Running head: COMMONALITIES OF SUCCESSFUL PBIS PROGRAMS

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFULLY SUSTAINED PBIS PROGRAMS
_______________________
A Dissertation
Presented to
The College of Graduate and Professional Studies
Department of Special Education
Slippery Rock University
Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania
_______________________
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctorate of Special Education
_______________________
by
Nathan Pfeiffer
August 2022
© Nathan C Pfeiffer, 2022

Keywords: Behavior, BoQ, Fidelity, PBIS, Sustainment

PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PBIS PROGRAMS

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PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PBIS PROGRAMS
ABSTRACT
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a system of support that includes
proactive interventions for defining, teaching, and supporting student behaviors to ensure a
positive school atmosphere. PBIS programs are being implemented more and more and there is
a large amount of research and literature about best practices when implementing these
programs, but not as much on sustaining these programs. The purpose of this mixed methods
study is to look at successfully sustained PBIS programs and to find commonalities from teacher
perspectives on these programs. Finding these common trends will help other schools and
districts being able to maintain their PBIS program after implementation. The data for this study
was collected through teacher responses to open-ended questions on PBIS programs and ratings
based on Likert-type questions on the importance and effectiveness of key PBIS program
components. The school used for this study had been identified by the state of Pennsylvania as
having sustained fidelity with their PBIS program. Themes that emerged from this research were
the importance of adapting programs, staff buy-in, the use of data, teacher training and
professional development, administrative support, and the token economy. These findings show
the need to continually make changes to programs over time, the proper use of data, continued
professional development, and the importance of funding to sustain PBIS programs.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the help and support of many people throughout this long process.

First I would like to thank my supervisor, and dissertation committee, whose expertise was
invaluable in helping me formulate my research questions and methodology as well as always
being there to give me somewhere to bounce my thoughts.

I would like to thank my students and fellow teachers for continually inspiring me to be a better
teacher and professional. Teaching is the best career in the world where I get to work with
amazing students each and every day that make me want to do better so that I can help them
more. My fellow teachers have taught me so much over the years and have pushed me to strive
to keep growing as an educator.

I would like to thank my parents and my sister for always supporting anything I did. I know I
am lucky to have parents that always thought everything I did was incredible, even if it wasn’t,
and I know I never can say thank you enough.

Last, and most importantly, I would like to thank my wife, Mandy, and my daughters, Addy,
Avery, and Emmy. With their constant support and encouragement, I always knew that I could,
and would, finish this research study, even if the light at the end of the tunnel was incredibly
faint at times. I thank them for allowing me the time to continually work on this and I apologize
for some of the amazing things I missed in the process. I will be more than happy to turn that
attention back to our loving family. Thank you for continuing to push me.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………... 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………........4
LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………..7
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………… 8
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….. 9
Overview of PBIS……………………………………….…………………….. 10
The PBIS Tiers…………………………………………………………………. 11
Critical components to a Successful PBIS Program………………..…............. 13
Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………. 14
Research Question and Subquestions…………………………………………... 14
Definition of Important Terms…………………………………………………. 15
Significance of the Problem and Justification for Investigating It……………... 16
Basic Assumptions……………………………………………………………... 17
Basic Limitations……………………………………………….……………..... 18
Summary and Transition to Chapter II…………………………………………. 18
REVIEW OF LITERATURE…………………………………………………………. 20
Introduction…………………………………………..……………………….. 20
PBIS and the Law…………………………………………………………..…. 20
History of the Implementation of PBIS Programs…………………..………… 24
Effectiveness of PBIS Programs……………………………………………….. 26
Critical Aspects of Successful PBIS Programs ………………………………... 31
Perceived Barriers and Enablers of PBIS Programs…………………………… 42
Sustaining PBIS Programs…………………………………………………….. 52
Summary and Transition to Chapter III……………………………………….. 53
METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………….………. 55
Restatement of Purpose………………………………………………………… 55
Research Question and Subquestions………………………………………….. 55
Description of Participants……………………………………………………... 56
Description of Instrumentation/Measurement Procedures…………………….. 57
Research Design and Description of Procedures………………………………. 59
Data Analysis…………………………………..……………………………… 61
FINDINGS………………………………………………………….…………………. 65

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Restatement of Research Question…………………………………………….. 65
Demographics………………………………………………………………….. 66
Data Collection…………………………………………………………………. 68
Qualitative Data Findings……………………………………………….……… 70
Research Question 1 Findings………………………………………………….. 71
Research Subquestions 1.1 and 1.2 Findings…………...……………………… 75
Summary of Qualitative Findings………………...……………………………. 83
Quantitative Data Findings…………………………………………………….. 83
Summary of Quantitative Findings………………………………………….…. 88
Conclusion…………………………………………………………...………… 89
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS………………….…………………. 91
Summary of the Study…………………………………………………………. 91
Summary of the Results…………………..…………………………………… 91
Limitations…………………………………………………………………...… 96
Implications of the Results…………………………………………………….. 97
Recommendations for Future Research……………………….……………… 102
Conclusion……………………………………………….…………………… 104
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………...106
APPENDIX A: TEACHER EMAIL SURVEY………………………………………. 118
APPENDIX B: REQUEST FOR PERMISSION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH WITH
FACULTY……………………………………………………………………………. 121
APPENDIX C: PARTICIPANT EMAIL……….……………………………………. 122
APPENDIX D: INFORMATIONAL LETTER………………………………………. 123
APPENDIX A: IRB APPROVAL……………….…………………………………….126

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LIST OF TABLES
3.1 Interview Guide to Research Question Breakdown…………………………………58
4.1 Percent Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity………………………………………………67
4.2 Percent Enrollment by Student Groups…………………………………………….. 68
4.3 Respondent Teaching Experience………………………………………………….. 69
4.4 Respondent Profiles………………………………………………………………… 70
4.5 Interview Guide to Research Question Breakdown for Qualitative Data…………...71
4.6 Teacher Perceptions on Importance of PBIS Components – Frequencies…………. 85
4.7 Teacher Perceptions on Importance of PBIS Components – Medians…………….. 85
4.8 Teacher Perceptions on Effectiveness of PBIS Components – Frequencies……….. 87
4.8 Teacher Perceptions on Effectiveness of PBIS Components – Medians…………... 87
5.1 Teacher Ratings of Importance and Effectiveness of PBIS Components
by Years of Experience……………………………………………………………..103

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LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Designing Schoolwide Systems for Student Success……………………................. 12
2.1 Positive Behavioral Supports………………………………………………………..27
2.2 Seven Elements of a Token Economy……………………………………………… 35

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CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) is a system of support that includes
proactive interventions for defining, teaching, and supporting student behaviors to ensure a
positive school atmosphere (Office of Special Education Programs [OSEP] Technical Assistance
Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports [PBIS], 2017). PBIS was directly
detailed in the 1997 Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
as well as formally identified in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2016. The term
PBIS can also be used interchangeably with Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and
Supports (SWPBIS) and is based upon the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in
alignment with the values of positive behavior support and the prevention approach (Carriere,
2018). Overall, PBIS is a method for building a supportive and positive school atmosphere by
means of a proactive methodology to school discipline reform.
While there is quality research on the background, validity, and implementation of PBIS
programs, there is less on sustaining a program once it has been put into place. One of the most
significant restraints on maintaining successful PBIS programs is the lack of research on
sustainability (Johnson, 2014). This study will set out to look at programs that have been
recognized by the state of Pennsylvania as having sustained their PBIS program with fidelity
after the initial implementation process. Teachers at these schools will be interviewed to look for
common themes, among these programs, that have helped these PBIS programs to sustain their
effectiveness over time. The results of this study will then have the potential to be used to help
guide future schools and districts to maintain the successfulness of their programs for a longer
period.

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Overview of PBIS
As the foundation for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) was being cemented by Baer,
Wolf, and Risley (1968), these ABA researchers focused on three main issues of research in their
field, applied, behavioral, and analytic, as well as three additional issues, technological,
conceptually systematic, and effective. Using these traits, the researchers set out to define and
outline what the exact requirements and purpose were of the research in this field to make it
valuable and able to be implemented effectively. The authors wanted research that could be
applied in every day settings, not just in a laboratory, and with more controllable variables. The
goal was to work towards a specific result that could be repeated over and over again, while
being related to a real-world application. This was to be the framework for the field of ABA
and, when paired with other aspects, such as a token economy, tiered intervention programs,
tiered support programs, and data analysis, would be adapted into a step-by-step model of
SWPBIS. Sugai and Horner (2002) developed this model that has been implemented in
numerous schools across the world. More than 16,000 schools in the United State of America
received support from the National Technical Assistance Center for SWPBIS in 2012 (Sugai &
Simonsen, 2012).
The goal of a PBIS program is to create a positive, welcoming school atmosphere. The
aim is to accomplish this by preventing undesired behaviors, such as bullying, harassing, and
fighting, before they start, instead of responding to them. When students are in a school setting it
has been shown to have significant positive impact on the students when they feel safe and
welcomed (Hannigan & Hauser, 2015). PBIS is a preventative program, not a responsive one.
The goal is to prevent the negative behaviors from happening instead of punishing students after

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the fact. Punitive discipline practices, such as suspension and expulsion has been shown to do
more harm than good, and even dramatically increase the likelihood of greater discipline
problems later (Hannigan & Hauser, 2015). If the students are in a setting that is positive and
welcoming, it will then lead to greater academic results as well.
In a well known quote by Tom Herner, National Association of State Directors of Special
Education (NASDSE) President, from 1998, he stated, “If a child doesn’t know how to read, we
teach. If a child doesn’t know how to swim, we teach. If a child doesn’t know how to multiply,
we teach. If a child doesn’t know how to drive, we teach. If a child doesn’t know how to
behave, we… teach? …punish?” Herner finishes by stating, “Why can’t we finish the last
sentence as automatically as we do the others? (PBIS Rewards, 2019).” These statements point
out the aim of PBIS programs in actually instructing appropriate and desired behaviors. PBIS
programs do this through teaching students lessons on behaviors and through expected
behavioral matrixes that are displayed and taught (PBIS Rewards, 2019). Additionally, to
achieve this goal, successful PBIS programs rely and depend on the commitment of the entire
staff and faculty, from teachers, to support staff, to the administration.
The PBIS Tiers
A well set-up PBIS program has three levels, or tiers, with each building upon one
another to create a continuum of intervention strategies for both school atmosphere (instructional
settings) and behavioral expectations. For the school atmosphere and culture aspect, the primary
level (first tier) is considered the school wide level systems of support, the secondary level
(second tier) is the classroom setting systems of support, and the tertiary level (third tier) is the
individual systems of support that each have the same goal. This goal would be to create and
sustain programs and interventions that improve the results for the desired, or positive,

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behaviors. The behavioral interventions and support system also follow a tiered system with the
primary level being for all students and staff, the secondary level being for a smaller group of
students who more frequently exhibit at-risk or undesired behaviors, and the tertiary level would
be for the few students who need individualized and specialized supports for their recurrent atrisk behaviors (NEA, 2014). Each of these tiers has its own best practices to create the most
effective program to help with problem behaviors. Additionally, there are specific, essential
components at each level that are necessary for a successfully implemented program.

Figure 1.1. Designing Schoolwide Systems for Student Success. Retrieved from https://www.pbis.org/school/mtss. Copyright
2019 Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS).

Implementing a successful PBIS program has a basic framework to be followed. First, a
school would put together a team consisting of administrators, regular education teachers, special
education teachers, and support staff. Then, the team would look to develop three to five
positive behavioral expectations. These expectations should be easy to remember and need to
focus on what students should do, as opposed to what they should not. After these expectations

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are taken back to the staff, to hopefully ensure at least 80% of staff buy-in to the program, a
behavioral matrix is created on what those expectations would look like and sound like in all
non-classroom areas. These areas would include, but are not limited to, on the bus, in the
cafeteria, in the restrooms, on the playground, and in the hallways. For example, if one of the
behavioral expectations is to “Be Respectful,” then the matrix for the cafeteria might include
examples like “say please/thank you to the cafeteria staff,” or “clean up spills on the table and
floor.” These matrices would then be displayed in the appropriate settings as well as lessons
would be taught to demonstrate what the appropriate behaviors would look like. The team would
then work with classroom teachers to create a matrix for each classroom as well. After the
matrices are all complete, posted, and lessons on how to demonstrated the expected behaviors are
created, a token system and a reporting system are created. The token system is a reward system
that is created to reinforce the positive behaviors by giving the student a token when they are
seen doing the expected behavior. These tokens are then used for some type of reward system.
These reward systems can vary greatly depending on the specific school system. The reporting
system is used to create an office discipline form where behaviors are pre-determined as “instant
trip to the office,” or behaviors that are taken care of in the classroom. Data is then collected
from these forms and through the token economy system to monitor, reinforce, and/or modify the
school-wide program (OSEP, 2019). These topics will be covered more in depth in the
upcoming sections and throughout chapter 2.
Critical Components to a Successful PBIS Program
The state of Pennsylvania uses a scoring system identified as the Benchmarks of Quality
(BoQ) when assessing the implementation of PBIS programs (PAPBS, 2018). The BoQ is a 53
question evaluation tool with a total score of 107. The BoQ has been established as a valid

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assessment tool in numerous studies (Kincaid, Childs, & George, 2005; Cohen, Kincaid, &
Childs, 2007; Childs, Kincaid, & George, 2011; Matthews, McIntosh, Frank, & May, 2014).
Pennsylvania identifies a school as having implemented a PBIS program with fidelity if they
score at or above 70% on the BoQ. A school is identified as having sustained fidelity with their
PBIS program with a score of 80% or higher (PAPBS, 2018). The BoQ identifies a total of ten
critical elements of a successful PBIS program: PBIS Team; Faculty Commitment; Effective
Procedures for Dealing with Discipline; Data Entry & Analysis Plan Established; Expectations &
Rules Developed; Reward/Recognition Program Established; Lesson Plans for Teaching
Expectations/Rules; Implementation Plan; Classroom Systems; and Evaluation (Childs, et al.,
2011). These critical elements will be expanded upon in the literature review
Statement of the Problem
PBIS programs are being implemented all over the world and have specific guidelines for
implementation. There have been numerous studies analyzing the teachers’ perceptions of PBIS
programs and the implementation strategies. With the young age of the PBIS programs that are
being put into place, there is not as much research looking at maintaining and sustaining a
successful PBIS program. Additionally, there is a lack of research looking at teachers’
perspectives at sustained PBIS programs and what themes there are for their sustained fidelity in
implementation.
Research Question and Subquestions
1. What do successful PBIS programs, that have been identified as having sustained fidelity by
the state, have in common, from the teachers’ perspective?
1.1. What are the most important enabling factors about PBIS programs to maintain
sustained fidelity?

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1.2. What are the biggest barriers facing PBIS programs to maintain sustained fidelity?
1.3. Do the teacher perceptions and opinions about the critical components of these sustained
PBIS programs align with the state recognition based on Likert-type responses?
Definition of Important Terms
PBIS: Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) is a system of support that includes
proactive interventions for defining, teaching, and supporting student behaviors to ensure a
positive school atmosphere (Office of Special Education Programs [OSEP] Technical Assistance
Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports [PBIS], 2017).
SWPBIS: “School Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports is a framework or
approach for assisting school personnel in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral
interventions into an integrated continuum that enhances academic and social behavior outcomes
for all students” (Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, 2019).
Token economy: A token economy is a behavior change system that has three main
components: a specified list of target behaviors; tokens (or points) that individuals earn for
displaying the target behaviors; and a set of rewards for which the tokens can be exchanged
(Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007).
A successful PBIS program: A successful PBIS program is a program that has been
implemented with fidelity and then continued to be sustained with fidelity based on a
Benchmarks of Quality score of 70% or higher for implementation and a Benchmarks of Quality
score of 80% of higher for sustained fidelity (Childs, Kincaid, & George, 2011).
BoQ: Benchmarks of Quality is a PBIS evaluating document that evaluates PBIS programs
across 53 different benchmarks (Childs, Kincaid, & George, 2011).

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Tier I: The primary, or universal (school-wide), level of interventions and supports that aims to
prevent problem behaviors by introducing high quality academic settings and environments for
all students, staff, and faculty, across all settings (OSEP, 2019).
Tier II: The targeted, or secondary, level of supports and interventions that aims to reduce the
number of prevalent behavior problems that present high-risk behaviors and/or are not
responding to Tier I interventions. This level includes more intensive, focused, and small group
responses where repeated problem behaviors have been identified (OSEP, 2019).
Tier III: The intensive, or tertiary, level of supports and interventions that aims to reduce the
intensity and/or complexity of existing behavior problems that are resistant to both primary and
secondary levels of intervention and support. This level includes the most intensive efforts and,
typically, the most individualized responses where repeated problem behaviors have been
identified (OSEP, 2019).
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA): “Applied behavior analysis is the science in which the
principles of the analysis of behavior are applied systematically to improve socially significant
behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for behavior change”
(Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007).
Significance of the problem
Significant research has been done on the importance of Positive Behavioral and
Interventions Supports (PBIS) programs in today’s schools as well as research done on how to
implement these types of programs effectively and successfully. However, once the programs
have been designed and put into place, there is less research on following through with the
program. Many programs fail within a couple of years and need to be redone while some
programs continue to be implemented well. A recent study of 5,331 schools implementing PBIS

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programs across 37 states showed that 58% of schools that implemented a PBIS program
abandoned the program within the first three years (McIntosh, Mercer, Nese, & Ghemraoui,
2016). This study will look to assist in overcoming the high percentages of schools abandoning
their program by adding to the lack of literature on sustaining PBIS longer. Through this study,
the researcher will focus on the successful programs over time. With the research question
identified as looking for the commonalities of successful PBIS programs, that have been
identified as having sustained fidelity by the state of Pennsylvania, from the teachers’
perspectives, there are many steps that need to be taken to collect and analyze the data.
Basic assumptions
For this research study, it is assumed that the schools involved have successfully
implemented and sustained, with fidelity, PBIS programs. Each year, the state of Pennsylvania
acknowledges and recognizes a list of schools that have implemented PBIS programs with
fidelity through tier one, as well as additionally for tiers two and three. Similarly, the state
recognizes schools that have successfully sustained, with fidelity, PBIS programs through tier
one and then again for tiers two and three as well. The state of Pennsylvania uses a scoring
system identified as the Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ) when assessing the implementation of
PBIS programs (PAPBS, 2018). The BoQ is a 53 question evaluation tool with a total score of
107. Pennsylvania identifies a school as having implemented a PBIS program with fidelity if
they score at or above 70% on the BoQ. A school is identified as having sustained fidelity with
their PBIS program with a score of 80% or higher (PAPBS, 2018). The schools that have been
chosen for participation in this study, come from this list published by the state. Additionally, it
is assumed that the teachers participating in the study have direct knowledge of their school
PBIS program, its goals, its implementation team, and its overall PBIS philosophy.

