Project Description:
PBIS takes a systems change approach through the creation of a multi-tiered behavior framework for improving student academic and behavior outcomes for all students. PBIS is not a curriculum but rather it is a decision making framework that guides selection, integration, and implementation of the best evidence-based academic and behavioral practices on a continuum of support based on individual and facility needs. There are 4 key elements to PBIS which include an emphasis on systems to support staff behavior, a host of practices to support student behavior, ongoing data-based decision making, and a focus on outcomes including social competence and achievement. PBIS focuses on teaching pro-social behaviors while preventing the occurrence of problem behaviors. In other words, problem behavior is a call to teach. Between 50 and 75% of approximately 170,000 incarcerated youth nationwide are estimated to have one or more mental health disorders and 30 to 50% are estimated to have educational disabilities. Many of these youth lack basic academic, social, and problem-solving skills, and have histories of physical, sexual, and substance abuse. Current zero tolerance and get-tough policies in schools focus on punishment to address problem behavior, which effectively start these youth along the school-to-prison pipeline. When they become incarcerated, they enter a world of even greater intolerance and a focus on security that often overrides their need for treatment and positive growth experiences. PBIS maps directly onto the identified best practices outlined by the US DOJ. This project provides services to one juvenile justice facility in Las Vegas, one child mental health inpatient facility in Las Vegas, and Nevada Youth Parole.
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances
