Leite, Childs, & Kincaid, ; Lane, Wehby, Robertson, & Rogers, ; Madigan et al, ). However, small sample sizes and a short research period (Madigan et al, ) limit the validity of the outcomes.…”

“…There has been growing concerns regarding bullying, and positive school‐wide prevention efforts such as SWPBS has been suggested as an effective intervention to reduce bullying (Waasdorp et al, ). Academic outcomes are, together with behaviour and attendance, important indicators of school effectiveness (Freeman et al, ).…”

Longitudinal disciplinary and achievement outcomes associated with school‐wide PBIS implementation level

“…Still, there have been some studies that evaluated data over time that did not find significant positive relationships between SWPBIS and academic outcomes (e.g., Caldarella, Shatzer, Gray, Young, & Young, ; Freeman et al, ). However, some of these studies did not comprehensively consider implementation fidelity, which refers to the degree to which the core features of SWPBIS are implemented exactly as they are designed and intended.…”

“…This is problematic considering the research that has found positive associations between implementation fidelity and positive academic and behavioral student outcomes (Marin & Filce, ; Pas & Bradshaw, ; Simonsen et al, ). Some of the studies that did not find a significantly positive relationship between SWPBIS and academic achievement either did not consistently measure implementation fidelity (e.g., Caldarella et al, ) or categorized or dichotomized implementation fidelity variables (e.g., Freeman et al, ; Gage, Sugai, Lewis, & Brzozowy, ; Noltemeyer et al, ), which limits the variability within these fidelity measures and also makes it more difficult to detect small changes in implementation. Thus, future research can treat any implementation fidelity measure as a continuous variable to fully evaluate its impact on academic achievement.…”

Involvement and Participation of Students With Severe Disabilities in SWPBIS

“…For example, SWPBIS implementation has been associated with improved academic skills, attendance, social behavior, and appropriate behavior for students in general (Freeman et al, 2015) The universal supports provided within SWPBIS have been documented as being beneficial for students at-risk or at high risk for aggressive behavior, difficulty concentrating, and emotional regulation (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, & Leaf, 2015). To date, over 23,000 schools implement SWPBIS (OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Effective School-Wide Interventions, 2017).…”