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Basic limitations
In any research, it is always imperative to acknowledge that there are limitations. In this
study, a possible limitation is that the teachers participating in the study have not been at the
school for the entire length of time that the PBIS program has been implemented and might not
be aware of the implementation process that occurred at the school. This can be observed in the
interview process when looking at how long the teacher has been at the school. Another
limitation to this study could be the lack of complete disclosure by the teacher on the
questionnaire, which little can be done to overcome. The teachers will be completing the
questionnaire electronically so there will not be the ability to ask follow-up questions to expand
on answers. Another limitation of this research study is that all the schools participating in are
located in one central region, suburban areas of Allegheny County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
This limits the ability to apply the findings to high-need inner-city schools or other regions
throughout the country.
Summary
In summary, with the constant expansion of numbers of PBIS programs being put into
place across the country in recent years, it is imperative to look for best practices in
implementing and sustaining them. As more PBIS programs have been implemented, the
research and literature providing a guiding framework on implementation has become more clear
and precise. However, the longevity and effectiveness of these PBIS programs over time has not
fully been research and reviewed. The purpose of this study is to look for common themes
among PBIS programs that have been successfully sustained, in relationship to the evaluation
process put forth by the state of Pennsylvania using the Benchmarks of Equality. The researcher
will look for teacher perceptions as to the biggest factors enabling the programs at these schools

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to be successful over time as well as the biggest barriers that were successfully overcome. The
teacher perceptions will be used because they are the everyday implementers of the PBIS
programs in the largest variety of settings of the program, across tier one as well as tier two and
three. In the following chapter, the researcher will present literature on the background, history,
effectiveness, and sustainability of PBIS programs in setting up the research for this study,
findings, and future implications.

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Chapter II
Review of Literature
Introduction
Research and literature Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is
becoming more and more prevalent. While PBIS is not a singular behavior theory, it is a
combination of several different behavior support programs and interventions that have been in
place for years, but in a comprehensive manner to support all students, staff, and faculty in a
school setting. This review of literature will look at the history of PBIS programs, specifically
PBIS implementation and acceptance in response to special education law, the history of PBIS
programs, the history and importance of the principal components of PBIS programs, and a
review of BoQ. Additionally, literature will be reviewed on the effectiveness of PBIS programs,
perceived barriers and enablers of implementing PBIS programs, and staff and administrative
perceptions involving the implementation and effectiveness of PBIS programs.
PBIS and the Law
PBIS in Response to the Law. Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) are
programs and interventions put into place with the goal of helping a school achieve positive
behavior changes and sustain them as part of the school culture. PBIS is a not a new behavior
theory, but the culmination of research and implementation of behaviorally based systems
approach ideas and concepts to help schools create positive atmospheres that are conducive to
quality learning and quality teaching while producing quality citizens. While PBIS is not new, it
has been shaped and created through the culmination of research and application of behaviorally
based systems approach ideas and concepts over time in a response to special education law,
such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). PBIS is the only behavior

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addressing approach specifically mentioned in the 1997 amending of the law and remains in the
current 2004 amended version of the law (NEA, 2014). The goal of PBIS is to improve the
overall school atmosphere by improving the behavioral climate and school culture of schools.
By having this effect in the schools and in the classrooms, it has also been shown to have a
positive impact on academic performance as well through the PBIS approach of teaching
achievement and behavior as related outcomes, instead of causes of each other. When behavior
is taught with the same vigor as math, reading, and other academic content, the ultimate goal of
prevention and achievement of PBIS programs can be met (Sugai, 2011).
The purpose and goals of PBIS have arisen in response to many significant special
education court cases over the years. Two of the biggest impacting law cases were Mills v.
Board of Education of the District of Columbia (348 F. Supp. 866 (D.D.C. 1972)) in 1972 and
Honig v. Doe in 1988 (484 U.S. 305 (1988)). In the Mills v. Board of Education of the District
of Columbia case, several students with disabilities were being excluded from public education
based on behavioral issues. The school district stated that it cost the district too much money to
educate these children based on their needs. The court ruled that the school district needed to
provide these students with education services based on their individual needs, regardless of cost.
This case, along with another case in the early 1970s in Pennsylvania dealing with excluding
students with mental retardation, even led to Congress initiating an investigation into the
education of students with disabilities and found that millions of these children were not
receiving a proper and appropriate education (Wright, P.W. & Wright, P.D., 2007). In Honig v.
Doe (484 U.S. 305 (1988)), the major issue was that a school district has limited power in
disciplining special education students in regards to dangerous behavior if that behavior is a
manifestation of their disability. This protects the student and forces the schools to find ways to

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help these students to control, or hopefully overcome, their behaviors. From work in response to
these issues, PBIS was born.
Practitioners realized that schools needed a way to be able to help these students, along
with other general education students as well, by focusing and promoting on positive behaviors
through interventions and support systems. Through the amending of IDEA in both 1997 and
2004, Congress specifically mentioned the potential of PBIS programs to help limit the exclusion
of special education students while at the same time improving educational results (OSEP,
2019). It was stated is 20 U.S.C 1401(c)(5)(F):
“(5) Almost 30 years of research and experience has demonstrated that the education of
children with disabilities can be made more effective by - (F) providing incentives for
whole-school approaches, scientifically based early reading programs, positive
behavioral interventions and supports, and early intervening services to reduce the need
to label children as disabled in order to address the learning and behavioral needs of
such children.”
This specifically pointed out not only PBIS programs, but the emphasis of a whole-school
approach to teaching behavior as well, which is one of the main pillars of the PBIS approach.
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (2003) stated that the inclusion of PBIS programs,
along with Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs), in IDEA “was both revolutionary and
unremarkable-revolutionary because the federal government had never before explicitly required
use of these practices, and unremarkable because professional literature reports the successful
use of these techniques for more than 25 years.” This has led to an increase in PBIS research and
programs.

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PBIS and Pennsylvania Law. Given that the current study is being executed in
Pennsylvania, the relationship between PBIS and Pennsylvania law is outlined. After the
inclusion of PBIS in IDEA, there has been a rise in state laws, or practices put in to place, to
support PBIS throughout the nation. Currently, there are 22 states, plus the District of Columbia,
that mention the use of specific, evidence-based interventions, such as PBIS (Rafa, 2018). While
PBIS is mentioned in IDEA, it is not identified specifically in Pennsylvania state law.
Pennsylvania did, however, officially add a requirement to Chapter 12 of the PA School Code
for the Student Assistance Program (SAP Interagency Committee, 2017). The Student
Assistance Program (SAP) is a systematic team process that utilizes school resources to remove
barriers to learning for students. It is designed to assist in identifying and supporting issues that
include alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, and mental health issues which would pose a barrier to a
student’s academic success. The goal of the program is to help the student overcome these
barriers so that the student can be successful (PA Department of Education, 2019). As SAP’s
goals and the goals of PBIS programs overlap in many areas, in 2011 the Pennsylvania SAP
interagency Committee developed a framework to guide the integration of SAP with PBIS for
Pennsylvania schools and even trained Commonwealth Approved Trainers, SAP Regional
Coordinators, SAP Liaisons, and school-wide PBIS Facilitators affiliated with the Pennsylvania
PBIS Network (SAP Interagency Committee, 2017). Additionally, in Pennsylvania, under 24 Pa
PS 1302-A, the Office for Safe Schools is authorized to make targeted grants to fund programs
addressing school violence including, specifically, school-wide positive behavior support
programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). While PBIS is not specifically named in state
law, it has been supported by the state government and agencies, some of which were put in to
place specifically to help guide and implement PBIS programs.

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History of the Implementation of PBIS programs.
Programs similar to PBIS programs, based on framework and goals, have been utilized in
education for a number of years, just not always labeled as PBIS programs. Schools first started
to pay more attention to finding and implementing successful behavioral interventions for
students with disruptive behavior disorders in the 1980s (Martin, 2013). Research from the
University of Oregon, on student problem behavior, started to shift from reactive and punitive
measures to more preventative with research-based interventions and school-wide initiatives to
find a way to help with these disruptions. When PBIS was specifically mentioned in the
reauthorization of IDEA in 1997, a grant was given to establish the first National Center on
PBIS. With that, came the cooperation of researchers from the University of Oregon, Kansas,
Kentucky, Missouri, and South Florida. Additionally, the states of Maryland, Iowa, New
Hampshire, and Illinois started up state-level leadership teams for PBIS. Much of the early
research and literature on PBIS derives from the researchers at these institutions and the leaders
at these state initiative programs (Martin, 2013). Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s
Office of Special Education (OSEP) and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
(OESE), the Technical Assistance Center on PBIS has provided professional development,
information, and guides to more than 16,000 schools for over 20 years (Martin, 2013; OSEP,
2019). Additionally, in 2018, a new five-year funding cycle was started for the center with the
purpose of continuing to help schools start PBIS programs, but also to sustain their framework
while improving tier 2 and tier 3 systems to better help students who are at-risk or have
disabilities (OSEP, 2019).
When PBIS was specifically referenced in IDEA, it not only made all of the past research
instantly more credible, but also paved the way for future research to be funded as well. In

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addition to including the program in the statute, the federal government also funded new, up-todate research, and made it available to all schools, nationwide (Bazelon Center for Mental Health
Law, 2003). Project ACHIEVE is a school-wide behavior management and social skills program
that was developed at the University of Florida in 1990. This program was first implemented in
two schools in Florida and one school in Texas and showed extremely positive results over the
first eight years of implementation. Areas of improvement included office discipline referrals
decreasing 16%, school bus discipline referrals dropping 26%, out-of-school suspensions
decreasing 29%, grade retentions dropping 47%, special education referrals decreasing 61%, and
special education placements dropping 57%. This success, along with another program started at
Indiana University and piloted at five schools in Indiana with great success, helped to pave the
way for more national acceptance and implementation of these programs. The Indiana
University project director testified before Congress on the successfulness of PBIS programs,
going on to say that one of the easiest measurements of success was that there was no longer a
line of students sitting in chairs outside of the principal’s office awaiting discipline (Bazelon
Center for Mental Health Law, 2003). Another example in the early 1990s was Project
PREPARE, introduced in 1993. This behavioral prevention program was one of the first
universal approaches and focused on 6 main principles: a consistent approach to managing
behavioral problems; viewing school discipline as a prerequisite of academic learning; a focus on
proactive prevention; active involvement from school administration; faculty commitment; and a
focus on effective staff development (Solomon, Klein, Hintze, Cressey, & Peller, 2011). As
programs began to be implemented, research studies on them soon followed. First, a single case
study was done in 1997 on the implementation of a school-wide behavior intervention program.
Then, a year later, a similar program’s effect on student behavior during hallway and recess

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transitions was done. Both of these studies showed positive effects and while the actual PBIS
term was not associated with these programs just yet, the researchers of these studies would use
the research to establish a set of positively stated school rules and initiate a school-wide token
economy system under the SWPBS name (Solomon et al., 2011). While these were some of the
first widely examined and accepted PBIS type programs studied, more and more studies started
to show the overall effectiveness of PBIS programs.
Effectiveness of PBIS Programs
The PBIS system is built on two concurrently set up three tiered systems. The first tiered
system is built on expected and appropriate behaviors with the second tiered system built on
academic instruction. In both systems, the first tier is the universal tier where the interventions
are for all the students and all of the school settings. The secondary interventions, or tier 2, are
designed for at-risk students. In the behavioral system, tier 2 is designed to be highly efficient
with a quick response, giving students the support and help that they need to correct their
undesired behavior. This could be through re-teaching of appropriate behaviors, or through
small group counselor settings. In the academic system, tier 2 looks to differentiate instruction
in more small group settings. Finally, the tertiary interventions, or tier 3, are designed for
individual students that need specialized assistance, interventions, and support programs. For
behaviors, tier 3 would happen in a more one-on-one setting such as individualized counseling or
support programs. For academic instruction, tier 3 would consist of a much greater
individualized approach, possibly through an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or out of
the general education instructional setting. It is necessary to review the tiered systems before
moving in to the literature on the successfulness of PBIS programs.

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Figure 2.1. Positive Behavioral Supports. Retrieved from http://www.alspdg.org/positivebehavior.html. Copyright 2018
Alabama State Personnel Development Grant.

PBIS programs, from the very beginning, have shown positive results across many
different settings and through many different research studies. Even before being technically
classified as PBIS programs, the early programs showed defined and easy to quantify findings.
Project ACHIEVE, mentioned earlier, showed results dramatically decreasing the amount of
special education referrals and placements, office discipline referrals, bus discipline referrals,
out-of-school suspensions, and grade retentions in some of the earlier studies on PBIS programs.
Similarly, the project at Indiana University, involving five different schools in Indiana for their
pilot program, showed results that reduced the number of out-of-school suspensions by 40% to
60%. Additionally, children with disabilities were positively effected with one of the schools
seeing a reduction in suspensions of special education students going from 39 the previous year
to none in the first year of the project. In another school from the project, the special education
student suspensions fell over 70% and expulsions dropped from 5 to zero (Bazelon Center for
Mental Health Law, 2003).

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There has been success in other areas of creating a positive school climate and its effects
on school behaviors as well. Psanos (2013) conducted a study to examine the impact of PBIS
and anti-bullying programs put into place in an elementary school in the Middle Tennessee area
in conjunction with Middle Tennessee State University. Additionally, in relationship to the PBIS
program being implemented along with anti-bullying programs, reports showed an increase, in
comparison to the prior year, in empathy in students toward other students that are being bullied
and a decrease in students that stated that they would join in bullying a student that they did not
like. This aligns itself with some of the principles of PBIS in creating a more positive school
climate so that more positive behaviors are demonstrated and preventing undesired behavior
problems. Weeden, Wills, Kottwitz, and Kamps (2016) looked at the effects of behavior
intervention supports for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. These would
typically be tier 2 or tier 3 students. They specifically noted improvement in school behaviors,
increased academic learning, and the ability to develop and maintain positive relationships.
Nocera, Whitbread, and Nocera (2014) conducted a study designed to look at the impact of
School-wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) on student behavior in the middle grades.
The study was conducted at a middle school that had shown significant student behavioral
problems with high teacher discipline referrals and suspensions. The data of this mixed methods
study supported the premise that the student behavior improved at the school. Five themes arose
from the interviews of the power of rewarding positive behavior, the importance of staff
investment and commitment to a SWPBS approach, the critical nature of administrative
leadership, the importance of consistency in responding to student behavior, and the value of
making data-driven decisions that promote school improvement (Nocera et al., 2014). BettersBubon and Donohue (2016) published a report that showed the implementation of PBIS

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programs has reduced behavioral incidents and lead to more positive school climates in both the
elementary and middle school settings. They wrote about a 30% reduction in office referrals
from year one to year five for a middle school of 600 that implemented a school-wide program.
This would relate to tier 2 and tier 3 strategies as there were a huge drop in students expelled and
in-school suspensions. The authors noted strong tier 1 social and behavioral supports at the
school as well. One interesting side note that the authors pointed out was the role that the school
counselors played in this implementation. The authors saw an increase in the counselor
professional capacity including the allotment of extra time, once not dealing with as many office
referrals, to teach classroom guidance lessons at the elementary level and more time to focus on
address problem behaviors at the middle school level.
The positive effects of PBIS programs were also shown in a rural, low-income setting as
well. Steed, Pomerleau, Muscott, and Rohde (2013) published a case study that looked at a PBIS
program put into place in rural preschools over a three-year period. This study involved three
rural preschool programs for students ages three to five for 160 children, of which approximately
27% were from low-income households. What they found was that the student scores on the
PreSET (Preschool-wide Evaluation Tool) increased each year. One of the biggest aspects that
the teachers noted improved, was their use of tier 1 practices. They noted improvements in
defining program-wide expectations, teaching expectations, responding consistently to
challenging behavior, providing an organized environment, involving families, and maintaining
an effective leadership team. The teachers also noted an improvement in using data for decisionmaking, which is one of the necessities for all tiers noted earlier.
While research has shown that schools that implement PBIS have fewer office discipline
referrals, and are less likely to use discipline practices that are exclusionary at the tier one level,

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a more recent research study showed the effectiveness of tier two and tier three intervention
programs as well (Bunch-Crump & Lo, 2017). These researchers looked at the effects of using
Check-In Check-Out (CICO) as a tier two intervention and function-based self-monitoring
(FBSM) as a tier three intervention for students in need of more individualized and intensive
interventions. This study looked at four elementary students with a very high rate of disruptive
behavior with all of them getting the CICO training and one of them getting the FBSM training.
The study was able to show a reduced rate of disruptive behavior and increased academic
engagement in three of the students, with the fourth showing some positive effects albeit
inconclusive due to a change of classroom setting. This study starts the direction of research
deeper into the PBIS spectrum and looking not just at implementation of tier one interventions
and supports, but also the more intensive tier two and three levels of support for students that
need more instruction. Again, the purpose of PBIS is not to punish the students that are more
disruptive, but to educate them and give them the tools they need to be successful both
behaviorally and academically.
There have also been other positive effects of PBIS programs that have shown its
effectiveness in areas that were not originally studied and could be studied more. While most of
the early studies involved applying PBIS programs in elementary settings, research has now
started to become more available on middle school and high school settings. In a meta-analysis
of PBIS programs from 2011, it was shown that PBIS programs had a higher mean effect in
middle school than elementary. The analysis pointed out that due to the higher rate of transitions
between classes in middle school, this lines itself up with the benefits of appropriate PBIS
implementation across the different school settings. The researchers further mentioned the
applications of PBIS programs across school locations in that the purpose is not to only prevent

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undesired behaviors exclusively outside of the classroom and noted the positive effect on school
bus behavior (Solomon et al., 2011). While this meta-analysis pointed the benefits to the middle
school setting, it also stated that only three of the studies it reviewed were located in a middle
school, with the remaining studies coming from an elementary setting. Another possible positive
benefit of PBIS program implementation is shown in a recent study out of Florida. Barclay
(2017) published a study looking at the effects of PBIS programs in relationship to the discipline
gap for Black and Hispanic youth in comparison to their White peers. This study looked at 322
different PBIS-implementing schools in Florida with a total of 292,490 students. What was
found was that the study showed that the overall framework of SWPBIS may reduce the
discipline gap, but further research is needed.
As research like this is published on PBIS, it shows that further research is still needed
and specifically needs to be expanded to newer areas that have not been studied as significantly.
The dramatic improvement in student behavior shown when effectively putting in place PBIS is
the reason that PBIS programs continue to be backed by law, funded, and implemented in
schools across the country. Additionally, in the research, some common themes have emerged in
relationship to being able to successfully implement PBIS programs with fidelity. This, along
with the need for deeper PBIS research and studies, ties back to the research questions of this
study. It is needed no longer look simply at implementing PBIS programs, but sustaining them
with the same fidelity as has been established when putting them into place.
Critical Aspects of Successful PBIS Programs
Along with the best practice, there are certain critical aspects that are necessary at every
level for a successful PBIS program. One of the biggest aspects of a successful PBIS program is

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a constant analysis of data. This applies to all tiers. At the very beginning of a PBIS program is
data analysis. The team working on the program must analyze school data to pinpoint the types
of behavior that need to be addressed (OSEP, n.d.). It has also been shown that if these needs of
the school do not align with the creation of the PBIS program, then the program will not be as
successful (Balu & Malbin, 2017). After that, data needs to be regularly monitored while
implementing the PBIS program, at each tier. This data needs to show improvement in the areas
identified. If it does not, then there needs to be an adjustment. This is necessary for all tiers, at
all times. Regular reviews of the data are an incredibly vital component of any successful PBIS
program. Data is required in four different ways for an effective PBIS program. Data is
collected and analyzed in universal screenings, or Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA),
monitoring the effectiveness of the implementation, and in evaluating intervention effects, such
as progress monitoring (Anderson, Horner, Rodriguez, & Stiller, 2013). Data is used in
universal screenings to determine the areas of concern and used to monitor the effectiveness of
the program as listed above. Data will also be used to determine what intervention strategies are
most effective. This well help the team moving forward as to what strategies to continue to use
and what are shown to not be helpful. Finally, the collection and analysis of data is necessary for
FBAs. The data will be used to determine if there is a relationship between when, where, why,
and how extreme behaviors are happening to determine the best intervention to use to correct
them (Anderson et al., 2013). One more aspect of a well implemented PBIS program that
pertains to all levels is to make sure that the interventions, strategies, and programs to be used all
state positive behaviors. Punishment and negativity can be harmful to children and
counterproductive (Northeast Foundation for Children, 2009).

