Episode Details

Alice Peck, principal of Oakdale Elementary, explains how her staff built PBIS together instead of leaving it to a small committee. They wrote a behavior matrix in two days, tried it in one area for six weeks, then reviewed and grew it. Her discipline folder is now thin.

Peck started with recess because it had the most office referrals, and she trained the recess aides to teach the rules to students. She estimates about 50 referrals her first year and about 10 now. She also explains why one simple office referral form matters.

What you'll learn

• Ask your staff what the best part of the school is and what to focus on, as Peck did before her staff chose behavior.
• Bring in someone to explain what the research says about PBIS before you ask staff to build it.
• Write a matrix of rules for each area of the school as a full staff, then pick one area and run it for six weeks.
• Start where office referrals pile up, such as recess, and include the aides, cafeteria manager and custodian.
• Create one office referral form so every adult sorts minor from major the same way, and chart the trends.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Alice Peck of Oakdale Elementary
• 3:26 Trying new things without overwhelming teachers
• 8:29 What she noticed moving from Texas to Utah
• 13:34 Proudest wins: PBIS and the arts program
• 17:10 Getting the whole staff to build PBIS
• 20:11 Training recess aides to teach the rules
• 22:29 Why an office referral form matters
• 28:47 Keeping PBIS going once it works

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Questions this episode answers

How do you get a whole staff to buy into PBIS?
Peck had someone from her school district explain what PBIS is and what the research shows. Then her whole staff, about twenty people, met in the library, listed the trouble spots and wrote rules for each area. She says it worked because the staff built it, not a committee of a few.

How should a school roll out PBIS step by step?
Peck's staff wrote a matrix of rules for every area in two days and posted them. They picked recess, which had the most office referrals, and ran it for six weeks. Then they met to ask what worked and what did not, and grew from there.

Why use an office discipline referral form?
Peck says her building leadership team made one form that separates minor incidents from ones that come to the office, and it works for recess aides and cafeteria staff alike. The data goes into charts that show trends and whether PBIS needs a tweak.

About Alice Peck

Principal of Oakdale Elementary School who previously served as an assistant principal in Texas and taught special education.

Links and resources

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• Transformative Principal website
• Transformative Principal on Stitcher
• Refer a principal form

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