All Tools

The CADPPE can help identify policies and procedures emphasizing proactive, evidence-based strategies to support students’ social-emotional-behavioral and academic needs. The CADPPE can also help the district leadership team identify reactive, punitive policies for review and revision.

Systematic screening is a proactive way to inform instruction across the tiers of PBIS, including how to look for students who might be in need of additional support beyond what is offered at Tier 1 and to assess overall levels of student performance at the school. This infographic provides an overview of screening resources developed for district leaders, educators, communities, and families to support systematic screening efforts along with links to download each resource from pbis.org. 

School leadership teams can download this template and create their own plan to teach schoolwide expectations. The template includes opportunity to develop a schoolwide teaching matrix, create lesson plans to teach expected behavior across settings, including non-classroom settings, script prompts or reminders for desired behavior, and plan praise and corrections within and across all settings.

Educators can download this template and create their own plan to implement PBIS in their classroom. The template includes opportunity to develop a classroom matrix, create lesson plans to teach expected behavior, script prompts or reminders for desired behavior, and plan praise and corrections.

Annual report summarizing Missouri implementation of PBIS. Components of implementation assessed include reach, process, capacity, fidelity, and outcomes. Of note are the documented impacts of students with IEPs.

PBIS implementation with high fidelity across all three tiers in a small, high-needs district improved the rates of inclusion (greater than 80% in general education classrooms) from below the nationwide inclusion rate to almost 10% above the nationwide rates. In addition, there was a decreasing rate of office discipline referrals across the school year in one school, from a high of 170 per month in October to a low of 6 in April. Both the fidelity of school-wide and classwide PBIS were found to be strong contributors to these outcomes. 

PBIS implementation with high fidelity across all three tiers in a small, high-needs district significantly reduced the need for separate segregated placements for students with disabilities. A cost analysis found that the high-needs district saved twenty dollars for each dollar in PBIS technical assistance provided, resulting in district savings of over six million dollars. Extrapolating the district placement rates to all districts across Massachusetts found that, in the aggregate, the state would have saved almost $2.5 billion over nine years and $1.5 over the past three years. This brief replicates the findings of Putnam et al., (2002) peer reviewed published manuscript.

This is a sample annual report that shares the abbreviated results of a systematic evaluation process for Florida's statewide PBIS initiative in 2022-2023.

In fall 2018, the Nevada Department of Education (NDE), in collaboration with Nevada’s Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center, was awarded a second five-year federally funded School Climate Transformation Grant (SCTG). Funded through this grant, the Nevada MTSS project seeks to improve its capacity to establish, scale-up, and sustain multi-tiered behavioral frameworks in Nevada’s schools by implementing Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS). This report presents program evaluation findings for Year 4 (2022–23) of the grant and the third year of full implementation.

This is a Google Doc with TFI directions, scoring, and examples for each item of the TFI Tier 1 scale, published by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The PBIS Implementation Blueprint (4.0) provides guidance for implementers interested in (a) exploring and getting ready to implement PBIS, (b) getting started with PBIS, and/or (c) getting better at enhancing, sustaining, and/or scaling (expanding) their efforts in educational settings.

The purpose of this lesson is to partner with elementary students to create a classroom matrix together, based on existing schoolwide expectations.

The PBIS Self-Assessment Survey (SAS) is used by school staff for initial and annual assessment of effective behavior support systems in their school. The survey examines the status and need for improvement of four behavior support systems: (a) school-wide discipline systems, (b) non-classroom management systems (e.g., cafeteria, hallway, playground, (c) classroom management systems, and (d) systems for individual students engaging in chronic problem behaviors. Each question in the survey relates to one of the four systems.

PBIS teams can use this tool to score Tier 1 of the Facility-Wide Tiered Fidelity Inventory (v0.2). The template will automatically calculate scores and produce graphs of scores across time, by feature, and by sub-scale. This provides easy-to-use visual reports, and simplifies tracking sub-scale scores across time.

PBIS teams can use this tool to score Tier 2 of the Facility-Wide Tiered Fidelity Inventory (v0.2). The template will automatically calculate scores and produce graphs of scores across time, by feature, and by subscale. This provides easy-to-use visual reports, and simplifies tracking subscale scores across time.

Annual report summarizing Missouri implementation of PBIS. Of note are the documented impact on students with disabilities.

This infographic from the FLPBIS Project illustrates visually how common discipline disproportionality metrics are calculated.

The purpose of the District Systems Fidelity Inventory (DSFI) is to guide District Leadership Teams in the assessment, development, and execution of action plans that promote the capacity for sustainable, culturally and contextually relevant, and high-fidelity implementation of multi-tiered social, emotional, and behavioral systems of support and practices. The DSFI and process have been designed to serve as a guide for initial action planning, progress monitoring and annual evaluation of fidelity of implementation and impact.

This self-assessment is designed to assist State Leadership Teams and similar organizational units with (a) initial assessments of the extent to which there is the capacity to implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS); (b) action planning to guide resource allocation during the process of PBIS implementation; and (c) periodic assessments of the capacity of a state or region to sustain PBIS implementation and expansion.

In fall 2018, the Nevada Department of Education (NDE), in collaboration with Nevada’s Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Technical Assistance Center, was awarded a second five-year federally-funded School Climate Transformation Grant (SCTG). Funded through this grant, the Nevada MTSS project seeks to improve its capacity to establish, scale-up, and sustain multi-tiered behavioral frameworks in Nevada’s schools through the implementation of School-wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS). This report presents program evaluation findings for Year 3 (2020–21) of the grant.

This is a sample annual report that shares the results of a systematic evaluation process for the Florida PBIS Project's PBIS initiative.

The Team Initiated Problem Solving Fidelity Checklist Tier 2 (TIPS-FC -T2) is a progress-monitoring tool for a team and their coach to use as a guide for planning, implementing, and sustaining best practice meeting foundations and using data for problem solving and decision-making for teams coordinating and implementing supplemental and intensive supports.

This checklist identifies critical district-level system features that will help support initial adoption and ongoing sustainability of TIPS. This checklist can be used as a self-assessment or coaching tool prior to a district adopting and implementing the TIPS model.

This checklist identifies critical school-level system features that will help support initial adoption and ongoing sustainability of TIPS. This checklist can be used as a self-assessment or coaching tool prior to a district adopting and implementing the TIPS model.

The Feedback and Input Survey Suite is a set of four surveys for school teams to learn about how students, school personnel, and family members are experiencing the school’s behavior support systems and obtain detailed feedback for increasing the effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and sustainability of those systems.

The decision making guidelines outlined, are organized with academic, behavioral, and social student outcomes in mind. The purposes of data-based teams across the tiers are described and a set of decision guidelines, decision-making cycles, and goals/benchmarks are provided for each team. Guiding questions for systems implementation are also provided.

The School Climate Survey Suite is a set of four multidimensional surveys to measure student, teacher, administrator, faculty, and family perceptions of school climate: elementary, middle/high, school personnel, and family. The surveys are brief, reliable, and valid for assessing perceived school climate among students in Grades 3-12. Teams can use each survey separately or in combination to assess perceptions. Each survey includes a set of demographic questions about the participant and a number of questions related to school climate with Likert-scale response option.

Family, school, and community members are critical partners in developing an effective and responsive support system where all benefit. The OSEP Technical Assistance Center on PBIS has developed several resources to support these partnerships.

This report summarizes the evaluation process, results, and outcomes of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in Vermont's schools during the 2020-2021 school year.

A state example of recommendations to practitioners on how to use data to identify mental health need, select appropriate interventions, and monitor progress.

A state example of recommendations to practitioners for aligning SEL and PBIS.

A state example of recommendations to practitioners on alignment of Trauma-Informed Practices and PBIS.

Universal social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) screening is increasingly being recognized as a foundational component of a comprehensive, multi-tiered system of school-based supports. As schools strive to develop a systematic approach to meeting the SEB health of all students, often with limited resources and competing priorities, there is a need for responsive, efficient, and effective systems and data to improve outcomes. Universal SEB screening is one component of such a comprehensive approach and is increasingly being adopted by schools and districts across the country. The purpose of this guide is to summarize the current state of research and practice related to universal SEB screening and provide practical and defensible recommendations.

