Evaluating the Impact of PBIS Rewards on School Climate

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the impact of PBIS Rewards, a token economy platform embedded within the PBIS framework, on student and staff perceptions of school climate at an elementary school in Pennsylvania between 2018 and 2022. The problem addressed in this study was the limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of PBIS Rewards in improving student and staff perceptions of school climate. The central research questions focused on determining the extent of which PBIS Rewards affected overall perceptions of school climate, relationships and safety, student motivation and belonging, and staff perceptions of leadership and support. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and multiple regression analyses to compare pre-implementation (2018-2019) and post-implementation (2020-2022) survey results. Findings indicated that staff consistently rated leadership and support highly, while student measures of motivation and emotional regulation showed limited improvement over time. These results suggest while PBIS Rewards contributed to climate stability, it did not significantly impact deeper student social- emotional outcomes.