The relationship between Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports implementation level and school climate

This study explored the relationship between Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) implementation level and school climate in a large, suburban district in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The study's population was all elementary schools in the district that have implemented the PBIS framework, and the sample consisted of 24 that opted to participate; all of these schools had implemented PBIS for at least two school years when the study's data was collected.;Two instruments were used to collect data. The Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ) assessed each school's PBIS implementation level and the teacher/staff version of the Delaware School Climate Survey was used to measure school climate. Each school completed one BoQ, while the Delaware School Climate Survey was completed by individual staff members, resulting in 715 individual responses. A series of correlations and regressions were used to explore the relationship between the two instruments. Each iteration examined the data in a slightly different way including the use of control variables (school size and students' socioeconomic status); analysis of each instruments' subscales; segmenting the data in terms of attributes such as school size, staff members' positions, and students' socioeconomic status; and removing outliers that were both one and two standard deviations from the mean. A separate analysis of outliers was also completed.;Data analysis found a small but statistically significant association between PBIS implementation level and school climate. Overall, PBIS implementation accounted for just less than 2 percent of school climate variability. The data also found a negative association between school climate and both students' socioeconomic status and school size. When analyzed according to segments, certain portions of the data were more sensitive to variations than others. In particular, the climate scores of the school administrators in the sample showed a strong link between the two variables with PBIS implementation level accounting for just over 32 percent of school climate variability. The implications of this data and recommendations for further study are discussed.