Examining the Evidence Base for School-Wide Positive Behavior Support

TLDR

Education is increasingly adopting evidence‑based practices, and the field debates standards for determining intervention effectiveness, with School‑wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) serving as a complex example that requires further research on its breadth, interaction effects, and sustainability. The authors propose six criteria to evaluate SWPBS and argue that a robust body of scholarship establishes it as an evidence‑based practice for reducing problem behavior and promoting prosocial behavior in public schools. The six criteria assess SWPBS by examining its effectiveness, implementation fidelity, and contextual factors. Their analysis concludes that SWPBS is evidence‑based, effectively decreasing problem behavior and fostering prosocial behavior among students.

Abstract

As the field of education embraces the task of adopting evidence-based practices, ongoing discussion will be appropriate about the standards and format for determining whether an intervention is supported by data on its effectiveness. We propose here six criteria that may be useful in this discussion and apply these criteria to assessment of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS). Because multiple systems and practices are combined within a three-tiered behavior support framework, SWPBS presents a complex, though useful, example. We propose that a sufficiently rigorous and voluminous body of scholarship establishes SWPBS as an evidence-based practice for use in public schools, by typical educational personnel, to decrease problem behavior and promote prosocial behavior. Further research is needed, however, to better assess the breadth, interaction effects with effective intervention, and sustainability of SWPBS implementation and outcomes. After decades of productive research on the development of effective educational practices, the focus is expanding from transforming practices that “work” as part of iso