Coaching plays a vital role in supporting Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) school teams. However, there's limited understanding of which coaching activities contribute most to the continued implementation of this framework in schools.

To address this gap, Dr. Bastable and colleagues (2020) created a research survey to evaluate the extent to which PBIS school teams received and valued coaching activities. The survey involved 264 PBIS team members who had been implementing Tier 1 PBIS for at least three years across 138 districts spanning nine states. Fidelity to PBIS implementation was assessed using the Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ) tool to determine how coaching activities correlated with implementation fidelity.

The findings revealed that certain coaching activities were perceived as particularly crucial for sustaining PBIS. Moreover, when examining the correlation between coaching activities and PBIS implementation fidelity, two activities stood out as statistically significant and positively associated with higher fidelity: "Running Data Reports for the Team" and "Modeling PBIS Implementation."

Data from Bastable et al. (2020): Table 1, p.54

Most Important:

• Assisted with team action planning

• Shared knowledge of SWPBIS systems

• Modeled SWPBIS implementation

• Ran data reports for school team

• Assisted with data collection

• Assisted in problem-solving issues or challenges with implementation

• Supported individual teachers with class-wide SWPBIS practices

• Assisted with data analysis

Least Important

• Attended SWPBIS meetings

• Provided emotional or personal support to team or individuals

• Provided support or consultation on individual student behavior support

• Provided prompts for completion of key SWPBIS practices

• Provided positive feedback

• Provided corrective feedback

These results underscore the importance of assessing and tailoring coaching support to schools based on their specific needs and priorities in PBIS implementation. Identifying and emphasizing a Continuum of Coaching Support activities that have a substantial impact on implementation fidelity can contribute to more effective coaching.

Continuum of Coaching Support

Coaching involves a Continuum of Coaching Support. As a coach, it’s important to assess need and match the type of coaching to the current situation. Different situations require different types of coaching. Effective coaches move up and down the Coaching Continuum as they work with teams or individuals.

Direct - Give the answer: “I suggest doing X.”

Evaluate - Share your opinion: “I agree, that is correct/incorrect, yes/no, it’s missing X, Y, Z.”

Consult - Offer a choice: “Consider doing X or Y.”

Collaborate - Work together: “Which part do you want me to help with, X or Y?”

Coach - Build their skill: use questioning, paraphrasing and probing to empower and build skills, independence and sustainability of practices

PBIS Coaching Skills Course

Join Debi Neat, M.Ed, a Certified PBIS Trainer | Leader | Coach with more than 30 years experience in schools leading staff in school safety and intervention programs, counseling students, and coaching PBIS teams. Debi explains in detail the many roles of the PBIS coach, the coaching continuum that we need to fluently use when delivering services to teams, along with the skills and requirements critical for success as a school/district or consultant PBIS coach.

Objectives:

• Identify Coaching Roles and Responsibilities

• Identify Coaching Standards and Practices

• Self-Assess Coaching Readiness

Only 60 minutes - CEU Certificate provided.