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The mission of schools is to continuously search for methods to provide anenvironment that promotes the achievement of academic and social competencies forstudents. Educators face many challenges in meeting these expectations. The purpose ofthis study was to determine if school-wide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) was aviable alternative for Olathe district schools to employ for the purpose of improvingbehavior and academic outcomes for all students. The researcher examined the impact ofthe implementation of SWPBS on behavioral archival data, academic outcomes, schoolclimate surveys, and interviews with principals and teachers to determine if there was apositive change in school climate with the utilization of SWPBS.The researcher analyzed data over a four year span (0, 1, 2, and 3 years) ofstudents exposed to SWPBS implementation to determine if significant changes occurredin student behaviors. Data included office referrals and in and out of school suspensions,academic scores from the Kansas State Assessments, and district staff climate surveysfrom each school participating in the study. A mixed quantitative and qualitative designwas used to collect and analyze data for this research study. The quantitative portion ofthe study compared the behavioral archival data (office referrals, in-school suspensions,out of school suspensions) of three designated Olathe elementary schools, Kansas StateAssessment scores, and district staff climate responses. The qualitative portion of thestudy investigated teacher and administrator perceptions of student behavior, schoolclimate, and academic scores to determine if perceptions had changed as a result ofimplementing SWPBS.The interpretation of results revealed mixed findings over the four year span of the study. The evidence indicated the number of documented student office referrals andin-school suspensions significantly decreased, while out-of-school suspensions did notsignificantly decrease over the four years of the study. Overall findings for academicimprovement in reading and math in the study were mixed. Reading scores significantlyimproved among students who had been exposed to 2 or 3 years of SWPBS, while mathscores did not significantly improve over the three years of SWPBS. Findings among thethree schools indicated school A and school C reading scores improved while school B’sscores did not significantly change over the 3 years of SWPBS. Student Kansas stateassessment math scores decreased between the first and second year of SWPBS andincreased during the third year; however, the scores were not significantly different fromthe two previous years. The qualitative portion of the study offered additional evidenceto support the relationship between SWPBS and academic achievement in both readingand math as principal and teacher perceptions included other types of data and tests toevaluate academic progress. |
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