St. Raphael implements program fostering positive learning space
By Olivia Integlia
In November, 2023, St. Raphael Elementary School of the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) launched the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program (PBIS).
The PBIS program was first developed by researchers at the University of Oregon. By the mid-1990s, the program began being implemented in numerous schools across North America.
“PBIS is considered a framework that is often used in schools to promote positive behaviour,” explained Cindy Mendes, a behaviour management specialist at the EMSB. “It’s targeting improving the school culture and increasing overall academic achievement.”
As part of the three-year time span to realize the program, one year was dedicated to staff training. “During that training, we were lifting out the roles or responsibilities [of the program],” said Mendes. “We figured out what our expectations were going to be.”
The program was then implemented during the 2023-2024 school year. “We started to teach; we displayed the expectation; we created lesson plans; [and] we had scheduled trainings with the rest of the staff,” she added.
At the end of the year, the program was officially launched.
Currently, St. Raphael is in the maintenance phase of the program, where data is being collected to assess the program’s success.
The PBIS program is designed as a pyramid model, with three tiers, each of which targets different needs and behavioural challenges.
“Tier one is able to support between 80 and 90 percent of your student population,” explained Mendes. It provides general school life strategies accessible to all students.
If tier one is unsuitable for the group’s needs, the PBIS program implements the second tier of the model, specifically targeted toward students with different behavioural challenges (typically between five and 15 percent of students), where intervention occurs in smaller group settings and students receive feedback on their behaviour regularly.
The third tier (targeting less than five percent of students) implements a one-on-one approach to addressing behavioural challenges in schools. “You’re going to have a more intense, personalized intervention for the students who have more chronic or severe behaviour challenges,” she explained.
While St. Raphael is still in the early stages of the program, Mendes said the school has adapted quite well.
“This [program] was piloted at St. Raphael, knowing that the team is already very strong and that their knowledge, experience, and skill set could support PBIS.” The program requires consistency to achieve positive results in students’ behaviour, she said. Mendes hopes the program will be refined each year to the needs of the school to ensure students adopt skills beneficial to them equally at home as in the classroom.
