Eric.ed.gov – Academic Achievement and School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports

Turning around chronically low-performing schools requires a multifaceted school-wide, systematic effort that includes strong leadership and data-based decision making. School-wide efforts to turn-around low-performing schools should address the academic, social, and behavioral needs of all students. One evidence-based, systematic school-wide approach for addressing social and behavioral concerns in schools and, distally, increasing students’ access to academic instruction, is school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS). SWPBIS is associated with increased positive school climate, increased teacher self-efficacy, decreased problem behaviors for the whole school, and potentially, increased academic achievement. The underlying assumption is that by improving social behavior, schools have more time and ability to deliver effective curriculum and instruction. However, to-date, this assumption has not been fully investigated. The goal of this paper is to explicitly examine the impact of SWPBIS on school-wide academic achievement. A review of the SWPBIS literature was conducted to determine the impact of SWPBIS on academic achievement. Then, a longitudinal state-level analysis of schools implementing SWPBIS and propensity score matched control schools was conducted to identify differential effects. The following questions guided this research: (1) Are there significant differences between schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity and schools not implementing with fidelity in mean school-level achievement?; and (2) Are there significant differences in mean school-level academic achievement SWPBIS schools and matched controlled schools? This study included all schools in the state of Connecticut, and used a quasi-experimental design with schools as the unit of analysis. Control schools were identified from the Connecticut population of public schools using propensity score matching. Data was collected from the Connecticut State Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data. Based on the literature review, no school-level differences between schools implementing SWPBIS with or without fidelity and control schools were found for academic achievement, including reading and math. The results of the state-level longitudinal study confirm these findings. The results of this study suggest that SWPBIS alone does not affect school-level academic achievement as measured by summative state high stakes tests. Tables are appended.