The Facility-Wide Tiered Fidelity Inventory (FW-TFI) is used for monitoring fidelity of PBIS implementation in alternative settings, particularly juvenile justice and other residential programs. This updated version, developed with input from stakeholders from juvenile justice and residential settings includes updated items and scoring criteria. For information about the validation process for the FW-TFI v0.2, please see the link below to the accompanying document, "Facility-Wide Tiered Fidelity Inventory v0.2 Technical Brief."

This assessment allows school teams to examine their Tier 1 implementation fidelity, document whether it has been effective, and identify strengths and weaknesses for action planning. The manual provides instructions on how to administer the BoQ and includes the complete assessment tool with supporting materials.

This is a sample annual report that shares the results of a systematic evaluation process for the organization's PBIS initiative.

Nevada’s School Climate Transformation Project: Building Multi-Tiered Systems of Support 2019–20 Annual Report.

The PBIS Evaluation Blueprint provides guidance regarding the evaluation process, tools, and outcomes that guide both initial adoption and sustained use of PBIS. A goal of this Blueprint is to provide a suggested format, structure, and materials to support a wide range of evaluation plans.

This is a sample annual report that shares the results of a systematic evaluation process for the organization's PBIS initiative.

This is a sample annual report that shares the results of a systematic evaluation process for the organization's PBIS initiative.

This is a sample annual report that shares the results of a systematic evaluation process for the organization's PBIS initiative.

This is a sample annual report that shares the results of a systematic evaluation process for the organization's PBIS initiative.

We need to be more intentional with establishing positive connections. As we cannot rely on expressions or physical touch, we will need to consider how to use our words to more fully convey the meaning of our welcome, connections, and positive feedback. This 1-page resource gives simple examples of staying socially connected.

This resource provides a list of presentations, videos, webinars, articles and websites that give an overview to universal screening as well as more in-depth resources that answer the what and the how.

This spreadsheet is a searchable reference list for selected studies regarding PBIS and its effectiveness.

Families can use this resource to make a family schedule, choose family expectations, and make a plan to teach, remind, reward, and respond to behavior at home.

School and District leadership teams can download and use this resource to develop their own plan for welcoming staff back to school and providing 2 days of professional development.

State, district, or other MTSS/PBIS leadership teams can download and use this action planning template to (1) confirm and re-establish commitment, (2) consider capacity and resource allocation, (3) invest in supporting structures, and (4) promote competency development.

This resource provides a list of presentations, videos, webinars, articles and websites that give an overview to universal screening as well as more in-depth resources that answer the what and the how.

The Student/Teacher Game is a quick and easy strategy to prompt and acknowledge students for following expectations in the classroom. The Game encourages appropriate behaviors by “catching” students engaged in expected behaviors and has been shown in research and practice to improve behavior.

A sample letter to parents announcing that the school is engaging in PBIS, what PBIS is, and what to expect.

This series to deepen knowledge and understanding of the ISF by highlighting key features illustrated by case examples that reflect the diversity of school communities in the region and demonstrate how data-based decision making occurs in a local context. This fact sheet will focus on the core features of an ISF approach.

An introduction to the Interconnected Systems Framework including a review of the benefits

Describes what will be different for educators andmental health providers when school mental health is integrated into a Multi-Tiered System of Support

Describes how to use school and community data to determine what interventions to select and implement to meet the diverse needs of all students

A compilation of various screener tools used to assess behavior, social, and/or academic risk.

The purpose of the PBIS Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) is to provide a valid, reliable, and efficient measure of the extent to which school personnel are applying the core features of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). The TFI is divided into three sections (Tier 1: Universal PBIS Features; Tier 2: Targeted PBIS Features; and, Tier 3: Intensive PBIS Features) that can be used separately or in combination to assess the extent to which core features are in place.

This assessment helps programs evaluate their progress toward implementing the Pyramid Model program-wide.

An introductory document of PBIS and the PBIS Center. PBIS is clarified and common misconceptions have been addressed.