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At tier 1, a component of PBIS that needs to happen is that the team continually takes
their ideas back to the rest of the staff as they are developing the 3-5 behavioral expectations that
will guide the program and as they start to create the matrixes that will be used in non-classroom
areas. This is essential to get the crucial staff buy in of at least 80% (OSEP, n.d.). Also, at tier 1,
the 3-5 behavior expectations need to be simple and easy to remember. That will ensure that
they are not only easier for the students to recall but will also be easier to use by the staff as well
as more consistently use across the board (OSEP, n.d.). At tier 2 and 3, a critical variable to the
success of the PBIS program is that the interventions and strategies that are being chosen can be
done effectively and efficiently by the school staff that is already in place, or would typically be
in place (MacLeod, Hawken, O’Neill, & Bundock, 2016). A program can have great
interventions, but if the right people are not available when needed, or at certain times, the
strategy will not be able to be implemented with fidelity. The strategies chosen need to be able
to be handled by the people that will be with the students at the typical times the interventions
need to be implemented. One strategy to do this would be the intervention first being
implemented by a school psychologist or counselor while at the same time training the
classroom, or learning support teacher, to take over the intervention eventually. That way, in the
future, if the psychologist or counselor is unavailable, the classroom teacher will be able to
handle the situation, and eventually, take it over (MacLeod et al., 2016). This also leads into the
next important aspect that is essential to a fully functioning PBIS program, which is to have the
right people involved along the way, especially at tier 2 and tier 3. Most classroom teachers do
not have the specialized training that a counselor, psychologist, or learning support teacher has.
This means that those people need to be involved in the planning and implementation of the
program along the way. School counselors that are trained in data-informed decisions and

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school-level change can not only play a huge part in the success of the program, but also can be
leaders throughout the entire process (Betters-Bubon, Brunner, & Kansteiner, 2016). Those are
some of the biggest necessities that need to be considered when developing and implementing a
PBIS program. Without them in place, it will be that much harder to have a successful program.
The state of Pennsylvania uses a scoring system identified as the Benchmarks of Quality
(BoQ) when assessing the implementation of PBIS programs (PAPBS, 2018). The BoQ
identifies a total of ten critical elements of a successful PBIS program: PBIS Team; Faculty
Commitment; Effective Procedures for Dealing with Discipline; Data Entry & Analysis Plan
Established; Expectations & Rules Developed; Reward/Recognition Program Established;
Lesson Plans for Teaching Expectations/Rules; Implementation Plan; Classroom Systems; and
Evaluation (Childs, et al., 2011). These ten critical elements will be covered, and in some cases
combined, in the following sections that have broken down the critical aspects of successful
PBIS programs through research, literature, and the BoQ.
Token Economy. While PBIS programs are relatively new, one of the biggest aspects of
the PBIS program, the token economy has a much longer history. The token economy system
has been used for centuries to help reduce undesired behaviors and increase desired behaviors in
the fields of education and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Cooper, Heron, and Heward
(2007) define a token economy as a behavior change system that has three main components: a
specified list of target behaviors; tokens (or points) that individuals earn for displaying the target
behaviors; and a set of rewards for which the tokens can be exchanged. In a school classroom, if
a teacher has identified an issue in the classroom as students shouting out instead of raising their
hand, this might look like a student raising his/her hand to answer a question and waiting to be
called upon instead of just yelling out, receiving a marble on his/her desk, and later turning in

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five marbles to be able to sit in the teacher’s chair for a class period. The tokens take on the role
as a conditioned reinforcer for the replacement behavior that has been previously identified to cut
down on the undesired behavior. The tokens are then used to purchase rewards, which work as
backup reinforcers. The rewards can be items that are redeemed right away or may take on the
role of coupons that could be used at a later moment of time (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007).
While resembling other contingency programs, token economies have specific characteristics
that make them effective tools in the more general analysis of behavior, and thus, the field of
ABA (Hackenberg, 2009).

Figure 2.2.. Seven Elements of a Token Economy. Retrieved from http://www.educateautism.com/token-economy.html. Copyright
2008 Raymond Miltenberger.

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Token economies have been noted in schooling methods throughout history. Some of the
earliest mentions of using a token economy date back to the teaching methods of Joseph
Lancaster (1778-1838) where older students monitored younger ones and gave out badges of
merit and tokens that the younger students could turn in for prizes (Stilitz, 2009). Research on
token systems date back to the 1930s with studies done on chimpanzees. This research looked at
the tokens as conditioned reinforcers and was conditioned with further research with
chimpanzees in the 1950s with the addition of looking at putting tokens on reinforcement
schedules. This research led to the possible change of token economy research to a more refined
system of looking at conditioned reinforcement value (Hackenberg, 2009, pg. 258). Token
economy research then showed up sporadically until the 1960s when there was a shift more
towards looking at it through the lens of ABA. In one of the earliest looks at using a token
economy with humans, Ayllon and Azrin (1965) published a paper looking at trying to increase
desired behaviors in patients in a hospital mental ward through the use of token reinforcements.
O’Leary, Becker, Evans, and Saudargas (1969) took the token economy research to the
classroom in their study that looked at a token economy in a second-grade public school class.
At the end of the study, it was noted the dramatic decrease in disruptive behaviors observed. In
the 1970s, some of the published work looking at token economies took a larger view and
examined the field as a whole as well as applying the program back to hospitals. Kazdin and
Bootzin (1972) and Goodall (1972) reviewed some of the trends of previous researchers that had
looked at token economies. Both articles looked at how the token economies had been used in
hospitals, mental wards, classrooms with both the mentally ill and the non-disabled. Kazdin and
Bootzin noted that the extensive literature that had been recently published on token economies
show that a wide variety of behaviors can be changed across many different populations. In the

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1980s, research was looked at on how students in token economies did outside of those
individual programs in different settings as well as a look back by researchers on the previous
decade’s work. Kistner, Hammer, Wolfe, Rothblum, and Drabman (1982) published a study that
looked at the idea that students that participate in a classroom with a token economy might not
perform as well in other situations without the program. The study confirmed results that agreed
with earlier studies showing that a token program was effective in increasing student work
output.
In the 2000s, additional works were published that looked at the field of token economy
research in the form of a review and analysis as well as applying the programs to modern day
medical issues facing children. Hackenberg (2009) published a report that review token
economy programs in relation to general principles of behavior. It was noted how token
economies have been utilized throughout human history through being the basic framework for
economic transactions throughout the world. In reviewing the literature on token economies
over a wide range of years, it is also apparent for the need for future research in certain areas.
While there is some research that seems to point to the symmetrical affect of losing versus
earning tokens, this is a field that could be investigated much further. The Donaldson study,
while in a small sample, shows the potential of the advantages of a program that students lose
tokens over the earning of tokens. This could be investigated and evaluated further. There are
also drawbacks to a token economy system that could use future research on how to overcome.
This includes the how to manage the time, effort, resources, and money that it takes to
effectively implement a token economy program (Cooper et al., 2007). Overall, this could help
the token economy system be an even more effective and research-based program to help replace
undesired behaviors with more appropriate and socially acceptable behaviors. However, given

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the studied and proven ability of the token economy to be able to shape and direct human
behaviors, it is easily seen why it is an important building block of the PBIS support programs.
In regards to PBIS and the BoQ assessment tool, it supports the importance of a token
economy system under the critical element of Reward/Recognition Program Established. In this
critical element, the BoQ states seven different reporting categories for a total of sixteen possible
points (Childs et al., 2011). That breaks down to about 14.95% of the total points on the BoQ
coming from the token economy reward system in a PBIS program.
The PBIS Team. Another crucial aspect of a successful PBIS program is the selection of
the PBIS team. The team is responsible for a variety of tasks, such as creating and designing the
PBIS program, checking with staff to ensure staff buy-in, regularly holding meetings to analyze
data, and evaluate the need to make changes or adaptations to the PBIS program based on the
data. According to OSEP, a successful PBIS team is made up of a variety of staff and faculty
members on it, such as administrators, classroom teachers, specialist teachers, learning support
teachers, guidance counselors, and representatives of other school staff that would be important
in implementing the PBIS program, such as cafeteria and support staff (OSEP, 2010). The PBIS
team should be made up of 6-10 individuals. Additionally, research has shown that the selection
of an effective team has also been shown as an important factor in PBIS sustainability as well
(Mathews et al., 2014).
In the BoQ, the PBIS Team is a category all by itself. This signifies the importance of
having an effective, well put-together plan in place. There are three reporting categories under
PBIS Team. Overall, the BoQ is looking for if the PBIS team has administrative support, at least

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monthly regular meetings, and if it has a clear, established purpose. These categories have a
possibility of six total points on the BoQ scale (Childs et al., 2011).
Expected Behaviors Matrix. One of the core values of PBIS is the understanding that it
is vital for the students to be aware of the expected behaviors of them and to be instructed in
those behaviors. As part of the PBIS implementation process, the school’s PBIS team identifies
three to five clearly stated behavioral expectations that are stated in a positive manner, are easy
to remember, and are reinforced through instruction. These behaviors are posted throughout the
different settings of the school in a behavior matrix that shows the how the behavioral
expectations relate to that specific setting (PBIS.org, 2019). Teaching students the appropriate
and expected way to behave has been shown to be a basis for ABA and PBIS research
(Fronapfel, Dunlap, Flagtvedt, Strain, & Lee, 2018). Studies have also shown that having a
specific set of expected behaviors and instructing students in them has been an effective way to
lower undesired behaviors and replace them with more appropriate behaviors (Dunlap, Strain,
Lee, Joseph, & Leech, 2018).
There are several different critical elements of the BoQ that can be combined under the
framework for the expected behaviors matrix. Effective Procedures for Dealing with Discipline;
Expectations & Rules Developed; Lesson Plans for Teaching Expectations/Rules;
Implementation Plan; and Classroom Systems can all be pointed back to the umbrella of the
expected behaviors matrix. Across these different elements there are thirty-three different
reporting categories for a total of sixty-three total points on the BoQ assessment tool (Childs et
al., 2011). As outlined in the introduction to PBIS programs in chapter 1, this shows the
perceived importance of having a well thought out PBIS program in place before implementation
can start.

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Staff Buy-in. One of the biggest contributing factors to the initial implementation of a
successful PBIS program is staff buy-in. Staff buy-in means that the staff has committed to the
principles and implementation of the PBIS program. At least 80% of buy-in from the staff is the
minimum expectation to be able to successfully implement a successful PBIS program
(PBIS.org, 2019). Having the support and commitment of the staff has been shown to be a
critical aspect to not only implementation, but also sustaining successful PBIS programs
(Mathews et al., 2014; Pinkelman et al., 2015). Additionally, it has been shown that teachers
who perceive that students will benefit from the PBIS program will be more likely to support the
implementation and sustaining of the PBIS program while also being more open to learning
about and volunteering to train other staff members on the PBIS program (Pinkelman et al.,
2015).
Staff buy-in is represented on the BoQ under the critical element of faculty commitment.
In this element, there are three reporting categories, including faculty being aware of behavior
problems through regular data sharing, being involved in establishing and reviewing goals, and
feedback being obtained throughout the year. These categories account for a total of six possibly
points on the BoQ assessment tool (Childs et al., 2011). Not only does this point to the
perceived necessity of having staff buy-in before the implementation of the program, but to
sustain the program as well.
Administrative Support. Through the research of successful PBIS program
implementation and sustainment, it has been repeatedly shown that administrative support is
crucial to a PBIS program’s success. It has been found that administrators that were most
supportive in the implementation of PBIS programs were actively involved in the adoption
process, showed a prominent leadership style, and acted as team leaders in the process

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(Pinkelman et al., 2015). Additional research has shown that administrators can show their
support by allocating appropriate resources, such as time, training, and incentives, making their
goals for the program clear, and addressing competing programs in the school that might
decrease valuable resources (Mathews et al., 2014). Administrative support also does not stop at
the school level, but also extends to the district level. The teachers and staff being able to see
district-level support has been shown to emphasize the role of institutional knowledge within the
entire district as a crucial strategy for supporting the PBIS implementation process (George,
Elfner, Minch, & Sandomierski, 2018). Even after implementation of PBIS programs,
administrative support has even been shown, in some studies, to have had the strongest impact
on sustainability (Mathews et al., 2014).
While administrative support is not a separate critical element on the BoQ, it is a part of
several of the reporting categories. Administrative support is listed under reporting categories in
the critical elements of the PBIS Team, the Implementation Plan, and Evaluation (Childs et al.,
2011). Administrative support in the BoQ mainly falls under guidance of the team, professional
development, and evaluation of the program.
Utilization of Data. One last crucial aspect of successful PBIS programs is the use of
data. Data is used in PBIS programs to identify problems areas, track progress, see if changes
need to be made, increase or decrease the token economy system, and, overall, evaluate the
successfulness of a PBIS program (PBIS.org, 2019). The use of data in PBIS programs is also
crucial to provide a concrete and visible way to assess almost all parts of a PBIS program, but
can also be used as a powerful motivation tool for influencing teaches’ and staff’s opinions of
PBIS programs by seeing a visible change in student behaviors (Mathews et al., 2014).
Additionally, while data can be used at the implementation process of the program to identify the

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major problem areas of the school, such as the hallways or cafeteria, data can then be used to
show the improvement in those areas while being able to move the emphasis of the program that
while wasn’t a top priority at first, can now be looked at, like the classrooms (PBIS.org, 2019).
Establishing an effective district data infrastructure has also been shown to be crucial to the PBIS
implementation process in the way of assembling an effective data team including having a
representative from the district’s data management system to work along with the district’s
administration team to guarantee that the district’s data system addressed the needs of the PBIS
program (George et al., 2018).
The utilization of data is covered on the BoQ assessment tool under two critical elements,
Data Entry & Analysis Plan Established and Evaluation. These two critical elements account for
nine different reporting categories and a possibility of twenty-one total points out of the 107
points possible (Childs et al., 2011). In addition, data is referred to in several other reporting
categories, under different critical elements, such as the PBIS Team and Faculty Commitment.
In these elements, the BoQ is looking to see if the data is not only being analyzed, but being
shared regularly with the team and staff as well.
Perceived Barriers and Enablers of PBIS Programs
The literature on PBIS also illustrates many perceived barriers and enablers when first
implementing PBIS. To be able to successfully implement PBIS, it is important to know the
important factors that can help, or hurt, at the very beginning so a school can be fully prepared.
While the OSEP Technical Assistance Center for PBIS has a general guideline for implementing
PBIS that was discussed earlier, it is also important to know what common perceptions are when
presenting the process and implementation strategy to the PBIS team and staff. The following

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sections will look at common perceptions overall and then specifically from teacher and
administration points of view.
In 2010, a study was published that looked at perspectives on implementation and
outcomes of PBIS. Four main themes were identified and then the contributing factors and
barriers were laid out for each of those themes (Ackerman et al., 2010). These themes were
consistency and adaptability, rewards, data-based decision making, and professional
development and support. For consistency and adaptability, the contributors were a consistent
commitment to PBIS by teachers and administrators, a consistency of policies and practices as
applied in the school, and a willingness to adapt and experiment within the framework of PBIS.
The barriers were a lack of buy-in to PBIS and a limited understanding of PBIS principles. For
the theme of rewards, the contributors were student input, appropriate nature and timing of
rewards, and external support with the barriers of a lack of clarity/agreement about when to use
rewards, student manipulation of the system, and rewards that are inappropriate for the age
group. The theme of data-based decision making had the contributors of responding to emerging
issues, monitoring individual behavior, and increase staff buy-in with the barriers of the
perceptions of data as window-dressing and an unsystematic collection of data. Finally, for the
theme of professional development and support, the contributors were the awareness of a District
Coach as a resource and an annual refresher training with barriers of insufficient training for new
teachers, a lack of refresher training, and limited resources (Ackerman et al., 2010).
Additionally, Ackerman et al. (2010) developed five specific recommendations that go
across all of the major themes: teacher commitment to the initiative needs to be developed and
reinforced; clear implementation guidelines should be provided to all school staff through a
structured system of professional development; systematic data collection; including student

