Impact of School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports on Graduation, Attendance,Suspensions, and School Climate in a Missouri Suburban High School

Abstract

The time a student is present in the classroom has a direct relationship to the levelof academic achievement and progress towards graduation. High schools continue toinvestigate ways in which students can experience success in the secondary setting.According to Horner and Sugai (2000) “An important feature of schools that claimsuccess in building safe environments is that instructions on appropriate behavior is notsaved just for those students who demonstrate problems, but is designed for school-wideimplementation” (p. 231). During recent years, schools have utilized the framework ofSchool-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) to guide practices and daily routineswithin the school. SWPBS is a multi-tiered system of support model that providesadditional behavioral supports to students who are struggling with broad or generalschool supports. The implementation of a recovery room, an alternative intervention, atthe high school level is an innovative extension of SWPBS implemented at one suburbanhigh school in Missouri.The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation of SWPBS at thehigh school level. More specifically, this study involved the investigation of an approachthat combined a tiered strategy of interventions with the use of a recovery room. Theimpact of supports on student behavior was measured by changes in graduation,attendance, in-school suspension data, and out of school suspension data. The studyexamined changes that occurred in student behaviors among zero, one, and two years ofSWPBS implementation. The results indicate that the implementation of SWPBS had apositive effect on graduation, and a marginally significant effect on in-schoolsuspensions. A relationship between the SWPBS and attendance and out of school suspension was not established. Based on the results of this study, educators andgoverning agencies should accept the responsibility of moving forward with efforts thatsupport continued implementation of SWPBS at the secondary level. Common languageand pro-active supports should be embedded into school practices to benefit the learningcommunity as a whole.