Evaluation

Evaluation Instruments

A central feature of School-wide PBS training is the development of efficient evaluation systems that allow each school team to assess (a) if the practices and systems of School-wide PBS are being implemented with fidelity, and (b) if the practices and systems are providing a benefit to students.

Evaluation within the School-wide PBS approach should be local, useful and positive. The goal is to provide a school with simple tools that can be used to monitor progress, adjust to local needs and challenges, and describe accomplishments worthy of celebration. Trainers should teach teams how to use evaluation tools, provide time during training to complete self-evaluations, and model summary and use of evaluation data for active decision-making.

One of the major goals of the evaluation process is to emphasize that simply coming to team training is not sufficient to produce improved outcomes for students. Student social and academic behavior will change only if the behaviors of adults in the school change. The overall goal of School-wide PBS is to identify the smallest changes that will result in the largest gains for students. School teams will need evaluation information to (a) identify what they already do well, (b) identify what changes are most likely to be of greatest value for their school, (c) monitor if targeted changes are occurring, and (d) assess if the changes made by adults are resulting in benefits for students.

As part of School-wide PBS team and coaches training the following evaluation tools should be taught, applied and used for on-going decision-making:

Training curricula for School-wide PBS teams and coaches typically includes instruction in use of the evaluation instruments/tools listed in Table 1. Other evaluation data about student academic performance should be linked to these measures.