Mathematics achievement in an alternative school implementing school-wide positive behavior support

The number of individuals with a mathematics learning disability has greatly increased over the years. Unfortunately, these students not only are behind their peers in their current grade, but continue to perform below their peers in later grades, resulting in an increase in the academic achievement gap. Thus, it is important to find supports to reduce this gap in achievement. School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is an evidence-based program that has been shown to improve student behavior and increase academic achievement. While there is a lot of research supporting the positive effects of SWPBS in a general education setting, there are few studies looking at SWPBS in alternative school settings. The present study examines the relationship between the implementation of SWPBS and mathematics achievement of students in an alternative school. It was hypothesized that over time, a higher percentage of students in this alternative school would be at or above the 25th percentile on mathematics assessments co-occurring with managing behavior through SWPBS. Overall results show that there was not a significant change in school-wide mathematics achievement after the implementation of SWPBS. However, students who were enrolled in the school consistently before and after the implementation of SWPBS showed improvements in their mathematics scores over time.