Maryland statewide PBIS initiative: Systems, evaluation, and next steps

There is growing interest in positive behavior supports among state departments of education and local school systems as an efficient and effective strategy for addressing students' increasing and intensifying discipline needs. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is one whole-school prevention strategy that alters the school environment by creating improved systems (e.g., discipline, reinforcement, and data management) and procedures (e.g., collection of office referral data, training, team-based decision making) to promote positive changes in student and teacher behaviors. This article describes a statewide systems approach to the implementation of PBIS. An overview of the PBIS Maryland multilevel implementation model is presented with a focus on school- and district-level structures that support implementation. Preliminary results are presented from the state's summative and formative evaluation being conducted in 467 schools trained in PBIS. The evaluation findings suggest that the state has developed an efficient statewide structure for promoting high-fidelity implementation of PBIS.