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input in data-based decision making with regards to the rewards systems; and PBIS
orientation/training for new and substitute teachers to increase the consistency of the PBIS
program (Ackerman et al., 2010). Similarly, Andreou, McIntosh, Ross, & Kahn (2015)
published a study designed to identify, categorize, and describe implementers’ perspectives in
relationship to factors that helped or hurt the sustainability of Tier 1 systems in School-wide
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS. As a result of the study, 227 critical
incidents were recorded and broken down into 13 categories spanning the following topics that
affect the sustainability of Tier 1 SWPBIS implementation: continuous teaching; positive
reinforcement; SWPBIS team effectiveness; staff ownership; school administrator involvement;
adaptation; community of practice; use of data; involving new personnel; access to external
expertise; maintaining priority; staff turnover; and conflict of personal beliefs/mistaken beliefs
(Andreou et al., 2015). These recommendations and contributing factors, across all of the
themes, are in line with current research on implementing and sustaining PBIS programs.
Adding to this growing literature base on pinpointing contributing factors and barriers in
properly implementing PBIS with fidelity, McDaniel, Kim, and Guyotte (2017) looked at
perceptions of implementing PBIS in a high-need school. The researchers did a case study on
school faculty and staff members that had recently gone through implementation of PBIS
programs in high-need schools, specifically high-poverty schools. The participants for this study
all came from schools with over 75% free and reduced lunch status. Through the data collecting
process, the participants noted that the success of implementing PBIS for high-need schools was
dependent on fidelity, grade level, buy-in, and leadership report. It was also mentioned that the
reason these schools looked at PBIS was because the high-need schools required alternatives to
exclusionary discipline practices. At the conclusion of the study, there were six different barriers

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that emerged: state, district, and administrator buy-in; teacher training and teacher buy-in;
complex, high-need student issues; lack of parent and community involvement and shared value
for positive behavior support; challenges in secondary schools; and challenges due to a culture of
poverty. All of the educator participants in the study also mentioned the importance of continued
training and support for implementing PBIS in an effective cultural and contextually responsive
manner. Additionally, there were some suggestions for PBIS support at the state level that came
out of the study: prioritizing PBIS as a critical initiative, integrated with additional student
supports; providing resources, training, and awareness; and monitoring implementation and
adherence to evidence-based PBIS practices (McDaniel, Kim, & Guyotte, 2017).
Teacher and Staff Perceptions. Recent studies have emerged looking at teacher and
staff perceptions of PBIS programs. While Staff-Buy in is considered paramount to success of
PBIS implementation, the overall perceptions of the teachers is not a main focal point.
Therefore, it is important to look at the literature on teacher and staff perceptions of PBIS
programs. The perceptions of the teachers are important to get the needed buy-in as teachers that
perceive the advantages of PBIS will be more likely to take their part more seriously and
implement it with greater fidelity (Mathews et al., 2014; Pinkelman et al., 2015).
The majority of the studies show positive teacher perceptions. Martin (2013) performed
a study looking at 71 teachers in southeastern Georgia at two schools were a PBIS program had
been implemented and in place for three years. The result of the study showed that most teachers
appeared to be satisfied with the PBIS program. The data showed specifically that teachers were
satisfied with the behavioral expectations, consequences, incentive programs, data analysis
systems, administrative support, and the decisions of the schools’ PBIS team. Additionally, the
teachers indicated that they thought the PBIS program positively affected teacher and staff

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behavior. They did not conclusively indicate that they thought the PBIS program decreased
student discipline problems, attitudes towards school, or respectfulness toward others (Martin,
2013). Psanos (2013) published a study that included looking at 37 Maryland elementary
schools, 21 of which implemented PBIS programs, and 16 that did not. Comparatively, the
schools that implemented PBIS programs, through data obtained through teacher surveys,
showed a greater improvement in school climate that the schools that did not implement a PBIS
program. Halliburton (2015) looked at a rural school in North Carolina and teacher perceptions
after implementing a PBIS program. The study showed that a majority of teachers (89%) agreed
that students benefited from the program and that the school environment has been positively
impacted by their PBIS program. Over 83% of the teachers agreed that the PBIS program was
effective in increasing instructional time and improved overall communication. While all
teachers (100%) agreed that they felt safe at school and that the school was a safe place for the
students and teachers, less teachers (78%) stated that they believed PBIS reduced student
disrespect or improved student to student interactions (Halliburton, 2015). Bartosik (2014)
conducted a study that included teacher surveys to find perceptions that showed significantly
higher ratings of feeling safe within the school environment by teachers at schools that had
implemented PBIS programs for at least three years.
Colak, Tomris, Diken, Arikan, Aksoy, & Celik (2015) authored a study designed to
examine the views and opinions of teachers and counselors toward the Preschool Version of First
Step to Success Early Intervention Program (FSS-PSV) in preventing antisocial behaviors. The
findings of the study broke student antisocial behaviors into five different categories: physical
attack; inadequacy in social skills; verbal attack; obsessive behaviors; and attention deficiency.
The reasons for these behaviors were broken down into four main reasons: family-related

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reasons; child-related reasons; teacher-related reasons; and unsure. Overall, a majority of the
teachers and counselors noted a positive effect in decreasing aggressive behaviors and increasing
the development of social skills. As a final result of the study, it was noted that teachers,
families, and counselors need extensive support in overcoming antisocial behaviors and,
therefore, programs need to be created and maintained that support and provide school-teacherfamily collaboration and organizing seminars, conferences, parent education classes, and inservice trainings for teachers to cope with antisocial behaviors (Colak et al., 2015).
In reviewing the literature on teacher perceptions of PBIS programs, there are several
conclusions that can be made. Teachers at the schools looked at in the studies, where PBIS
programs were implemented, had positive perceptions of these programs. Their positive
perceptions include improvements to school climate and atmosphere, student office referrals, and
student behavior. However, while perceptions on the overall programs were positive, not all
perceptions were positive, such as student to student interactions, and the need for more overall
training.
Administration Perceptions and Involvement. In reviewing the literature on PBIS
programs, a common theme as a possible contributing factor and as a possible barrier is the
involvement and active participation of the principal, or administration. It is important to
investigate this avenue further to see if there are important perceptions or suggestions that can
impact the fidelity of PBIS programs just in the role of administrators and PBIS. George and
Kincaid (2008) published a report on the importance of building district-level capacity for PBIS.
Using Florida as an example, the researchers pointed out that it is not uncommon for school
districts to implement PBIS programs in one to three schools the first year and to increase that to
fifteen to twenty new schools the following year. This dramatic increase in the number of

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schools in a district implementing new PBIS programs at one time, urges for the support and
involvement of district administrators in this process. Developing a district wide implementation
program with full administration support and involvement will build overall knowledge and
awareness of PBIS as well as enhance the implementation efforts by utilizing more collaboration
and less competition (George & Kincaid, 2008). The authors suggest nine important
implementation elements: establishing a district leadership team; choosing a PBIS district
coordinator; proper funding; building visibility of PBIS programs to maintain communication;
political support that is communicated to school administrators, personnel, parents, and students;
the use of PBIS trainers, training curriculum, and training preparation; the use of PBIS coaches;
demonstrations sites utilizing schools implementing PBIS with fidelity; and an effective
evaluation process. Using these elements as a guideline, district personnel will be able to better
organize the resources and maintain the support to successfully implement and sustain districtwide PBIS programs (George & Kincaid, 2008).
Building on the administration involvement in district-wide implementation of PBIS,
Richards, Aguilera, Murakami, and Weiland (2014) published a study exploring the district-wide
implementation of PBIS in a large inner-city school district in Texas. In the process of the study,
through discussions with the leaders of the PBIS programs in the schools, it was noted that
different school campuses either fell into the categories of a strong principal focus, or a limited
principal focus. Schools that had a strong principal focus saw principals, or assistant principals,
that regularly attended PBIS meetings, were aware of the PBIS plans and worked collaboratively
with the team on implementation, and provided adequate time for the team to present to the staff
while supporting the team during these presentations. Schools that had a limited principal focus
had principals that did not attend meetings, but an assistant principal may attend sporadically,

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was not knowledgeable about the PBIS team plans or does not work with the team on
implementation (additionally the principal may sometimes hinder the process and not provide
access to space and/or resources needed), and does not provide adequate time for the team to
present or does not support the PBIS team during the presentations (Richards, Aguilera,
Murakami, & Weiland, 2014). Through the research of the study, it was shown that the level of
principal focus did effect the success of the PBIS program, but mainly after the first year. In the
first year of implementation, the principal focus did not have much of an effect. In the following
years, it was found to be significant (Richards et al., 2014). This shows the importance of
involvement and support of principals and administration in successful PBIS programs.
Further literature from the administrative perspective, Christofferson and Callahan (2015)
published research on implementing a PBIS program in a charter school that had shown high
staff turnover, negative school climate, and high student suspension rates in an urban setting.
They found a significant drop in the amount of in-school suspension and disruptive behaviors
while also a significant rise in students that agreed that the school had a respectful and positive
school climate. Additionally, based on the findings, the administrators made recommendations,
such as reviewing procedures for office discipline referrals to ensure staff understand the
procedures (tier 1), analyze the office discipline referrals to discuss underlying issues (the basis
for tier 1), provide ongoing professional development to teaching staff on positive interventions
(tier 2), provide ongoing professional development regarding the implementation of Behavior
Intervention Plans and the check-in/check-out system (tier3), identify students with the highest
number of discipline referrals to understand underlying causes of disruptive behavior (tier 3), and
to review the office referrals to see if there was a relationship in regards to race, gender, and age
(tier 1). All of these recommendations would imply that the school was seeing a positive effect.

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Additional qualitative research has been done that has shown the perceptions of
principals toward the implementation of PBIS programs. McIntosh, Kelm, and Canizal Delabra
(2016) conducted a study that looked at events that influenced principals’ overall support for
school-wide behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). The purpose of the study was to
gather information on events or experiences that principals perceived to help or hurt their
decision to support PBIS. The research questions looked at in the city specifically looked for
incidents that helped and hindered the implementation of a PBIS program. Additionally, the
research looked at what would have been important prior knowledge before attempting to
implement the program. The study included 10 administrators, both principals and viceprincipals, from 10 different school districts across 8 U.S. states and Canada. Participants were
chosen for meeting the desired criteria of being initially against PBIS but had recently increased
their support (McIntosh et al., 2016). The results of the study showed there were 62 helping
incidents for the principals’ support of PBIS that were broken into 9 different categories,
included learning from others, networking with other schools, learning how PBIS aligns with
personal values, experiencing the effectiveness firsthand, observing a need for PBIS, attending
quality trainings, seeing staff show support, connection to a coach, and attending PBIS team
meetings (McIntosh et al., 2016). There were 14 hindering incidents that were grouped into
three categories of disagreeing with the philosophy of PBIS, witnessing unsupportive staff, and
negative reaction to time commitment. Additionally, there were also 15 wish list items discussed
by the administrators that if they had experienced early on would have helped in their support
earlier for PBIS. These were broken down into two categories of learning about PBIS earlier,
which includes two subcategories of learning from more experience administrators and staff and

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attending a conference or training earlier on, and planning for implementation (McIntosh et al.,
2016).
Overcoming Perceived Barriers. In-line with teacher perceptions and the common
contributing factor or barrier on teacher training on PBIS implementation, there was also
research found on the positive effect of teacher pre-teacher training on the knowledge of
implementation of PBIS programs. Ross and Lignugaris-Kraft (2015) and Wu (2017) published
literature showing the positive effects of properly training teacher and future teachers on PBIS
programs. It was found that the knowledge base of PBIS and the quality of PBIS programs can
be improved with the proper teacher training. The study showed that if teachers are properly
trained on the overall knowledge and concepts of PBIS, then when they go to create PBIS
programs at their own schools, the programs that they put into place will be of greater quality
(Wu, 2017). Additionally, it was found that teachers that went through training on PBIS
programs as pre-teachers, through teacher preparation university courses as part of their
programs of study, have shown the ability to implement effective teaching practices in all three
tiers of PBIS programs within evidence-based systems of student support. What these studies
show are that if common barriers, in this case training, are taken on then the outcome is a higher
quality PBIS program for their schools.
Some research on overcoming these perceived barriers can also happen as part of
research looking at different aspects of PBIS. McIntosh, Kim, Mercer, Strickland-Cohen, &
Horner (2015) conducted a study to see if school demographic characteristics or school team
actions related to sustained implementation of SWPBIS programs. The study looked at 860
schools across 14 states. Each school in the study was represented by one individual with
knowledge regarding each school’s SWPBIS program. The results of the study showed that

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school demographic characteristics were not significantly related to sustainability, but school
team actions, such as the frequency of sharing data with the whole school staff, were statistically
significantly related to the sustainability of the SWPBIS programs. This quantitative research
shows the effectiveness of disseminating information gained in the data-based decision making
process has on successfully implementing a PBIS program. This relates back to the research
questions and implications of this overall paper in that if there are consistent themes across
successfully sustained PBIS programs, then if they are utilized in the correct way, more and
more PBIS programs will be able to be successfully sustained with fidelity as well.
Sustaining PBIS programs
While much research has been done on implementing PBIS programs successfully, there
is a lack of research out there on sustaining successful PBIS programs (Johnson, 2014). That is
the main focus of this research study, to see what common themes emerge with PBIS programs
that have already been implemented with fidelity. It is important to look first at some of the little
research that is out there on sustaining PBIS programs. A study was published in 2015 using
school personnel that covered 860 schools. This study looked at the responses from two main
questions, “What is the most important factor for sustaining SWPBIS?” and “What is the most
significant barrier to sustaining SWPBIS?” to yield thirteen main themes (Pinkelman, McIntosh,
Rasplica, Berg, & Strickland-Cohen, 2015). The main eleven factors that enable a school to
successfully sustain PBIS programs are (in order from most commonly stated to least): staff buyin, school administrator support, consistency, training, teaming, effectiveness, PBIS philosophy,
data, fidelity of implementation, time as a resource, and money as a resource. Among the
barriers to successfully sustain PBIS programs, there were ten main factors (in order from most
commonly stated to least): staff buy-in, time as a resource, money as a resource, consistency,

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integrating other initiatives, training, fidelity of implementation, student buy-in, PBIS
philosophy, and school administrator support (Pinkelman et al., 2015). Seeing as most of the
common themes were stated as both contributing factors to the success and as barriers, such as
staff buy-in, money, time, and consistency, there is the need for further research in to what
makes the PBIS programs sustained with fidelity. Additionally, this study looked at a large
amount of PBIS programs without being concerned if the programs were implemented or
sustained with fidelity, just that they were in place. Through the study of this overall paper, it
common themes will be looked at over only sustained with fidelity programs.
Summary of the literature and transition into Chapter III
Overall, the purpose of a PBIS program is to constantly emphasize the positive behaviors
that the school desires to help encourage the students to show more of those behaviors and less
of the disruptive behaviors. The amount of time put in to the development of the program and
the data analysis, beforehand as well as throughout, will make the program that much more
successful. It is important not to forget other important, necessary aspects of the program as
well, such as simplifying the program (to get staff buy-in, efficiency, consistency, and student
buy-in), using the proper supports and interventions that can be easily and effectively done by
the people that will be in charge of handling them, using the right people in the right places along
the way, and constantly making sure that the positivity is being stressed. The more and more
literature that is coming out on the topic of the school-wide positive behavior programs are
backing this up to hold true in many different settings, grade levels, and by different levels of
staff. Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports programs are having a positive effect on our
students, our staff, and our school atmospheres. Given this, however, there seems to be a need
for more research looking at the sustainability of these programs. There is more literature on this

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that has come out more recently, but it is an area that does not have as much in place as why, and
how, these PBIS and SWPBIS need to be put in place. Additionally, there is even less research
on what changes schools put into effect to keep the PBIS and SWPBIS programs effective and
sustainable over time. This sets up possible future research to try to identify what keeps these
programs from becoming stale and outdated as schools keep them in place over longer and
longer time periods.

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Chapter III
Methodology
Restatement of Purpose
Significant research has been done on the importance of Positive Behavioral and
Interventions Supports (PBIS) programs in today’s schools as well as research done on how to
implement these types of programs effectively and successfully. However, once the programs
have been designed and put into place, there is less research on following through with the
program. Many programs fail within a couple of years and need to be redone while some
programs continue to be implemented well. A 37 state, 5,331 school study showed that 58% of
schools that implemented a PBIS program abandoned the program within the first three years
(McIntosh et al., 2016). The research of this study will focus on the key elements to successful
programs over time. With the research question identified as looking for the commonalities of
successful PBIS programs, that have been identified as having sustained fidelity by the state of
Pennsylvania, from the teachers’ perspectives, there are many steps that need to be taken to
collect and analyze the data.
Research Question and Subquestions
1. What do successful PBIS programs, that have been identified as having sustained fidelity by
the state, have in common, from the teachers’ perspective?
1.1. What are the most important enabling factors about PBIS programs to maintain
sustained fidelity?
1.2. What are the biggest barriers facing PBIS programs to maintain sustained fidelity?
1.3. Do the teacher perceptions and opinions about the critical components of these sustained
PBIS programs align with the state recognition based on Likert-type responses?

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Description of participants
The first challenge was to identify potential participants. Initially, it had to be established
what sustained fidelity meant so that schools could be found that met this criterion. As
previously mentioned, the state of Pennsylvania uses a scoring system identified as the
Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ) when assessing the implementation of PBIS programs (PAPBS,
2018). The BoQ is a 53 question evaluation tool with a total score of 107. The BoQ has been
established as a valid assessment tool in several studies as well as being revised (Kincaid, Childs,
& George, 2005; Cohen et al., 2007; Childs et al., 2011; Matthews et al., 2014). Pennsylvania
identifies a school as having implemented a PBIS program with fidelity if they score at or above
70% on the BoQ. A school is identified as having sustained fidelity with their PBIS program
with a score of 80% or higher (PAPBS, 2018). Using the Pennsylvania site on PBIS, the
following schools were identified as having sustained fidelity in Allegheny County (PAPBS,
2018):
School

School District

Chartiers Valley Primary School

Chartiers Valley School District

Kerr Elementary School

Fox Chapel Area School District

Dr. Cleveland Steward Jr. Elementary School

Gateway School District

Fairmount Primary School

Highlands School District

Fawn Primary Center

Highlands School District

Avalon Elementary School

Northgate School District

Bellevue Elementary School

Northgate School District

Quaker Valley Middle School

Quaker Valley School District

Tenth Street Elementary School

Riverview School District

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Homerville Elementary School

West Mifflin Area School District

Clara Barton Elementary School

West Mifflin Area School District

These schools, and their teachers, were identified as being possible participants in this
study.
Description of instrumentation/measurement procedures
The researcher conducted a pilot study in the spring of 2018, looking at common themes
among PBIS programs that had been in place for at least three years (Pfeiffer, 2018). The
revised interview guide from that pilot study will be used in this study. The original interview
guide had seven main questions with twenty-two sub-questions. As a result of the pilot study,
some changes were made to the interview guide. The revised interview guide has eleven main
questions with thirty-three sub-questions. In question 1A, the identifier of a token economy was
added for clarity. In questions 3B and 3C there were additions looking for specific incidents that
influenced the interviewee’s previous answer. Finally, the last section was added with one main
question and five sub-questions pointing out to the interviewee that his/her school had been
identified as having sustained fidelity in implementing the school’s PBIS program, asking if the
interviewee was aware of this, if they knew the team members that completed the BoQ tool, if
the results of the tool had ever been shared with the staff, if the interviewee felt that the school’s
PBIS was effective from their perspective, what made the interviewee feel it was effective or not,
and if there were any specific incidents that influenced the previous answer. These additions
were added for clarity, to get information about if the teachers are aware of their school’s score
on the BoQ, and if they personally agreed that the program was successful or not along with
reasoning and/or specific incidents that made influenced their decision. To add a quantitative

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aspect to the study, Likert-type questions were also added to the interview guide to assess the
teachers’ perceptions of their PBIS program and how it aligns with the state’s identification of
the program as being sustained with fidelity. The interview guide is included in the Appendix.
The interview guide’s questions correlate to the main research question and subquestions as is
shown in table 3.1.
Table 3.1
Interview Guide to Research Question Breakdown

Research Question/Subquestion

Interview Guide Question/Topic

Research Question 1 – What do successful
PBIS programs, that have been identified as
having sustained fidelity by the state, have in
common, from the teachers’ perspective?

