The most effective way to effect change is to use a flexible approach, with overlapping and interrelated steps that promote continuous improvement. The following sample process describes steps that many schools are taking to develop, implement and monitor a school-wide approach to positive behaviour supports.

Step 1: Develop a core team

A positive behaviour support system requires a core team of dedicated staff members who will:

• coordinate data collection (initial and ongoing needs assessments)
• use this data to make decisions about specific interventions (e.g., school rules, social skills instruction)
• develop an action plan for implementing positive behaviour supports
• use student- and staff-level data to refine and evaluate their efforts.

Team members need to have leadership abilities and the respect of colleagues. They also need skills in effective communication, team building and collaborative problem solving.

Team members could include:

• an administrator
• teachers from different grades or departments
• staff with general and special education or counselling expertise
• staff with behavioural expertise
• support staff such as secretaries, lunchroom supervisors, custodians, bus drivers and teacher assistants
• a school council member
• a student.

The core team will require adequate support and resources so that they can meet regularly over a two- to three-year period. Change will happen if school staff are committed to the process for at least 36 months.

Some schools find that half-day or full-day meetings are most productive, and they often separate these longer sessions by at least one month. This allows time for initial planning as well as developing and using various strategies.

The core team will need to help staff and parents develop an understanding of:

• how to develop and implement positive reinforcement systems
• data-based decision making
• effective classroom management strategies
• adapting instruction to increase positive behaviour through differentiated instruction
• functional behavioural assessment and developing individual behaviour support plans.

Step 2: Assess the school’s current culture, strengths and needs

Before a school-wide positive behaviour support system is introduced, it is important to systematically assess the school’s strengths and needs, and its culture (that is, the underlying set of beliefs, values, traditions and norms that have evolved and that determine how people think and behave). School culture also includes the way teachers and other staff members work together.

Tool 7: School-wide Audit and Tool 8: Supporting a Safe and Caring School: What Students Say in Appendix A may be useful in assessing the school culture and identifying current strengths and needs.

A comprehensive school assessment generally involves two or three sources of data. For example:

• surveys of staff, students and parents
• staff observation and discussion
• facilitated sessions with staff
• data that is already available (for example, office referrals, attendance records, suspension and expulsion rates).

Step 3: Build staff consensus

Since the success of a positive behaviour approach depends on the active participation of members of the school community, the majority of staff must support the initiative. All staff will have leadership roles. The literature suggests that an effective school-wide behaviour support system requires that at least 80 percent of the school staff acknowledge the existence of problem behaviour and commit to sustained involvement over the long term.