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What is PBIS New Brunswick?
Positive Behaviour Intervention Supports (PBIS), along with other evidence-based programs and services, are viewed as foundational in New Brunswick schools. This proactive approach motivates and teaches positive behaviour with the purpose of creating a positive learning and working environment for staff and students. PBIS is foundational to a system-wide strategy for behaviour.
The New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood has invested in this approach and provided annual funding to school districts for several years to support PBIS. In October 2015, the anglophone sector released a resource entitled Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (PBIS): A Resource Guide for School-Based Teams. In collaboration with school districts, EECD developed PBIS resources and materials for schools to support behaviour intervention.
In 2021 the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood undertook a review of EECD Policy 322, Inclusive Education. The Moving Forward report recommended leveraging the pockets of success that existed and an intentional focus on supports to strengthen the PBIS framework for an inclusive system. In the fall of 2021, 63 schools submitted requests to become PBIS Incubator Schools. A total of 10 schools of various grade configurations representing all four anglophone school district were selected. In the fall of 2023, 15 more schools of various grade configurations were added and 39 more schools in 2024, bringing the total to 64 schools. The New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood and the four anglophone school districts are currently exploring ways to increase the number of schools based upon the positive results achieved so far.
What impact has PBIS had on your school? How is it helping you to make a difference in your school?
The impact is on how we do business at our school. The difference is felt by the staff looking at challenges and knowing the solutions. We now examine our data to define areas of celebration and concern. A concern means that we must look deeper at the current situation, we need to ask questions, and get grassroots solutions. We need the student and staff voices to determine what the environment should look like, sound like, and feel like at our school. PBIS has helped us be more intentional. We live PBIS.
Claudine Dionne
Principal, Perth-Andover Middle School, New Brunswick, Canada
PBIS in a New Brunswick K-12 school
Teachers, support staff, administrators, counsellors, and community members work together to model, teach and support expectations at school and in the school community.
Teaching of values that support student’s social decision-making in and outside of school (e.g. responsibility, accountability, safety, respect).
All staff (e.g. administrators, administrative assistants, teachers, educational assistants, behaviour intervention mentors, custodians, cafeteria workers, library workers, bus drivers, coaches) are responsible for knowing and promoting the value-based expectations of the school community.
All staff continuously work to develop and strengthen positive relationships with students through frequent positive interactions (e.g. check-ins, acknowledgement of students’ demonstration of school values/expectations, offering support when needed).
What does PBIS look like in your school community?
It looks like adolescents being explicitly taught expectations. When they follow expectations, they are praised and celebrated. If they falter, we re-teach the expectations and work to repair connections. We build positive relationships between all stakeholders to become better citizens.
Judson Waye
Principal, Dr. Losier Middle School, New Brunswick, Canada