2 – Token Economy
3 – PBIS Team
4 – Evaluation Plan
5 – PBIS program consistency
9 – Data Evaluation Team/Data Presentation

Research Subquestions - 1.1 - What are the
most important enabling factors about PBIS
programs to maintain sustained fidelity?
1.2 – What are the biggest barriers facing PBIS
programs to maintain sustained fidelity?

6 – Student Buy-In
7 – Staff Buy-In
8 – Barriers/Contributors

Research Subquestion – 1.3 – Do the teacher
perceptions and opinions about the critical
components of these sustained PBIS programs
align with the state recognition based on Likerttype responses?

10 – Rating (Likert-Type) the importance and
11 – Rating (Likert-Type the effectiveness of
• Token Economy
• PBIS Team
• Expected Behaviors Matrix
• Expected Behaviors Lessons
• Staff Buy-In
• Administrative Support
• Data for Evaluation
• Data for Maintaining Program

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While all of the questions will cover the main question looking for commonalities, from
the teachers’ perspectives, of PBIS programs sustained with fidelity, the interview guide can be
broken down more specifically with the subquestions. The questions listed under the main
research question will look specifically for the narratives from the teachers about what makes
their PBIS work and be effective. These questions will also look for teacher perceptions of
effectiveness, the effect of changes made throughout the sustainment of the program, and how/if
the data is shared with the staff. The questions listed under the subquestions 1.1 and 1.2 will
look specifically at teacher perceptions of sustained buy-in from teachers and staff while also
looking directly for the narrative from the teachers on what they perceived as enabling factors
and barriers that helped or hindered the sustainment of their program. This data, broken down
into these subquestions will enable the teachers to give their direct perceptions of enables and
barriers, in addition to the data that emerges from the narrative from the other questions. Lastly,
the last two questions on the interview guide are the Likert-type questions that will bring in the
quantitative data for this study. This data will look to see if the teacher perceptions of these
programs, that have been identified as exemplary by the state of Pennsylvania, align with what
the state has identified as critical components to sustaining PBIS programs as well as what the
state has identified with these specific schools.
Research design and description of procedures
The next process for the study is to establish the procedure for the collecting of the data.
To collect the data, the researcher will first reach out to the Superintendents of the schools
identified above to see if they would be willing to have their teachers be a part of the study. It
will be noted that the teachers will have participated in the study anonymously to ensure
confidentiality, but the results can be shared back with the district if they so choose. If the

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superintendents were willing to have their teachers participate, then the school principals were
contacted for approval as well. Once approval was obtained, then an email was sent out to the
teachers seeking participants in the study along with consent forms. Teachers were interviewed
by email, with a link to an online survey, as this has been shown as effective in producing
credible findings, helping the feasibility of the study by getting more willing participants that
might be too busy to participate via in-person interviews, and getting clear and precise responses
(Hawkins, 2018; James, 2007; Ratislavova & Ratislav, 2014). Follow-up emails were used in
the case of needed clarification. In an effort to increase the number of participants in the study,
the teachers were made aware that any participants were entered into a drawing for a $50
Amazon gift card if they completed the interview guide in a two-week time period.
Once the data was collected, the next stage of the study will be to analyze the data. A
mixed methods approach will be taken with this study, using a qualitative, grounded theory
approach in addition to a quantitative analysis of Likert-type responses. An email questionnaire
was used as the interview process where the questions were open-ended enabling the participants
to expand on what they perceived the contributing factors, and barriers, are in sustaining
successful PBIS programs. The Likert-type responses at the end of the questionnaire looked at
teachers’ perceived notions on importance and effectiveness of common PBIS enablers/barriers.
As data is collected, the researcher used thematic analysis to first compare the data with the
themes from the pilot study as original focus points while also looking at any additional themes
that arose as the study was being conducted. Additionally, the data was used to look to see if
there were any specific themes relating to changes or modifications that schools made to their
PBIS and SWPBIS programs to maintain, or improve, their effectiveness over time or if there are
any specific contributing factor or barriers that have impacted the effectiveness over time. In the

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previously mentioned pilot study done in the spring of 2018, the following themes emerged:
consistency, with a subcategory of administrative support; funding; data-based decision making;
and changes to the program, with two subcategories of what the changes were based on and who
decided to make the changes (Pfeiffer, 2018). These themes were used for deductive coding
along with an additional theme of monitoring and evaluating staff and student buy-in.

Those

are some of the focal points that were set up as a result of the pilot before the interview process
started and will be used to originally help setup preset codes and organize the data. Testing data
against empirical data using preset codes is often insisted upon with grounded theory researchers
(Elliott, 2018). In reviewing the research, new codes were looked for, as is common in the
course of a single research study. Utilizing new codes as they emerge ensured that all data was
considered through the analysis (Elliott, 2018). As these codes were eventually narrowed down
into bigger categories, themes started to emerge from the data. These themes were used to tell
the story of the data to put the research in a more meaningful order (Yi, 2018). After the themes
have been analyzed for importance relating to the original research question and subquestions,
the data was then reduced to the point of the main influential contributing factors of sustained
fidelity in PBIS programs along with barriers that could possibly hinder the sustaining of these
programs. For the quantitative analysis, the Likert-type questions will be coded (1=1, 2=2, 3=3,
4=4, 5=5). This data was then evaluated by looking at central tendencies with the medians and
modes of the responses to determine common themes in the teachers’ responses and perceptions
on the importance and effectiveness of key common PBIS enablers and barriers.
Data analysis
The purpose of this study is to look for contributing factors of successfully sustained
PBIS programs. Through the analysis and break down the the data, this study will look to serve

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as a guide for school districts to proactively plan and design a framework to maintain their PBIS
program. While the data of this study is specific to the teachers of the school districts involved
in this study, the intent is to give schools more information in the area of sustaining programs to
build upon the growing amount of data on implementation of PBIS programs.
This study used a mixed-methods approach. Mixed methods research refers to the
method of collecting and analyzing data in a combination of both qualitative and quantitative
approaches throughout the research process (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007). A survey was sent
to teachers with open-ended questions and Likert-type questions. The data was collected and
analyzed with a complementarity purpose focus. A complementarity purpose for mixed-methods
evaluation design clarifies and illustrates results from one method with the use of another method
(Greene, Caracelli, & Graham, 1989). In this study, the use of qualitative data, through the use
of the Likert-type questions, was used in concurrence with the qualitative data collected through
the open-ended questions.
The last stage of the data collection was to summarize the data and finalize the theories
that have emerged from the study. To do this, the qualitative data was analyzed through an open
coding process will be used to help summarize the findings of the main contributing factors to
make sure that the focus is not on all of the commonalities, but the what the data shows as the
most important factors. Open coding helped build a descriptive narrative of the data as a multidimensional framework to help with the later analysis and narrowing of data (Blair, 2015;
Khandkar, 2009). The data was then compared to the original themes from the pilot study to see
if the new data agreed with, expanded upon, disagreed with, or pointed towards new emergent
themes. The themes that emerged from the pilot study were consistency of the program, funding,
data-based decision making, and changes made to the program to keep it align to the changing

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needs of the school (Pfeiffer, 2018). While preset codes were used to compare the data to the
pilot study themes, new codes were developed to ensure that all of the data is being analyzed. In
this inductive process, the researcher coded potential themes and continually revised these coded
themes while sorting through the data through axial coding where more precise explanations can
be formed (Blair, 2015). This process was then continued as all of the data was reviewed and
analyzed until all of the codes, new and preset, were then narrowed down into major categories.
This enabled the data to emerge into themes along the process of selective coding to organize the
data around a central explanatory narrative, or concept (Blair, 2015). Additionally, the qualitative
data was compared to the Critical Elements of a PBIS program as identified on the BoQ. These
Critical Elements are the PBIS Team, Faculty Commitment, Effective Procedures for Dealing
with Discipline, Data Entry & Analysis Plan Established, Expectations & Rules Developed,
Reward/Recognition Program Established, Lesson Plans for Teaching Expectations/Rules,
Implementation Plan, Classroom Systems, and Evaluations (Childs et al., 2011). In looking for
new themes to emerge, as well as comparing to themes from the pilot study, as well as
comparing to the Critical Elements identified in the BoQ, commonalities were identified in
successfully sustained PBIS programs. This is how the qualitative data was analyzed.
Quantitative data was collected and analyzed through the inclusion of Likert-type
questions on the teacher survey. These questions looked to evaluate teacher perceptions of
importance and effectiveness of important aspects of PBIS programs. Again, these important
aspects come from both the pilot study and the BoQ. Likert-type questions measure data based
on a greater or less than relationship with no implication of how much greater or less than. This
makes Likert-type questions best placed in the ordinal measurement scale. For ordinal
measurement scales, descriptive statistics recommends the use of central tendency and

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frequencies for variability. The Likert-type data in this study was analyzed in this method,
looking at central tendency with median or mode, and frequencies for variability.
This data was used to look for common themes among teachers’ perceptions of the
effectiveness of their PBIS program as well as the importance of major factors of PBIS programs
relating to implementation and sustaining of the programs, as determined by the literature
review, the pilot study, and the BoQ. These results were then be used to theorize what schools
and districts need to continually focus on with their PBIS programs to make sure that they
continue to be successful and effective and do not need to be continually overhauled, whether
completely or partially. This goes back to the purpose of the study, to help schools maintain,
with fidelity, successful PBIS programs over time, instead of having to revamp, completely
change, or start over with a new program. Additionally, these results will point toward possible
future research, such as expanding the study to include more teachers across more parts of the
country to look for if the contributing factors continue to follow the same major themes, or
looking at newer sections of PBIS for further analysis.

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Chapter IV
Findings
Restatement of Research Questions
The purpose of this research study is to look at sustaining successful PBIS programs.
This study was set up to look at teacher perceptions of successfully sustained PBIS program, as
identified by the state of Pennsylvania, to determine commonalities with these successful
programs. To do that, the following research questions were posed.
1. What do successful PBIS programs, that have been identified as having sustained
fidelity by the state, have in common, from the teachers’ perspective?
1.1. What are the most important enabling factors about PBIS programs to maintain
sustained fidelity?
1.2. What are the biggest barriers facing PBIS programs to maintain sustained
fidelity?
1.3. Do the teacher perceptions and opinions about the critical components of these
sustained PBIS programs align with the state recognition based on Likert-type
responses?
Results were looked at qualitatively and quantitatively. Teachers filled out a
questionnaire involving two main parts, open ended questions and Likert-type questions. The
open ended responses focused on the overall structure, setup, and maintenance of the school’s
PBIS program as well as giving the teachers the chance to give their perceptions of critical
components of PBIS. These responses were then used to look at the data for themes as well as
major contributors or barriers leading to the successful sustainment of PBIS programs. Likerttype questions were included in the questionnaire to evaluate the teachers’ perceptions of

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importance and effectiveness of 8 critical components of PBIS; the token economy, PBIS team,
expected behaviors matrix, expected behaviors lessons, staff buy-in, administrative support, use
of data in evaluating the program, and the use of data in making changes to the program. The
Likert-type questions were used to determine the perceived importance and effectiveness of
specific attributes identified as being paramount to the implementation of successful PBIS
programs.
Demographics
There was an original list of 11 schools that were identified as having successfully
sustained fidelity with their PBIS program, by the state of Pennsylvania, for this study (PAPBS,
2018). Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2020-2021 school year and changes
in school settings during this year, there was one school that the research study was approved for,
Dr. Cleveland Steward, Jr. Elementary School in the Gateway School District. Various attempts
were made to include more schools and teachers for this study, but were unsuccessful. Initial
phone calls and emails were made to all districts along with follow up emails and reminders were
sent to superintendents and principals in attempts to get approval to survey more teachers.
Superintendents declined to participate in the study in an effort to not add to the work load of, in
their words, their overworked and stressed staff. With guidance of the dissertation committee,
the researcher was advised to move forward with the one school. At the approved school, email
reminders were sent to staff members that had not responded to the survey on numerous
occasions over a six month time period in an attempt to survey as many teachers as possible at
Dr. Cleveland Steward, Jr. Elementary School.
Dr. Cleveland Steward Elementary School is a Kindergarten through Fourth grade school
that averages around 300 students in the suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County that serves

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the communities of Monroeville and Pitcairn. Teachers from Cleveland Steward Elementary
School were surveyed in the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2021. The PBIS program that school
uses is Great Gator and the teacher participants have been involved with the program for an
average of around 6 years. The school has a student breakdown as shown in table 4.1 and 4.2
below.
Table 4.1
Percent Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity
Race/Ethnicity

Percentage

American Indian/Alaskan Native

0%

Asian

6.7%

Black

34.2%

Hispanic

6.3%

Native American or other Pacific Islander

0%

White

41.2%

2 or more Races

11.6%

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Table 4.2
Percent Enrollment by Student Groups
Student Group

Percentage

Economically Disadvantage

63.7%

English Language Learner

2.8%

Special Education

16.2%

Foster Care

0.7%

Homeless

1.1%

Military Connected

0%

Data Collection
The purpose of this study is to look at commonalities in teachers’ perceptions of PBIS at
schools that have successfully sustained PBIS programs. To collect data for this project, teachers
at Dr. Cleveland Steward Elementary School were surveyed in the fall of 2020 and the spring of
2021 with 12 teachers participating in the study. The teachers that participated covered grades
kindergarten through fourth grade, learning support/special education, and the school’s library
media specialist. The teaching experience of the teachers that participated broke down as shown
in the table below.

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Table 4.3
Respondent teaching experience
Years of Teaching Experience

Percentage of Respondents

11-15 years

33.3%

16-20 years

16.7%

21-25 years

33.3%

26+ years

16.7%

Respondents were sent the survey electronically to respond to at their convenience with a
deadline for completion. They were sent an email from their principal explaining an opportunity
to participate in a research study and that it was optional, but that it would be appreciated if they
took the time to participate. Attached to the email was the recruitment letter that also contained a
link to the informational letter on potential risks/benefits, that teachers participating would be
entered into a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card, and a link to the survey in February of 2021.
With the approval of the principal, follow up and reminder emails were sent to the staff that had
not yet participated in April of 2021 and again in June of 2021. Respondents were assigned
codes to assist the researcher in data analysis. Demographics on the interview respondents are
included in the table below.

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Table 4.4
Respondent Profiles
Code

Years of Experience

Teaching Position

T1

11-15 years

1st grade

T2

11-15 years

1st grade

T3

11-15 years

3rd grade

T4

21-25 years

3rd grade

T5

21-25 years

2nd grade

T6

26-30 years

Library Media Specialist

T7

11-15 years

1st grade

T8

16-20 years

3rd grade

T9

16-20 years

Kindergarten

T10

21-25 years

Learning Support

T11

21-25 years

Kindergarten

T12

31+ years

Learning Support

Qualitative Data Findings
The qualitative data was analyzed to look for commonalities, from the teachers’
perspectives, of PBIS programs sustained with fidelity. When looking at the teacher survey,
question 1 and subquestions 1.1 and 1.2 looked at narratives from the teachers to find these
commonalities. Question 1 looked specifically for what teachers’ perceptions were on what
makes their PBIS program work effectively. Subquestions 1.1 and 1.2 looked at teacher
perceptions of enabling factors and barriers that either helped or hindered the sustainability of

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their PBIS program. This data was then compared to the themes from the BoQ that the state of
Pennsylvania uses to assess PBIS programs as well as themes that emerged from a pilot study
completed in 2018. As outlined in chapter 3, themes that emerged from the pilot study were
consistency of the program, funding, data-based decision making, and changes made to the
program to keep it align to the changing needs of the school (Pfeiffer, 2018). The breakdown of
the questions and subquestions for the qualitative data is shown in table 4.5.
Table 4.5
Interview Guide to Research Question Breakdown for Qualitative Data

Research Question/Subquestion

Interview Guide Question/Topic

Research Question 1 – What do successful
PBIS programs, that have been identified as
having sustained fidelity by the state, have in
common, from the teachers’ perspective?

2 – Token Economy
3 – PBIS Team
4 – Evaluation Plan
5 – PBIS program consistency
9 – Data Evaluation Team/Data Presentation

Research Subquestions - 1.1 - What are the
most important enabling factors about PBIS
programs to maintain sustained fidelity?
1.2 – What are the biggest barriers facing PBIS
programs to maintain sustained fidelity?

6 – Student Buy-In
7 – Staff Buy-In
8 – Barriers/Contributors

Research Question 1 Findings
Research Question 1 focused on use of token economies, the PBIS team itself, evaluation
measures, program consistency, and data evaluations as variable contributing to detracting from
overall program sustainability. As discussed earlier, Pennsylvania uses the BoQ when assessing
PBIS program implementation and sustainment. The BoQ has been shown to a credible resource
to measure progress in these areas (Balu & Malbin, 2017; Childs, et al., 2011; PAPBS, 2018).

