Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

  • The building blocks of the Positive School Culture Plan are Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a data-driven, prevention-focused approach to meeting the behavioral needs of all students. This PBIS framework is part of CPS' Multi Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), a proven step-by-step process that uses both prevention and intervention techniques to meet the needs of the whole child.

    MTSS tiers help schools to organize levels of supports based on intensity so that students receive the instruction, support, and interventions they need. As such, student identities are not based on tier levels. Instead, individuals are identified as students in need of support.

    Tier 1 — Schoolwide 

    The largest tier provides strong, universal behavioral supports and instruction for all students. This leads to behavioral success for 80-90 percent of students in each building. Each CPS school has a PBIS Team, which includes administration, teachers, mental health professionals, and others who monitor PBIS — the administration, teachers, mental health professionals, and others, create schoolwide expectations guided by the Code of Conduct. Tier 1 emphasizes teaching and acknowledging appropriate student behavior.

    Tier 2 — Targeted 

    This middle tier provides additional support and strategies for helping students who continue to struggle despite receiving schoolwide instruction. Typically, about 5 to 10 percent of students per building would benefit from these more targeted supports. Tier 2 supports usually include small-group learning opportunities that review and reteach appropriate social and developmental skills. One of the most commonly implemented strategies in Tier 2 is a daily check-in with a trusted adult at school, for encouragement and reinforcement of expected behavior. 

    Tier 3 — Intensive 

    This smallest, but most intensive, tier, is ideally needed by about 1 to 5 percent of students per building. Tier 3 strategies are designed to meet the needs of individual students. This could include a referral to school-based mental health partners and more formal assessments to determine students' needs.