Measuring School-wide Positive Behavior Support Implementation

TLDR

School‑wide positive behavior support has been implemented in over 4,000 schools to address problem behavior, yet measurement of treatment fidelity has been limited by a lack of expedient assessment tools. The article aims to develop and evaluate the School‑wide Benchmarks of Quality tool for measuring SWPBS implementation, with future plans to expand data collection across more schools and states. The authors developed the BoQ through a qualitative pilot study and assessed its internal consistency, test‑retest reliability, interrater reliability, and concurrent validity. Preliminary data show that SWPBS reduces discipline referrals and suspensions and fosters a positive climate, and the BoQ was found to be a reliable, valid, efficient, and useful instrument for measuring implementation fidelity.

Abstract

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) has been implemented in more than 4,000 schools as a means of addressing problem behavior in a systemic fashion. Preliminary outcomes (e.g., office discipline referrals, suspensions) indicate the effectiveness of SWPBS in decreasing school-wide behavior problems and creating a positive school climate. Although the results of a majority of the program evaluations yielded significant findings, there has been a lack of measurement of treatment fidelity, possibly due to the absence of expedient, effective assessment tools. This article describes the theoretical background and development, including a qualitative pilot study and psychometric properties, of the School-wide Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ; Kincaid, Childs, & George, 2005), a tool intended to measure the implementation of SWPBS. Descriptive data on the instrument, including internal consistency, test—retest reliability, interrater reliability, and concurrent validity, were collected and analyzed. Results indicate that the BoQ for SWPBS is a reliable, valid, efficient, and useful instrument for measuring the fidelity of implementation of the primary or universal level of PBS application in individual schools. Future considerations for evaluating the psychometric properties of the BoQ include extending the data collection and analysis to many more schools across multiple states.