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Looking at the survey data for research question 1, there were some clear themes that
stood out from the teacher perspectives. These themes dealt with the token economy, the PBIS
team, and the use of data. All of these themes directly relate to importance concepts of PBIS, as
identified by the BoQ.
Token Economy. Token economies have a long history in education and is a researchbased program to help reinforce positive behaviors in students. The overall concept of a token
economy is that through rewarding desired behaviors consistently, students will replicate those
behaviors more often and the undesired behaviors will decrease (Miltenberger, 2008).
The token economy that the school used was Great Gator (their school mascot is the
Gator) where the students got Gator Dollars for demonstrating correct behavior and then those
could be spent on prizes in the school store. There was also a monthly prize for one student per
class and whole school rewards, such as a movie day or assembly. When going through the
teacher responses, a noticeable theme that emerged was the use of this token economy and how it
would adapt to meet current needs of the school. Some of the changes were the types of prizes
that were offered or giving more rewards in specific areas, such as the cafeteria or bus. T11
responded, “the principal and the team as a whole uses the data to make changes. For example,
if so many discipline referrals are coming from the cafeteria, then we have staff to monitor more
closely and give out more Gator Dollars when we determine an area that is in need of more
reinforcement.” T9 stated, “A new reward system (book vending machine) was added. T4noted
that they “added more rewards and student input, documentation forms for teachers and parents.”
Finally, T6 stated, “Prizes in the store may be tweaked to promote interest and specific behaviors
school-wide may be addressed as needed.” Not only does this fall in line with how a token

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economy should be adjusted and adapted, but also relates to the use of data in sustaining a
successful PBIS program.
PBIS Team. The PBIS Team is the group of faculty and staff members at the school that
have a wide range of responsibilities dealing with the PBIS program. These responsibilities can
be the actual development and design of the program, analyzing the data from the
implementation of the program, and making changes to the program. The PBIS team is typically
made up of 6-10 members of the staff covering a variety of the faculty, such as the principal,
classroom teachers, learning support teachers, guidance, and other representatives of the school
(OSEP, 2010).
The PBIS team was seen as an important part of the program with team member from
each grade level, learning support teachers, the guidance counselor, the principal, and any other
volunteers that wanted to be on the team. Yearly changes were able to happen with the team, but
the team generally stayed the same from year to year, even through three changes in principals
over the last several years. T5 stated that the team can change yearly and that “anyone is
allowed to attend the meeting but there has been a core team for consistency from the beginning
of when it was started.” T6 responded, “On occasion, a member may switch up, but in general it
stays the same, but with input from all staff members, as needed.” The team also had
opportunities to check in with a consultant from the local intermediate unit. Changes made in
the PBIS program, such as what school settings needed more focus with a push to give out more
Gator Dollars for positive behaviors, came from this team.
Use of Data. The use of data to evaluate and adapt a PBIS program is a crucial aspect of
a successful program. PBIS program data is typically retrieved from office referral forms and
the token economy reward system. This data can then be used to evaluate the effectiveness of

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the program as well as help to make changes, if needed, in the focus of the token economy
system or the expected behaviors matrix and lessons (PBIS.org, 2019). The use of data can be
used to show a visible and more concrete effectiveness of the program and can be effectively
used for motivation as well as influencing a staff’s opinions of PBIS programs overall (Mathews
et al., 2014).
A major theme that emerged was the use of data by this PBIS team throughout the
implementation of the school’s PBIS program. Data, such as office referrals, office visits, write
ups, and Gator Dollars given were used to analyze the effectiveness and needs of the program
from within the school. It was this data that led the school to make cafeteria behavior a principle
focus before moving onto bus behavior next. T10 and T11 both referenced the use of data
specifically in making adjustments on the area of focus. Another use of data was a year-end
survey of teachers as well as an outside evaluation of the program from outside of the school. T6
stated, “tweaking the program from year-to-year is effective to address behaviors.” Other
teachers agreed stating that “it is quieter in there” about the cafeteria, that there are “less student
intervention referrals,” “it is very effective,” and “our PBIS program really is a well-run part of
our school and how we address behavior as a group.” All of this data was regularly shared with
the rest of the staff, not just the team, through faculty meetings and emails.

This data was used

to look for trends and make adjustments, such as noticing how many referrals were coming from
the cafeteria leading to more cafeteria monitors and a focus on giving more Gator Dollars for
positive behavior in that setting. T12 responded that “We are always striving to improve. If
something isn’t effective, we ramp up to create effectiveness.” The use and availability of this
data to make changes was seen as positive from the staff in that frequent rewards from the staff
created positive reactions from the students which then creates and even more positive reaction

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from the staff. Teachers expressed this numerous times in statements such as “we have increased
the variety and quality of items in the school store with positive results,” “more frequent rewards
and better selection can only have a positive reaction from the students,” “improved student
behavior in order to earn rewards can only have a positive reaction from staff,” “students love
the changes – more chance for reward,” and “both staff and students seem to appreciate its
effectiveness. While not all teachers surveyed had seen the actual document showing the
school’s evaluation on the BoQ (42% of teachers surveyed said they had seen the BoQ results),
the staff showed that data was regularly shared to all and easily accessible by the staff.
Research Subquestions 1.1 and 1.2 Findings
Research subquestions 1.1 and 1.2 both dealt with four major topics, student buy-in, staff
buy-in, major barriers to successfully sustaining a successful PBIS program, and major
contributors to successfully sustain a successful PBIS program. These four topics are viewed as
being critical to short and long-term success of any PBIS system (Pinkelman et al., 2015). The
results of the teacher’s surveys were broken down into these different topics to see what related
themes emerged for a school to being able to maintain a successful PBIS program over time after
a successful implementation period.
Student Buy-In. In this study, student buy-in was asked about specifically. The main
themes to come out of the teacher surveys talked about the token economy reward system, class
meetings, and staff buy-in in relationship to student buy-in. The token economy reward system
was the most mentioned tool for getting student-buy in, but was discussed deeper as also a way
to sustain student buy-in. A major theme in the teacher surveys dealing with the token economy
rewards system was that it worked and was able to keep the student interest, motivation, and
drive in working toward the rewards. Multiple teachers mentioned this with statements such as

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“they love the rewards, but higher value incentives might be beneficial,” “rewards speak to them
and always have,” and “students still want to earn the gator dollars, cash them in for prizes, and
also want to be chosen as the Great Gator.” However, there were a few factors that impacted the
effectiveness of the rewards system. Multiple teachers talked about changing up the rewards
available to the students throughout the year with adding in newer items as the year went on to
keep the system new and exciting for the students. Several teachers talked about how they will
add new rewards available to the students towards the end of the school year. T9 responded that
they would “introduce some rewards later in the year so my students do not get bored with it.”
Additionally, it was mentioned by T12 that rewards do not always need to be monetary, but
students were more than happy with some non-monetary value rewards as well, such as “pajama
days, device day, or offer extra recess, lunch with the teacher or principal.”
Other themes that emerged when talking about student-buy in were the class meetings
and staff buy-in. One of the main components of PBIS is the use of behavior matrixes and
teaching lessons on expected behaviors in different school settings. One way to implement these
lessons, as well as circle back to them throughout the year, are with classroom meetings where
these behaviors can be reviewed and discussed. It was mentioned on teacher surveys that the
students embraced the classroom meetings and enjoyed being able to discuss topics that affected
school atmosphere with their teachers and their classmates. T6 responded that the student, “like
the class meetings and the monthly skill (goal), as well as the reward system.” Staff buy-in was
also discussed on the teacher surveys as having an impact on student buy-in. If the teachers fully
buy-in to the program, then they are going to talk about the program with more positivity which
leads to higher student buy-in. T10 responded, “I feel that the student buy-in increased as the
teachers became more comfortable implementing it.” Teachers that implement the program with

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more futility and consistency, another sign of full buy-in, also led to a perceived increase in
student buy-in of the PBIS program at this school and the opposite can be true as well, such as
how T3 responded, “inconsistency of implementation decreases student buy-in.”
Staff Buy-In. Staff buy-in has often been seen as a critical component for the success of
a PBIS program. Typically, at least 80% of the staff needs to support the program and buy-in for
it to be successfully implemented and has been shown to be just as important in sustaining a
PBIS program as well (Mathews et al., 2014; PBIS.org, 2019; Pinkelman et al., 2015).
In regards to staff buy-in on the teacher surveys, three main themes emerged from their
answers, comfortableness of teachers implementing the program, seeing positive results, and the
need for lots of support and resources. As teachers implement the program more and more, get
more comfortable with the program, especially with aspects such as the token economy, it was
perceived that the teachers bought into the program more progressively. Not only did the
consistency lead to higher staff buy-in, but it was also perceived that as the teachers bought in to
the PBIS program more and got better at implementing it, there was a direct correlation with an
increase in student buy-in to the program. T6 responded that “as teachers saw student behaviors
change for the better, all were happy,” and other teachers agreed stating, “improved student
behavior in order to earn rewards can only have a positive reaction from staff,” and “student buyin increased as the teachers became more comfortable implementing it.” Another perception that
led to more staff buy-in was seeing more positive results. Teachers were able to not only see the
data and the results of discipline referrals, rewards given out, and other parts of the PBIS
program, but could see how the behavior, attitude, and overall atmosphere of the school got
better with their own eyes and interactions with the students in the school. It was noted that even
teachers that did not fully buy-in to the program or ideals at first, where influenced by seeing a

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lot of positives. T12 remarked, “At first we had several old school teachers who did not see the
value of rewarding students for expected behavior. Slowly several of these teachers have seen
that the positive strategies have worked and have changed their perspective.” It was stated by
one teacher, T8, that the school’s atmosphere was not great before implementing PBIS and that
things were going bad. After the implementation of the PBIS program and being able to sustain
it, a lot more positives were seen by the teachers and the total level of staff buy-in increased.
This teacher’s responses stated, “We work in a tough building and without PBIS we were a
sinking ship. We have seen a lot of positive things. We are not perfect, but in a much better
position that we were.” One of the most mentioned themes of the questions geared toward staff
buy-in was the importance of lots of supports and resources needed to not only implement, but
sustain a quality PBIS program. This support covered many different aspects, such as
administrative support, support of the entire staff of the school – not just the teachers, and
monetary support. The need for resources, such as academic and behavioral interventions,
professional development, rewards for the token economy, outside mentors/advisors, and other
resources was perceived as having a big impact on being able to successfully sustain a PBIS
program. Teacher responses included statements that “it is hard to fund items for the store,”
“higher value incentives might be beneficial,” and the need for “more in-person support with the
program.” Seeing that the school staff, administration, and the district were willing to provide the
support and resources needed to properly implement the program had a positive effect on staff
buy-in for the PBIS program.
Major Barriers and Contributors of Successful PBIS Programs. In looking at research
on implementing PBIS programs successfully, there are typical components seen as major
barriers and/or contributing factors to having a successful PBIS program. Many of theses have

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already been discussed, such as administrative support, staff and student buy-in, and the use of
data. In a study from 2010, there were four main themes of barriers and contributing factors;
consistency and adaptability, rewards, data-based decision making, and professional
development and support (Ackerman et al., 2010). Additional research has also pointed to
consistency, clear implementation strategies, systematic data collection, student-input, training
for new teachers, external support and expertise, parent and community involvement, PBIS team
effectiveness have all also been shown to be barriers and/or contributing factors to the success of
PBIS programs (Ackerman et al., 2010; Andreou et al., 2015; McDaniel, Kim, & Guyotte, 2017).
There were several questions in the teacher survey that gave the teachers an opportunity
to discuss what they felt were significant barriers and contributors to successfully sustaining a
quality PBIS program. The themes that emerged from these questions deal with a lot of
previously mentioned concepts of PBIS programs. That these questions were more open-ended
than others on the surveys showed the importance that teachers put on these themes by
expanding their discussion and explanation.
While many of the specific barriers and contributors pointed out by the teachers are
related to the themes above, there were also some new topics pointed out. The major themes that
emerged from the teachers giving their perception of barriers were teacher buy-in, administrative
support, inconsistency, newness wearing off, and additional training to go along with PBIS.
Along with staff buy-in being a big concern to sustain a successful PBIS program, teachers
specifically pointed out buy-in with new teachers being a concern. While the teachers that had
been there for the creation/implementation of the program that had seen the program produce
positive results from the previous atmosphere of the school, new teachers that came to the school
after these positive changes might not buy-in to the program as quickly. Additionally, in the

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initial implementation, a barrier discussed was getting more experienced teachers to buy in to the
token economy aspect of giving rewards to students for expected behaviors. This was perceived
as a possibly barrier for more old-school teachers that saw discipline in a different way. This
leads into the new perceived barrier of getting teachers to buy in that do not have a special
education or behavioral background. Several teachers noted difficulty in getting teacher buy-in
for rewarding expected behaviors, stating that “at first we had several old school teachers who
did not see the value of rewarding students for expected behaviors,” “others need to be
encouraged to reward “expected behavior,” and “it’s different for teachers that do not have a
behavior/special education background to buy into a program that focuses on rewarding the
positive.” PBIS can be a completely different behavioral approach than teachers are used to and
if teachers do not have a background in behavioral interventions and supports, it was perceived
that they could have a harder time buying into a dramatically different approach to discipline
than an older approach of punishing, not teaching behavior. Similarly with teacher buy-in,
administrative support was seen by many teachers as a possible barrier to sustaining the program.
Specifically at this school, where three different principals were present during the school’s PBIS
program, it was mentioned that a new administrator may want to come in to the school and
change the PBIS program that was already in place to do things more their own way. With a
successful program already in place, teachers saw that as a potential barrier that a new principal
may want to come in and put their twist on a program even though it was already successful.
Another major theme from the teacher surveys that was perceived as a possible barrier was the
PBIS becoming old and stale for the students. Respondents remarked “I believe the new wears
off a bit,” and “inconsistency of implementation decreases buy-in.” Earlier it was pointed out
that some teachers tried to overcome this by changing up the rewards as well as using data to

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change target settings of the school for possible double rewards, but it was a concern mentioned
by teachers. Finally, the last major theme that emerged from the teacher surveys was that of
additional training needed for the teachers and staff to successful sustain a PBIS program. It was
perceived that a barrier could be the lack of training in such topics as running classroom
meetings, behavioral interventions, anti-bias, and anti-racism. T6 expressed that more training
could have happened on running the classroom meetings and stated that “classroom meetings at
first were a concern,” and T1 stressed that “PBIS will not be equitable or completely effective if
anti- bias/anti-racism work is not done first.” Teachers felt that if professional development did
not include training on these topics along with the overall PBIS program, then it would make it
much more difficult to sustain a successful PBIS program over time. Those were the major
themes for teachers’ perceived barriers of sustained successful PBIS programs.
While contributors and barriers to any program are going to be closely related, there were
also some new themes that specifically arose from the teachers when talking about contributing
factors to maintaining a PBIS program. The biggest themes that emerged were the rewards
system, funding, administrative buy-in, community support, the formation of the program, and
modifications. As was mentioned in the barriers, the rewards system was similarly pointed out
as a contributing factor. Having a wider variety of rewards, introducing new rewards as the
school year goes on, and uniformity in implementing the rewards system were all seen as factors
that could help to sustain a program. “Higher value incentives,” “some rewards later in the
year,” “time to restock [the rewards],” and “monetary funds” were all specifically stated by
teachers. Directly tied to the rewards system is the theme of funding. Having the proper funding
for the program was seen as a big contributing factor for success, specifically with purchasing
the rewards system, but also for training and professional development as well. Another aspect

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of funding seen as a possible contributing factor was having teachers that have a high knowledge
of getting resources and grants to help implement, support, and sustain a successful PBIS
program. T11 stated that one teacher in their building was very effective at getting supplies,
saying, “she is always getting resources from outside donations to help our school in many ways.
She gets donations for the store, money for things such as assemblies and our new book vending
machine,” and stating that this staff member “ is an extremely valuable member of our team.”
Administrative support was also a theme that was mentioned as a barrier and as a possible
contributing factor. While not having full administrative support could be a barrier, having a
principal that completely supports and buys in to the program is perceived by the teachers as
being just as big of a contributing factor. Community support also emerged as a theme from the
surveys. It was perceived by the teachers that having the full support of parents and the PTO
would be a big contributing factor. Teachers also saw how the program was started as a
contributing factor in that it would be more beneficial for the school to build it own program
from scratch to properly meet the specific needs of the school, its students, and its staff. We
built the program from scratch and it helped,” was stated by T5 as a contributing factor. Finally,
the last contributing factor theme was modifications and changes to the program. Teachers
perceived that a big contributing factor to sustaining a successful PBIS program over time was
the knowledge that changes would need to be made as the program grew and progressed, as well
as how those changes happened. As the school atmosphere and culture changes through the
implementation of a PBIS program, modifications need to keep the program fresh, focused, and
successful. Teachers specifically pointed out the need to make yearly adjustments as well as
being able to make adjustments on the fly, such as when a pandemic can change the complete
structure of the school year. T5 replied that a contributing factor was “making modifications

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even during a pandemic and virtual instruction,” and that “yearly adjustments are needed and we
do that.” These topics were what the teachers perceived as having the biggest positive
contributing factor for a school to sustain a successful PBIS program after implementation, over
a period of time.
Summary of Qualitative Findings
When looking at the qualitative data, specific themes emerged from the respondent
narratives. The results for Research Question 1 revealed teacher perceptions of the importance
of a quality and evolving token economy, the make-up and work of the PBIS team, and the use
of data to evaluate the program as well as make modifications and changes. The results for
Research Subquestions 1.1 and 1.2 divulged the importance of student buy-in, staff buy-in, and
major barriers or contributors to successfully sustaining a quality PBIS program, through the
teacher perceptions. Some of the barriers and contributing factors were getting staff to buy in
that did not have a behavioral background, adjusting and adapting the program to meet the
current needs of the school, teacher training, and keeping the incentive programs updated to meet
the desires of the student population.
Quantitative Data Findings
Along with the teacher questionnaires for qualitative data, this study also utilized likerttype questions to help quantify teacher percepts on sustaining a successful PBIS program. The
quantitative data was collected through Research Subquestion 1.3. This question looked at
previously established critical components of successful PBIS programs and if teacher
perceptions and opinions aligned with this, specifically looking at importance and effectiveness
of these components through the lens of the teacher. This question was broken into two sections
with the first section looking at teacher perceptions of importance of specific PBIS components.