Taking the lead from the many juvenile and residential facility staff and teams we work with across the country who ask for resources for their teams and staff, we have organized this FW-PBIS resource list by those resources addressing all tiers, Tier 1, Tier II, Tier III, tools, websites, journal special issues, conferences-professional development, and voices from the field in alphabetical order.

Tool to guide implementation adaptations to High School Context

Defines the purpose, members, schedule, and decision guidelines of a Tier 1 school team.

Defining risk ratio, risk index, and how those are used in reporting.

This brief self-assessment allows multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) leadership teams to rate status of research-validated features most likely to enhance sustainability of Tier 1 MTSS systems while they build capacity to implement systems at Tiers 2 and 3. MTSS leadership teams use their results to develop sustainability action plans.

List of social emotional and behavioral screening instruments separated by age to be used with children.

The EC-BoQ helps teams examine their implementation fidelity, document whether the implementation has been effective, and identify strengths and weaknesses in the implementation for action planning.

Overview of early childhood suspension rates and how the pyramid model is addresses inequities in early childhood discipline.

There are several strategies you can use when responding to challenging behavior but these should always be combined with more intentional promotion and prevention practices. The use of these response strategies is intended to reduce the likelihood of challenging behavior, but will not be effective without careful and intentional attention to teaching social skills and emotional competencies.

This paper serves as a summary document from the Mental Health presentation strand and Roundtable Discussion for the Interconnected Systems Framework that took place at the 2016 Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Leadership Forum in Rosemont, Illinois. It was developed based on input and discussion from presenters and participants at both the sessions and RDQ session. Its purpose is to share strategies to effectively implement ISF by outlining its rationale, procedures for implementation, a site implementation example, frequently asked questions about ISF, and additional resources. The authors aim to provide practitioners, leaders, and policy makers with a useful guide to implement the ISF, so as to best provide mental health services to children, families, and community members.

Many early educators and program leaders are concerned about the impact of the recent election on children and families. Young children might have been witness to disturbing media, heated conversations between adults, and/or reports of community unrest. Some children might be confused, feel anxious, or have behavioral issues in the classroom. Some families might be feeling vulnerable or concerned about anticipated changes in national policies, national protests, and reports of community violence. The following are suggestions for program leaders and practitioners for addressing potential issues and supporting young children and their families.

The Team Initiated Problem Solving Fidelity Checklist (TIPS-FC) is a progress-monitoring tool for a team and their coach to use as a guide for planning, implementing, and sustaining best practice meeting foundations and using data for problem solving and decision-making.

This fact sheet was developed to raise awareness of the issue of implicit bias and preschool suspensions/expulsions. The purpose is to provide information to change adult responses to challenging behaviors in order to reduce preschool suspensions/expulsions and create safe and nurturing environments for young children, particularly children of color.

The purpose of this Training and Professional Development Blueprint is to provide an overview of essential features of professional development and the basic logic of building internal district systems capacity for implementing effective practices and making sound data decisions.

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to district- and school-based leadership teams that are considering implementation of Tier 2 systems. This document is not intended to be a prescriptive list of requirements and individual decisions about school readiness. Tier 2 implementation decisions should be based on the local context and in coordination with local coaches and TA providers.

Mutually exclusive definitions for terms used on referral forms.

A tool to assist schools in implementing and using Tiered Fidelity Inventory to enhance current implementation to include ISF approach.

Meeting form to be used by school teams using the Team Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) method. Useful for keeping the conversation focused to problem solving. Meeting minutes serve as documentation and guidance for decisions made during problem-solving and/or coordination/planning team meeting includes sections and prompts to guide and prompt recording of relevant, accurate, and succinct information across the following areas: demographics, systems status update, problem solving, action planning, evaluation, and housekeeping items

Examples of referral forms that collect data for decision making.

A worksheet to be used by the data analyst role before a team meeting using the Team Initiated Problem Solving Framework (TIPS). Use your academic or behavior data to create a snapshot view of your school’s performance overall (e.g., by grade level, intervention status, race/ethnicity, gender).

Academic Seminar is a 45 minute daily class designed to address work avoidance behaviors for middle and high school students at risk of poor school outcomes. The curriculum targets teaching, practicing and reinforcing organizational and self-advocacy skills, termed “academic self-management.”

