Rose Moore

Chirimwami
ED 252
9 June 2017

I am approaching this assignment with information gathered from two SPED teachers at
Cleveland high school about their philosophies and procedures for implementing School Wide
Positive Behavior Strategies in their school, as well as Positive Behavior Intervention Strategies
in their classrooms.

I interviewed Lurena Weesner, the lead special education teacher in one of the social skills
classrooms at Cleveland High school. Ms. Weesner has a set group of students that attend her
social skills class daily while simultaneously attending mainstream classes. She applies PBS
when checking in with them about their personal and academic progress in their mainstream
classes and makes sure accommodations are being provided for them according to their IEP or
504 plans.

Ms. Weesner sent me to Seth Miller, the lead SPED teacher in the therapeutic classroom at
Cleveland, one that is a stepping stone for students from the Pioneer Special School Program into
mainstream education. Students spend part of the day in his classroom while at varying levels
attending mainstream classes, usually accompanied by a para-educator. I was lucky enough to
interview him on his personal Positive Behavior Support strategies that he applies in his
classroom, one where students are usually going through an intense period of transition and need
all the support they can get to succeed socially and academically in a new environment. Mr.
Miller favors a Collaborative Problem Solving approach to providing positive behavior support
for his students. He says this is a more difficult way to approach a student at the beginning of the
year, but prefers the results it produces over those he's seen produced from using PBIS, with the
same idea as Ms. Weesner that it is harder to compensate and provide consequences for good or
bad behavior among high school students than among a younger student population.

Name of Program: PBIS Strategies implemented by SPED teachers at Cleveland High School
Target Grade Levels: 9th - 12th grade

1. Do you think this program follows more of a generic discipline model, an obedience
discipline model, or a responsibility discipline model?

Mr. Miller and Ms. Weesner follow responsibility discipline models when applying PBIS
because of the context of their classrooms; both being SPED teachers with a population of
students that are in periods of transition. Students in Mr. Miller's class being in a heavy period of
transition like coming to a mainstream school from a SPED environment, or those in Ms.
Weesners class being in a light period of transition who have to spend some of their day in a
social or study skills classroom but have never had to attend a SPED school or program. (I was
in both of these transitions but was lucky enough to be in Ms. Westerns classroom once during
the day the whole time I was at Cleveland!) According to Ms. Weesner, this demographic of
students is mostly working on smooth transition skills that will be applied for the rest of their
lives, so discipline based on level of responsibility displayed in their mainstream classes, ability
to complete work outside of class and positive behavior in class is the main focus.

2. What happens to students who break rules? Punishments or consequences?

In Mr. Millers practice, he uses Collaborative Problem Solving to define and work through an
inappropriate behavior with a student and give them guidelines for why the behavior is
appropriate and the consequences they can assume if the behavior is seen again.

Ms. Weesner says it is much harder to apply consequences and provide incentives for good
behavior to high school students than it is to a younger population. “What are you going to give
them? Computer time? They’re already glued to their phones!” She told me that though all
schools are technically required to have an SWPBS but Cleveland does not and therefore does
not have a proper reinforcement system in place to reward or even punish behavior seen as
appropriate or inappropriate. In-school suspension is used for students who have lost the
privilege of attending their mainstream classes that day for a certain type of behavior, but
structure and communication regarding in-school suspension being a punishment for these
students is lacking between gen-ed and SPED teachers as well as administrators. Ms. Weesner
went on with an anecdote of Cleveland's principle giving a student in-school suspension as
punishment for hitting another student, but when the student arrived at in-school suspension the
next day there was no work or guidelines for what he was supposed to do. The in-school
suspension staff called Ms. Weesner to have her send this student some work to do and Ms.
Weesner was shocked that this was the first that she was hearing about this student receiving this
punishment. She agreed with Mr. Miller's Collaborative Problem Solving approach and we
discussed the positive and lasting results of that type of interaction regarding a problem behavior.

7. Does the program clearly establish staff responsibilities?

Ms. Weesner and especially Mr. Miller stress communication between staff, gen-ed and SPED
teachers as well as consistency regarding reinforcement, punishment and behavior expectations.
In their application of PBIS they make sure that all staff involved in any kind of intervention
with a student is clearly informed on the behaviors they do and don't want to see as well as how
to approach the student regarding these behaviors. I remember that when I attended Cleveland I
was able to see the clear communication between Ms. Weesner and my mainstream teachers
about my IEP goals and accommodations. When I told her I remembered this she laughed and
said though it can be difficult, but it is her and all teachers responsibility to be aware of a
student's situation, have an open communication regarding it and work collectively and
effectively to help the student along.

9. Does the program offer materials that can address the needs of students with chronic,
challenging behaviors?
Mr. Miller offers positive reinforcement and ready access to resource teachers for his students
with chronic, challenging behaviors. A student who does attend his mainstream classes can only
do so accompanied by two paraeducators, reinforcing his positive behavior of attending class and
completing assignments by providing him with the physical support he needs.

10. What do students learn as a result of reinforcement?

Mr. Miller's reinforcement of one-on-one collaborative problem solving between himself and
students or the classrooms paras and students, his students learn that their staff is monitoring
their behavior and they will be required to explain it and collaboratively work through it with a
staff member. They learn that their behavior will always be monitored, targeted and talked about
and in turn their positive behavior will always be reinforced verbally or tangibly.

Mr. Miller also tracks IEP goals and applies reinforcement regarding them in the form of food,
free time in the classroom or a pass on an assignment. He says he does not apply these frequently
because students have shown a lack of compliance as well as a lack of understanding why the
reinforcement is being administered and why the behavior Mr. Miller wants to see is positive,
this is why he favors a Collaborative Problem Solving approach.

11. Do teachers have the discretion in implementing consequences?

Ms. Weesner and Mr. Miller believe the teacher should always have discretion in implementing
consequences because they are the ones that know the students tendencies and characteristics
best so they are able to determine a proper, working consequence. Mr. Miller applies
reinforcement and consequences by creating and tracking IEP goals for a student, something
seen done frequently with PBIS but is personalized my Mr. Miller.

12. Is a teacher training option available? If so, how long does the training last? Is there
continuous follow up and administrative support?

There is professional development workshops at Cleveland but they are not mandatory. Mr.
Miller prefers to meet with the resource teachers he works with daily and make sure they are
administering consequences and reinforcement consistently and to compare perspectives of a
student's progression toward positive behavior and/or their IEP goals.

13. Is the dignity of the students preserved? Are students protected from embarrassment?

Ms. Weesner and Mr. Miller stress the importance of discretion in intervention, saving a student
from embarrassment while at the same time making sure to personalize your interactions and
positive behavior strategies between students by keeping interventions private.