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The second section looked at teacher perceptions of effectiveness of the same components. This
included token economy, the PBIS team make-up, the expected behaviors matrix, the expected
behaviors lessons, staff buy-in, administrative support, using data to evaluate the PBIS program,
and using data to make changes to the PBIS program. This subquestion expanded on the
components looked at in subquestions 1.1 and 1.2 to broaden the data to align more with all of
the components of the BoQ. Teachers rated the importance and effectiveness of these
components using the following scale: 1 = not at all important/effective; 2 = less
important/effective, 3 = neutral, 4 = important/effective, 5 = very important/effective. The
results of the questions broken down by importance are displayed in table 4.6 for frequency and
median in table 4.7. As outlined in chapter 3, the Likert-type data in this study was analyzed
looking at central tendency with median or mode, and frequencies for variability.

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Table 4.6
Teacher Perceptions on Importance of PBIS Components - Frequency
9
8
7
6

5
4
3
2
1
0

1 - Not at all Important

2 - Less Important

3 - Neutral

4 - Important

5 - Very Important

Table 4.7
Teacher Perceptions on Importance of PBIS Components - Median
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

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From these tables, it is shown how the teachers perceive the importance of these main
PBIS components. Every component had a frequency rate of the highest scale (a 5 out of 5) on
at least 50% of the teacher surveys and either a 4 or a 5 on over 83% of the teacher surveys on all
of the components, with an exception of the PBIS team makeup, which was rated either a 4 or a
5 on 75% of the surveys. This illustrates that the teachers perceive these components as being
important to being able to sustain a successful PBIS program. This is backed up even further by
looking at the median scores. Each median rating was at least 4.5 with half of the components
having a median of 5, the highest rating for importance. The only score that was given that was
less than a 3, was one rating of 2 for administrative support. This could be traced back to the fact
that this school had seen three different principals at the school for the duration of the program.
Next, the second section of subquestions 1.3 was based on teacher perceptions of the
effectiveness of these PBIS components in sustaining their program over time. Teachers rated
the effectiveness of these components using the following scale: 1 = not at all effective; 2 = less
effective, 3 = neutral, 4 = effective, 5 = very effective. The results of the questions broken down
by frequency and median for each of the components rated on effectiveness are displayed in
table 4.8 and 4.9.

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Table 4.8
Teacher Perceptions on Effectiveness of PBIS Components - Frequency
9
8
7
6
5

4
3
2
1
0

1 - Not at all Effective

2 - Less Effective

3 - Neutral

4 - Effective

5 - Very Effective

Table 4.9
Teacher Perceptions on Effectiveness of PBIS Components - Median
5
4.5

4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5

1
0.5
0

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Again, in looking at the results of the teacher surveys, it can be seen that the teachers
perceive these components to be more effective than not, across the board. While the
frequencies of a rating of 5 given, are less than when looking at teacher perceptions of
importance, there are still more 5 scores given than 4 (46:36 total frequencies) and only 14
scores that were below a 4, with all of them being a score of a 3. This shows, along with seeing
a median score of at least a 4 out of 5 for each of these components, that teachers generally rate
the PBIS components of token economy, PBIS team make-up, expected behaviors matrix,
expected behaviors lessons, staff buy-in, administrative support, the use of data of evaluate the
program, and the use of data to make changes as effective in helping them successfully sustain a
successful PBIS program over time.
Summary of Quantitative Findings
When looking at the results of the quantitative data, Research Subquestion 1.3, there were
specific key takeaways shown. Teachers rated components of PBIS programs on their
perception of importance and effectiveness using Likert-type questions. The data showed that
teachers’ perceptions of token economy, PBIS team make-up, expected behaviors matrix,
expected behaviors lessons, staff buy-in, administrative support, using data to evaluate the
program, and using data to make changes to the program were rated consistently at very
important and important. The median score for token economy, PBIS team make-up, using data
to evaluate, and using data to make changes were all at 4.5 out of 5 and the median score for
expected behaviors matrix, expected behaviors lessons, staff buy-in, and administrative support
was 5 out of 5. Similarly, teachers’ perceptions were consistently rated at very important and
important for effectiveness of these components. The median score for token economy, expected
behaviors matrix, and expected behaviors lesson were all at 5 out of 5 and the median score for

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PBIS team make-up, staff buy-in, administrative support, data to evaluate, and data to make
changes were at 4 out of 5.
Conclusion
The PBIS program and staff at Dr. Cleveland Steward Jr. Elementary School were chosen
for this study because they have been by the state of Pennsylvania as having successfully
sustained their PBIS program over time. In looking at the reasons the program was able to be
maintained over time, teachers were surveyed to find out their perceptions with regard to this
success. Teachers were electronically sent open-ended questions to look at data qualitatively.
Additionally, teachers were asked to rate their perception of the importance and the effectiveness
of PBIS components to see if their perceptions align with what the state says in important in
implementing and sustaining PBIS programs, based on their use in the BoQ evaluation process.
In looking at the qualitative data, there were definitive themes that emerged from the
teachers’ responses. Having successful token economies that were adapted by staff keep the
students interested and motivated was seen as an important theme. Another theme was PBIS
team that was representative of the interests and values of the school staff, such as different
grade levels, learning support, specialists, the guidance department, and administration.
Contributing factors to sustaining a successful a PBIS program included using data effectively to
not only evaluate the successfulness of the program, but also as a guide to making changes to the
program to match the changes happening at the school were all deemed as important by the
teachers. Additionally, the teachers affirmed the importance of student and staff buy-in as
critical to a successful and ongoing PBIS program. There were also some specific barriers that
emerged from the teachers. Some of the barriers were the need for additional professional
development on behavioral approaches to discipline and rewards, funding for the program and

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rewards, and getting staff buy-in from all teachers. Some of the contributing factors were
building on successes seen in the school to help increase staff buy-in, administrative support, and
the ability for the PBIS program to adapt and make changes as the needs of the school changed.
For quantitative data, teachers had to rate their opinion of the importance and the
effectiveness of specific PBIS components. These components came from the BoQ evaluation
form that the state of Pennsylvania uses to evaluate PBIS programs for implementation and
sustaining programs. The components were the token economy system, the PBIS team make-up,
the expected behaviors matrix, the expected behaviors lessons, staff buy-in, administrative
support, the use of data to evaluate the program, and the use of data to make changes to the
program. In this data, teachers definitively agreed on the importance of the main components
with medians almost always near the top of the scale. All of the medians were either 4.5 or 5 on
a 1-5 Likert-type scale with 5 being extremely important. This trend continued when looking at
the teachers’ perception of the effectiveness of these same components, with all the medians
being either a 4 or a 5 with 5 being very effective. This data showed that the teachers’
perceptions and opinions about the critical components of PBIS programs do align with the state
evaluation.

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Chapter V
Conclusions and Recommendations
Summary of the Study
The purpose of this study was to look at commonalities from teachers’ perspectives of
successfully sustained PBIS programs. The researcher looked at schools that were identified by
the state of Pennsylvania as having sustained fidelity with their PBIS program. While many
schools were identified, one school participated in the study. The study used a mixed-methods
approach, using both qualitative and quantitative data. Teachers answered open-ended questions
on a variety of PBIS concepts and topics to look for common themes. Teachers also answered
Likert-type questions to see how their perceptions of the importance and effectiveness of key
PBIS components aligned with the state’s recognition. The researcher intended to provide a
narrative of teacher perceptions of a successfully sustained PBIS program. To fulfill the purpose
of this study, the following research question and subquestions were addressed:
1. What do successful PBIS programs, that have been identified as having sustained fidelity
by the state, have in common, from the teachers’ perspective?
1.1. What are the most important enabling factors about PBIS programs to maintain
sustained fidelity?
1.2. What are the biggest barriers facing PBIS programs to maintain sustained
fidelity?
1.3. Do the teacher perceptions and opinions about the critical components of these
sustained PBIS programs align with the state recognition based on Likert-type
responses?
Summary of the Results

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The researcher analyzed the answers of 12 teachers from Dr. Cleveland Steward
Elementary School in Gateway School District. In looking at the qualitative data, several themes
emerged in regards to research question 1. These themes were the importance of the token
economy being run consistently and adapted to continually meet the changing needs of the
school, the importance of the PBIS team being comprised of a diverse representation of the
school, the use of data in making changes to the program, and the use of data to show successes.
Token economies have long been an effective behavioral intervention used in education
throughout history and have specific characteristics that make them practical and effective tools
in the field of ABA and PBIS (Hackenberg, 2009). Schools with clear behavior expectations and
strategies for rewarding students demonstrating the desired behaviors are perceived as having
successful and effective learning atmospheres (Akin-Little, Eckert, Lovett, & Little, 2004). In
order for PBIS to be effective, the token economy incentives and rewards must be enticing to
students. These incentives can also be non-monetary activities, such as extra recess, computer
time, or lunch with a teacher or principal (Martin, 2013). Teachers in this research study stated
their perception in the importance of keeping the rewards updated and varied to meet the desires
of the students.
The PBIS team makeup and selection process is a crucial aspect of a successful PBIS
team. A successful PBIS team should be made up of a variety of staff and faculty members
representing the many different areas of a school staff, such as classroom teachers, learning
support teachers, specialists, guidance counselors, and administrators (OSEP, 2010). The school
used in this study had a PBIS team that covered all of these position areas and teachers noted that
new teachers were always welcome to join the team. Their team was paramount in analyzing the
data of the program as well as developing and implementing changes to the program as needed.

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Research shows that the selection of an effective team is an important factor in sustainability of a
PBIS program (Mathews et al., 2014).
The collection, analysis, and use of data in evaluating and in making changes to a PBIS
program is another crucial aspect of a successful PBIS program. In PBIS programs, data is used
in a variety of ways, such as identifying problem areas, track progress, look for areas of concern,
increasing or decreasing the token economy system, and evaluating the overall effectiveness of
programs (PBIS.org, 2019). In this study, teachers specifically noted the use of data in noting
areas of concern and making changes to their program. Respondents expressed the importance
of data to specifically target the areas of cafeteria and bus behaviors that were a concern. These
areas then became focal points where the token economy was increased. Eventually, successes
were evaluated through the collection of data to show that behavior referrals decreased in these
areas. Teachers also expressed that these successes, shown in the data, were helped to obtain
higher level of teacher buy-in to the programs.
For subquestions 1.1 and 1.2, the importance of specific PBIS components unfolded.
These themes were the importance of student-buy in and maintain it through an evolving token
economy, the importance of staff-buy in, training of new teachers, continued professional
development for all teachers, the importance of continued administrative support, and the use of
data. Overall, some major common themes from the teacher perceptions on maintaining a
successful PBIS program also dealt with the need to be able to adapt and make changes to the
PBIS program to continually meet the changing needs of the school.
Staff buy-in and administrative support are paramount to a successful PBIS program. It
can be one of the biggest contributing factors in the initial implementation of a PBIS program
with at least 80% of the staff buying in as a minimum expectation for success (PBIS.org, 2019).

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Additionally, the continued support, commitment, and buy-in from staff has been shown to be
critical when sustaining successful PBIS programs as well (Mathews et al., 2014; Pinkelman et
al., 2015). The respondents in this research study pointed to staff buy-in being a big perceived
factor in being able to sustain their program. Initially, some teachers noted that it was harder to
get more experience teachers on board with rewarding expected behavior, but as successes were
seen, those teachers bought in and saw the merit of the program. The school also saw three
different principals come to their school during the maintaining of their PBIS program.
Although each principal had a different way of handling certain aspects of the program, as noted
by the teachers, each principal supported and believed in the program. Teachers and staff seeing
administrative support, at both the building and district-level, has been shown as an important
strategy for implementing PBIS programs and continued administrative support has also been
shown to be important with sustaining a successful program (George et al., 2018; Mathews et al.,
2014).
Providing staff with professional development in regard to aspects that coincide with
PBIS programs is important to the success of the program. This was also pointed out as a
perceived important piece to implementing and sustaining by the respondents of this research
study. Teachers pointed out that training dealing with behavioral interventions, ani-bias, and
anti-racism professional development would help teachers from different philosophical and
diverse backgrounds better implement and sustain their PBIS program. Supporting these
perceptions, studies have shown that providing ongoing professional development to teaching
staff on positive interventions, implementation of Behavior Intervention Plans, understanding
underlying causes of disruptive behaviors, and reviewing office referrals to see if there is a
relationship in regard to race, gender, and age all have a positive effect on school atmospheres

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(Christofferson and Callahan, 2015). Additionally, literature supports that teachers that are
properly trained on the overall concepts of PBIS programs will create better quality programs at
their own school (Wu, 2017).
In looking at contributing factors and barriers, the biggest themes in common across
teacher responses were the rewards system, funding, administrative buy-in, community support,
the formation of the program, and modifications to the program. These could all be seen as
either contributing factors or barriers based on how effectively they were supported or utilized
during the sustaining of the PBIS program.
Incentive programs, funding, administrative support, community support, how the
program was formed, and changes to the program over time were all pointed out as contributing
factors by the respondents of this research. These themes are also backed by research on PBIS.
Seeing these themes implemented and supporting correctly and adequately has been shown to
result in satisfaction in the overall program by staff as well as a perceived improvement in school
climate and atmosphere (Martin, 2013; Psanos, 2013). Teachers in this study specifically noted
the support of parents and their PTO organization of having a positive effect on sustaining their
program as well as making changes to the rewards available to the students. Additionally, it was
perceived by the respondents that the fact that they created their own PBIS program from scratch
had a positive effect on them implementing and sustaining the program. Research has shown
that when the creating of a PBIS program aligns with the needs of the school, the program will
be more successful (Balu & Malbin, 2017). Comparatively, when these aspects of PBIS
programs are not properly supported or put into place, they can be major barriers in the
successful sustaining of successful PBIS programs.

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For the quantitative data, subquestion 1.3, teachers rated the importance and also the
effectiveness of main PBIS components. These components, as identified by the state through
their evaluation program and the BoQ, were the token economy, the PBIS team make-up, the
expected behaviors matrix, the expected behaviors lessons, staff buy-in, administrative support,
the use of data to evaluate the PBIS program, and using data to make changes to the PBIS
program. The results showed, overwhelmingly that teachers perceptions agreed with the state
recognition of the importance of these components. The rating scale was 1-5 with 1 being not at
all important and 5 being very important. With importance, teachers rated each of the
components with a median of 4.5 or 5. The expected behaviors matrix, expected behaviors
lessons, staff buy-in, and administrative support all had a median of 5. When looking at
effectiveness, teachers again agreed with the state, although slightly less than with importance.
Teachers rated each of these components with a median of at least 4 on each component and a 5
on token economy, expected behaviors matrix, and expected behaviors lessons. Teachers rating
these aspects of PBIS as being highly important and effective coincide with current studies. In
research looking at properly implementing and maintaining a successful PBIS program, the PBIS
team, the expected behaviors matrix, the expected behaviors lessons, staff buy-in, administrative
support, the use of data to evaluate the program, and the use of data in making changes to the
program are all critical to successful PBIS programs (Anderson et al., 2013; Cooper et al., 2007;
Dunlap et al., 2018; Mathews et al., 2014; Pinkelman et al., 2015). While this specific study is
small in sample, it still helps confirm teacher perceptions align with the BoQ and state evaluation
program on PBIS.
Limitations

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There are limitations to this research primarily dealing from the size of the sample and
the overall design of this study. The study used a sample of only one suburban elementary
school in western Pennsylvania. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, school superintendents were
reluctant to have their teachers participate in this study to not overwork them during turbulent
times in education. Many schools, at least temporarily, changing their approaches between
online, hybrid, and in-person schooling. Therefore, this study was only able to obtain responses
from 12 teachers. Results of this study cannot be generalized to a larger sample, or a different
educational setting. Another limitation is that the survey questions asked respondents to reflect
in their answers over a period of multiple years, since they first started at the school or since the
school first implemented their PBIS program. Answers relied on the memory of the respondents
and could be affected by the time gap, or possibly missing important details about the
progression of the program. A final limitation to this study is the possibility of researcher bias.
Due to personal experience in developing and working with PBIS program, the researcher is a
firm believer that PBIS is an effective behavior and school atmosphere program, when
implemented correctly.
Implications of the Results
This research study has implications for schools and districts that are implementing PBIS
programs or might be planning on implementing PBIS programs in the future. McIntosh et al.
(2016) published a study that showed that 58% of 5,331 schools across 37 states abandoned their
PBIS program with the first three years. With money and resources being put aside by school
districts, this research study looked to find commonalities of teacher perceptions on successfully
sustained PBIS programs so that other school could continue to maintain and grow their own
PBIS program instead of abandoning it for something else. In looking at the results, five main

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aspects for school districts to focus on would be the ability to make changes and adapt, the use of
data, continued professional development, funding, and continuing to use the BoQ to evaluate
programs.
Ability to Make Changes and Adapt. Repetitively teachers’ responses in this study
talked about the need and positive effect had from continually making changes and adaptations
to their PBIS program. Some of these changes dealt with the token economy. Teachers felt that
the rewards available to the students needed to say fresh and be updated throughout the year to
keep the students interested in earning the tokens. Another change in the token economy, noted
as effective and important by the teachers, was changing the token economy to meet the
changing atmosphere of the school. If behaviors in the cafeteria were the first main focus of the
program with double rewards there, then the school had to be able to make changes as the
behavior improved in that area to change to focus, and rewards system, to meet the next area of
focus. Additionally, being able to adapt and make changes to the rewards available, types of
rewards, and focus areas of concern in the overall school atmosphere, will help to maintain the
PBIS program as it reflects the school’s needs (Martin, 2013). These changes not only tie in the
token economy, but also the use of data, another cornerstone of a successfully sustained PBIS
program.
Use of Data. Through this study, it was seen that teachers valued the use of data in a
variety of ways. The use of data directly ties back to the token economy to be able to evaluate
the program successes and challenges. Through analyzing data from office referral forms, PBIS
teams can see the effectiveness of the program. They can see where successes have occurred,
such as drops in referrals, as well as see where focuses may need to shift as the program matures
and is maintained over time. Data can show trends in behaviors in specific month, such as

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September and January seeing upticks in cafeteria referrals or May seeing upticks in bus
behavior referrals, or other trends that then can be addressed by the PBIS team to continually
adapt and improve the atmosphere of the school. Another way that data can be use, as raised by
the teachers in this research study, is to grow staff buy-in. Having concrete examples of
successful data can be very beneficial to share with the entire staff of the school, not just the
PBIS team, to show that it is working and grow the staff buy-in to PBIS programs. This also
aligns with other studies that have shown that teachers that did not originally buy-in to the
program, bought in more after they were able to see the changes the program helped make in
their school atmosphere, student discipline problems, and respectfulness towards others (Martin,
2013; Psanos, 2013). Teachers, in this study, discussed how seeing the positive effects of PBIS
helped to win over staff that was reluctant to buy-in at first. The use of data in making changes
is a critical component in implementing and sustaining PBIS programs to make sure that the
focus of the program is reaching its intent (PBIS.org, 2019). Data-drive decision making has
been shown as a key factor in PBIS sustainability (Coffey & Horner, 2012; Sugai & Horner,
2006; McIntosh et al., 2016) This will help a school be able to successful sustain their PBIS
program over a longer period of time.
Continued Professional Development. Another implication for school districts wanting
to sustain PBIS programs is the need for continual professional development. In this study,
professional development was noted as crucial by teachers in two different ways. The first way
was for consistent training for new teachers coming into a school. This training would bring the
new teachers up to speed on the school’s already in-place PBIS program including how it was
developed, how it is implemented, how it is evaluated, and how changes are made to it to keep it
consistent with the needs of the school. Knowing how the program was developed was noted by