The purpose of this tool is to help Teams understand the current coaching infrastructure and identify which coaching functions currently exist.

This checklist is designed to be completed by the PBIS Team once a quarter to monitor activities for implementation of PBIS in a school. The team should complete the Action Plan at the same time to track items that are In Progress or Not Yet Started items.

Wraparound has become a predominant tool for implementing interagency systems of care. The system of care concept was developed in the mid-1980s as a response to (a) a dearth of mental health and other services for students; (b) the fragmentation of services across mental health, education, child welfare and juvenile justice services; and (c) the history of poor outcomes for students with emotional disturbance and their families. The key idea behind the development of a system of care was a coordinated network of community-based services that is organized to meet student and family needs rather than agency needs.

This tool provides specific guidance on steps teachers can take to improve family engagement at the classroom level.

Special Issue: PBIS as Prevention for High-Risk Youth in Alternative Education, Residential and Juvenile Justice settings. The goal of this special issue is to provide empirical and practical information on the PBIS framework to educators and a wide-range of service providers (e.g., behavior specialists, counselors, mental health, advocacy, and policy organization personnel) who work with high-risk youth in AE, residential and JJ setting to improve youth outcomes and teacher effectiveness.

Essential questions for school safety planning. Includes sections that assess risk and protection factors for school safety and violence.

The purpose of this handbook is to improve the success of schools as effective learning environments.

Restorative question card formatted to print. Questions used to respond to challenging behavior and to help those harmed by other’s actions.

This handbook focuses on reducing bullying behavior through the blending of school-wide positive behavior support, explicit instruction, and a redefinition of the bullying construct.

This resources provides a historical look at PBIS as well as clears up some common misconceptions about PBIS.

Some students do not respond to tier 1 universal academic and behavioral instruction. These students who need additional support display minor and fewer major misbehaviors than students getting tier 3 supports. The goal is to provide support to these students to meet their needs, to keep them in class learning and to avoid escalation to more intensive services. This is a manual for implemting tier 2 supports in the classroom.

The Individual Student Systems Evaluation Tool (ISSET) is a research tool designed to assess the implementation status of secondary (targeted) and tertiary (intensive) systems within a school. The ISSET consists of 35 items and is divided into three parts: foundations, targeted interventions, and individualized interventions. Questions in each of these parts are grouped into feature areas (e.g., commitment, implementation, assessment, etc.). A summary score is obtained for each of the three parts of the ISSET.

The purpose of this paper is to share descriptive data about Office Discipline Referrals (ODRs) in a sample of 112 high schools that used the School-wide Information System (SWIS) database to collect discipline data during the 2005-2006 academic year.The findings were that tardies, defiance/disrespect and skip/truancy were the most common types of ODRs generated at the high school level. Those in the freshman class were the most likely of all students to receive an ODR, and the majority of those students who generated multiple referrals requiring intensive behavior supports (e.g., 6 or more ODRs), did so by mid-winter of the academic year.

A guide offering definitions for the various components of a multi-tiered system of support. These definitions may serve as a place for schools and districts to develop common language for their own implementation.

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of how school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) as a framework for improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and relevance of practices to prevent school violence and bullying behavior, in particular. This overview is organized around eight questions.

Sample student handbook outlining school expectations, responsibilities, policies and actions taken.

This participant’s guide presents specific procedures for school-based personnel to conduct practical functional behavioral assessments (FBA). Practical FBA training methods presented in this workbook are designed to train school-based personnel with flexible roles in a school (i.e. personnel not directly responsible for providing regular instruction for students). The Practical FBA training methods are specifically designed for use with students that exhibit consistent problems that are not dangerous and have not been adequately addressed through previous assessment and intervention.

Critical Features of Classroom Management: easy to follow list

This report summarizes what we have learned thus far and how those lessons learned can advance the ongoing discussion about effective RTI implementation in high schools.

This 12-item self-assessment may be used by school teams (typically with their coach) to determine if the core features of an effective bullying prevention system are in place. The self-assessment may be used to: proactively to identify what a school is already doing well, to select components that need to be adopted/added, and as a way to assess/evaluate if implementation efforts result in the core features of bullying prevention being adopted and used successfully.