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several teachers to help with staff buy-in if the teachers were not involved in the actual
development of the program. Quality professional development has been identified in literature
as a common factor in sustaining PBIS (Sugai & Horner, 2006). Schools wishing to sustain their
PBIS program need to dedicate time and money for continued professional development for
refreshers as a whole staff, or as study groups for the PBIS team, to revisit issues and topics
surrounding PBIS (Sparks, 2007). Another implication of how professional development can
help a school sustain a PBIS program successfully is by continuing to provide behavioral
approach to discipline based training for teachers. It was noted by several teachers in this study
that teachers that did not have a special education or learning support background might be more
prone to not agree with some of the approached of PBIS that focus on rewarding the positive
behaviors over a more historical approach of heavily disciplining negative behaviors. Along
with behavior focused professional development, trainings on best practices for academic aspects
of the PBIS three-tiered system of interventions and supports would be beneficial for schools
looking to maintain a successful program over time as well. There is also a need to proactively
be prepared to provide professional development on the overall aspects of PBIS in regard to new
teachers and teacher turnover (Sparks, 2007). Continually providing teachers with support and
professional development that aligns with the needs of the school and, in turn, the needs of the
PBIS program will help a school be able to sustain a successful PBIS program.
Funding. The last implication from this study to help a school maintain a PBIS program
successfully from the qualitative results of this study have to do with the importance of proper
funding. While funding is always mentioned as a potential barrier or contributing factor to
successfully implement a new PBIS program, the teachers in this study repeatedly pointed it out
as having just as big of an impact on maintain the program over time as well. Proper support and

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PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PBIS PROGRAMS
funding are critical to sustaining successful PBIS programs (Sugai & Horner, 2006). Funding
goes along with several of the already discussed implication as well. Funding is needed for the
token economy for rewards. Funding is also needed for the continued professional development.
It is imperative that schools and school districts must secure funding for research-based
intervention materials and PBIS professional development, which has been shown in studies to
directly correlate with teacher motivation for the sustainability of PBIS programs (McIntosh,
2016). This funding can be obtained in multiple ways though, not always just as a budget line
for schools. Teachers in this study brought up the fact that some of their staff was proficient in
writing grants and getting donations from local businesses to help fund their PBIS program. No
matter how the funding is obtained, however, it is clear of the importance of funding to a
successful PBIS program, not just in the implementation stages, but throughout the life of the
program as well. Schools and districts need to know the importance of funding for the program
specifically and include ways to get the funding for their program to be successfully maintained.
Continue to evaluate the use of the BoQ to evaluate PBIS programs. From the
quantitative portion of this research study, one big implication was shown. Teachers were asked
to rate, in their opinion of importance and effectiveness, of core aspects of PBIS, as identified on
the BoQ. This was done by having teachers rate these components on Likert-type questions.
The teachers at this school showed that their perceptions agreed with the state of Pennsylvania’s
identification of important components of PBIS programs. Through its use of the BoQ to
evaluate PBIS program in the state, Pennsylvania shows that it recognizes the importance of
these components and teachers definitively agreed. The implication here is that the state, as well
as schools and districts, should continue to evaluate the use of the BoQ as an evaluation tool for

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PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PBIS PROGRAMS
PBIS programs. However, given the size of the sample in this research study, more research
should be done.
Recommendations for Future Research
Future research on how to sustain successful PBIS programs will benefit schools and
districts as well as the teachers and students that work at or attend those schools. Similar studies
including more schools and districts in a wider variety of locations, demographics, and grade
levels would be beneficial. This would help to develop a more complete narrative on best
practices to sustaining PBIS programs and helping them be more successful for the students, the
staff, the school, and the community. A limitation to this study was that it was done during a
pandemic where schools were, understandably, reluctant to put more work on their teachers by
having them participate in a research study. Conducting similar research studies during nonpandemic times would also be beneficial to be able to get more participants. PBIS has shown its
effectiveness to help improve behaviors and atmospheres at schools as well as helping
academically through its three-tiered approach to behaviors and academics through intervention
and support. More research on best practices to keep schools from abandoning PBIS programs
early on, but instead adapting and growing their programs to continually meet the changing
atmosphere and needs of their students and school is the biggest recommendation for future
research. Studies and literature that expand on this growing positive trend in schools will help to
further embed its use in schools around the world to better help the needs of our future students
as much as possible.
Another avenue for future research would be to look at perceptions of PBIS programs
through the lens of more experienced teachers compared to less experienced teachers. In the
quantitative section of this study, a theme emerged that more experienced teachers rated (21 or

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PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PBIS PROGRAMS
more years of experience) than less experience teachers (20 or less years of experience). When
looking at those two groups of teachers, both being exactly 50% of the participants, the data
broke down as follows in table 5.1.
Table 5.1
Teacher Ratings of Importance and Effectiveness of PBIS Components by Years of Experience Median
Importance – Median Ratings

Effectiveness – Median Ratings

Teachers with 11-

Teachers with 21+

Teachers with 11-

Teachers with 21+

20 years exp.

years exp.

20 years exp.

years exp.

Token Economy

4

5

4

5

PBIS Team Make-up

3

5

4

4.5

Expected Behaviors

4

5

4

5

4

5

4

5

Staff Buy-In

4

5

4

5

Administrative

4

5

4

5

4

5

4

5

4

5

3

5

Matrix
Expected Behaviors
Lessons

Support
Data Used to
Evaluate
Data Used to Make
Changes

While still maintaining high median scores of typically 4 or higher, the results of this
table show that there is a difference in the rating scales based on years of teacher experience.

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PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PBIS PROGRAMS
Teachers in the range of 11-20 years of experience, consistently rated the importance and
effectiveness of these PBIS components lower than teachers with more than 21 years of teaching
experience. The medians score for teachers having 21 or more years of experience teachers were
consistently higher than teachers with 20 or less years of experience. Future research could be
expanded on this further to look for trends. These trends could then be used in designing
specifically tailored professional development for different levels of experienced teachers when a
school is implementing or maintaining a PBIS program. Future research on trends of perceptions
of PBIS implementation and sustainability broken down by teacher experience could benefit the
field.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to look at successfully sustained PBIS programs, from the
perceptions of the teachers that are implementing the program, to find commonalities. These
commonalities can then be further researched and also utilized to help other schools maintain
their own PBIS programs. There is a large amount of research on successful implementation
techniques and strategies for schools starting a new PBIS program, but not nearly as much
research on how to maintain a program once it has been successfully implemented. If more
research is done to look at what the schools are doing to properly sustain their programs, then
this information will help other schools continue to keep their programs going over longer
periods of time. The literature review showed the history and effectiveness of PBIS programs in
creating a more effective school atmosphere. As more schools are able to implement and
maintain quality PBIS programs, more and more positive effects will, hopefully, be shown. The
qualitative part of this study showed common themes that teachers perceived as important to
maintaining a successful program, such as the importance of the token economy with evolving

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PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PBIS PROGRAMS
incentives, staff and student buy-in, the make-up and role of the PBIS team, the use of data in
evaluating the program, the use of data in making changes to the program, and teacher training
on PBIS as well as on behavioral interventions. The qualitative part of this study showed that
teachers’ perceptions of importance and effectiveness of PBIS components, token economy,
PBIS team make-up, expected behaviors matrix, expected behaviors lessons, staff buy-in,
administrative support, using data to evaluate the program, and using data to make changes to the
program aligned with Pennsylvania’s view of these components based on their inclusion of the
state evaluation tool, the BoQ. While there were definite limitations to this study based on the
size, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is value to the findings. The results can be built
upon in future research and utilized by school districts looking to successfully transition from the
implementation phase of their PBIS program to the maintaining of a quality program.

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APPENDIX A: TEACHER EMAIL SURVEY
Participant Information
Years of Experience:
School and School District:
Years of Teaching at your current school:
Years of Teaching with the current PBIS Program:
Grade/subjects taught:
Purpose of the Study
The goal of this research is to see what do successful PBIS programs, that have been identified as
having sustained fidelity by the state, have in common, from the teachers’ perspective.
Questionnaire
1. What is the name of your school’s PBIS or SWPBIS program?
2. Is there a rewards system in place (a token economy) for individuals? Whole class?
Whole grade? Whole school?
3. Is there a main team for your PBIS program? If so, briefly explain who all is on the team,
position wise (principal, guidance counselor, etc.)
a. How was that group decided?
b. Has there ever been any changes to that group?
4. How is the effectiveness of the program evaluated?
a. Who collects this information?
b. Is this information shared with the staff? How? How often?
c. What is done with this information?
d. Does this information impact any future decisions? If so, who makes these
decisions?
e. Have there been any changes made because of this information? If so, please
explain.
5. Where there any major changes to the program made from year to year?
a. If so, what were they?
b. Who made these decisions?
c. How were these changes introduced to the staff? To the students?
d. If any of these types of changes were made, how were they evaluated for
effectiveness?
e. What was your opinion of the effectiveness of these changes? Please explain
your reasoning.

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6.

7.

8.

9.

f. How did the staff react to the changes, more positive or more negative? Students?
Please explain your reasoning.
If you have been at the school for several years while the same program has been in
place, do you feel that the students continued to buy in at the same rate as the beginning
of the program? Please explain your reasoning.
If you have been at the school for several years while the same program has been in
place, do you feel that the staff continued to buy in at the same rate as the beginning of
the program? Please explain your reasoning.
Were there any factors that helped/hindered the program that would have been helpful to
know at the first implementation of the program?
a. How about after several years? Please explain your reasoning.
Your school has been identified by the state of PA as having sustained fidelity in
implementing your PBIS program, based off of a score of 80% or higher out of 107
points on the Benchmarks of Quality assessment tool. Do you know who the team
members are that complete this tool?
a. Have you seen this evaluation tool prior to your schools’ evaluation?
b. Have you ever seen the results of this evaluation tool?

10. How would you rate the importance of the following aspects of your school’s PBIS
program in sustaining the program?
1 = not at all important; 2 = less important; 3 = neutral; 4 = important; 5 = very important
a. The token economy system you have in place?
b. The construction of your PBIS team?
c. The expected behaviors matrix at your school?
d. The expected behaviors lessons at your school?
e. Staff buy-in to the PBIS program at your school?
f. The administrative support for your PBIS program?
g. The use of data in evaluating the PBIS program?
h. The use of data in making changes to the PBIS program?
11. How would you rate the effectiveness of the following aspects of your school’s PBIS
program?
1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = neutral; 4 = agree; 5 = strongly agree
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

The token economy system you have in place is effective.
The construction of your PBIS team was done in an effective manner.
The expected behaviors matrix is effective at your school.
The expected behaviors lessons are effective at your school.
At least 80% of the staff at your school buys-in to the PBIS program.
The administration effectively supports your PBIS program?

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g. Data is effectively used in making evaluating the PBIS program?
h. Data is effectively used in making changes to the PBIS program?

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APPENDIX B: REQUEST FOR PERMISSION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH WITH
FACULTY
Name
Title
School District
District Address

REQUEST FOR PERMISSION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH WITH FACULTY
Dear ______,
My name is Nathan Pfeiffer, and I am a Doctoral student at Slippery Rock University in Slippery
Rock, PA. I am reaching out to you to request that I be allowed to conduct research with your
faculty for my Doctoral dissertation on looking for common themes, from the teachers’
perspectives, of successful Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) programs. This
research will be conducted under the supervision of Dr. Ashlea Rineer-Hershey (Slippery Rock
University).
I am hereby seeking your consent to conduct email interviews/questionnaires with your faculty.
Your school, as of May 2018, was identified by the state of Pennsylvania as having sustained
implementation of PBIS at Universal (Tier 1) with fidelity. As PBIS becomes a more crucial
part of the educational framework in the state of Pennsylvania, I am looking for common themes
of successfully sustained PBIS programs to help schools and educators in their attempts at
developing and sustaining programs of their own.
Upon completion of the study, I will be providing Slippery Rock University with a bound copy
of the full research report. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact me at 412-680-1481, or at ncp1001@sru.edu. Thank you for your time and consideration
in this matter.
Yours sincerely,

Nathan Pfeiffer
Slippery Rock University

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APPENDIX C: PARTICIPANT EMAIL
February, 2021
Dear Participant,
I invite you to participate in a research study entitled “Teachers’ perceptions of successfully
sustained PBIS programs.” I am currently enrolled in the Doctorate in Special Education
program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, PA, and am in the process of writing my
Doctoral dissertation.
The purpose of the research is to determine common themes in successfully maintained Positive
Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) programs from the viewpoint of the teachers. I am
seeking your participation because you are currently working at a school identified by the state
of Pennsylvania as having sustained implementation of PBIS at Universal (Tier 1) with fidelity,
as of May 2018.
Your participation in this research study is completely voluntary. You may decline, or leave
blank any questions you do not wish to answer. There are no known risks to participation
beyond those encountered in everyday life. Your responses will remain confidential. Data from
this research will be kept in a password protected file. No one other than the researchers will
know your individual answers to this questionnaire.
An informational letter for participates in this study, as far as reasoning behind it and any
potential risks/benefits can be found here: informational letter.
If you agree to participate in this project, please answer the questions on the questionnaire as best
you can. It should take approximately thirty minutes to an hour to complete. Any teacher that
completes the questionnaire will also be entered in a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card. After
you have read the informational letter and by clicking on the link to the survey, you are giving
consent to participate in this study.
The questionnaire can be found by following this link - click here to complete the survey.
If you have any questions about this project, feel free to contact me at 412-680-1481, or at
ncp1001@sru.edu.
Thank you for your assistance in this important endeavor.
Sincerely yours,

Nathan Pfeiffer
Principal Investigator
Slippery Rock University

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APPENDIX D: INFORMATIONAL LETTER

College of Education
______________________________________________________________________________
RESEARCH PARTICIPANT INFORMATIONAL LETTER
TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESSFULLY SUSTAINED PBIS PROGRAMS
Nathan Pfeiffer, ncp1001@sru.edu, 412-680-1481
Invitation to be Part of a Research Study
You are invited to participate in a research study. In order to participate, you must be an active
teacher at your school and have taught there while your current Positive Behavioral Interventions
and Supports (PBIS) program has been in place. Taking part in this research project is voluntary.
Important Information about the Research Study
Things you should know:
• The purpose of the study is to determine commonalities, from the teachers’ perspectives,
of good PBIS programs that have been sustained over time with fidelity. If you choose to
participate, you will be asked to complete an email questionnaire. This will take
approximately 30 minutes.
• Risks or discomforts from this research are minimal, but include taking the time to
complete the survey and potentially cause changes in relationships with administrators or
other teachers on the PBIS committee if they start to question the procedures that the
school currently has in place or seek more information about their school's PBIS
program.
• The study will lead to possible benefits of becoming more familiar with your school’s
PBIS program.
• Taking part in this research project is voluntary. You do not have to participate and you
can stop at any time.
Please take time to read this entire form and ask questions before deciding whether to take part in
this research project.
What is the Study About and Why are We Doing it?
The purpose of the study is to determine commonalities in quality run PBIS programs that have
been successfully sustained over time with fidelity. With the rise in popularity of PBIS
programs, there has been a lot of research entering the field on implementing programs, but not
as much on how to continue sustaining the program well over time. This research will hope to
determine factors that can work as enablers and barriers to sustaining PBIS programs.

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What Will Happen if You Take Part in This Study?
If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to complete a survey in the next two
weeks. We expect this to take about 30 minutes. Your answers will remain confidential.
How Could You Benefit From This Study?
Although you will not likely directly benefit from being in this study, others might benefit
because the study could help determine procedures and practices for other schools looking to
sustain quality PBIS programs. You might benefit from being in this study because it could lead
to a greater understanding of your school’s PBIS program.
What Risks Might Result From Being in This Study?
We do not believe there are any risks from participating in this research.
How Will We Protect Your Information?
We plan to publish the results of this study. To protect your privacy, I will not include any
information that could directly identify you.
We will protect the confidentiality of your research records by keeping all survey responses in a
password protected file on a password protected computer.
What Will Happen to the Information We Collect About You After the Study is Over?
We will not keep your research data to use for future research or other purposes. Your name and
other information that can directly identify you will be kept secure and stored separately from the
research data collected as part of the project.
How Will We Compensate You for Being Part of the Study?
If you complete the survey within the two week period, you will be entered into a drawing for a
$50 Amazon gift card. All eligible participants will have a number assigned to their email
address and a random number will be selected to determine the winner.
Your Participation in this Research is Voluntary
It is totally up to you to decide to be in this research study. Participating in this study is
voluntary. Even if you decide to be part of the study now, you may change your mind and stop at
any time. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to answer. If you decide to
withdraw before this study is completed, you can contact any of the researchers and we will
remove your information from the data collected.

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Contact Information for the Study Team and Questions about the Research
If you have questions about this research, you may contact Dr. Ashlea Rineer-Hershey,
principal investigator at a.rineer-hershey@sru.edu, or Nathan Pfeiffer, co-investigator, at
ncp1001@sru.edu or 412-680-1481.
Contact Information for Questions about Your Rights as a Research Participant
If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, or wish to obtain information,
ask questions, or discuss any concerns about this study with someone other than the
researcher(s), please contact the following:
Institutional Review Board
Slippery Rock University
104 Maltby, Suite 008
Slippery Rock, PA 16057
Phone: (724)738-4846
Email: irb@sru.edu

Your Consent
Before agreeing to be part of the research, please be sure that you understand what the study is
about. We will give you a copy of this document for your records [or you can print a copy of the
document for your records]. If you have any questions about the study later, you can contact the
study team using the information provided above.
I understand what the study is about and my questions so far have been answered. I agree to take
part in this study. I understand that I can withdraw at any time. You indicate your voluntary
agreement to participate by [add method of research, i.e., returning this survey, beginning this
phone interview, etc.].

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APPENDIX E: IRB APPROVAL

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