Martin Luther King MS

PBIS: Positive Behaviorial Interventions and Supports

Montgomery County PBIS Maryland Recognition 2009!

Sixteen schools and alternative program sites have been recognized by PBIS Maryland for their implementation of PBIS during the 2008–2009 school year. Schools submitted an application and were judged on implementation of PBIS and improvements in discipline and academic data. The three levels of recognition are gold, silver, and bronze. The bronze award recognizes high fidelity of implementation of PBIS measured by scores on internal and external assessments. The silver award recognizes higher scores on the assessments and a documented decrease in office referrals and suspensions over at least two years. The gold award recognizes higher scores on the assessments, a decrease in office referrals and suspensions over at least 3 years, and a documented improvement in standardized achievement scores over at least 2 years. Congratulations to the staff and students at MLK!

PBIS is the organizational structure for building a positive climate in our school.

There are three main components of PBIS. The first is teaching and emphasizing our core values of Respect, Responsibility and Integrity in all school settings. This includes the hallways, cafeteria, bathrooms, classrooms, and even on the school bus. As you walk through our building you may notice signs that define the core values in each of these locations.

The second component of PBIS is an incentive system to reward students for meeting and exceeding our high expectations. These incentives include tickets, King Cha Ching, which teachers award to students who go above and beyond or consistently demonstrate our core values. Another incentive is Peace Days which grades earn on days their entire grade level demonstrates superior core value behavior. There is also Peace Keeper of the Month award which is given to individual students by their grade level team for being acting as a role model in demonstrating respect, responsibility and integrity.

Students in store The final component of PBIS is making sure all staff and students are informed about behavioral expectations. Our staff has developed school-wide procedures for helping students make appropriate behavioral choices. We believe that consistency throughout the school is a key part in maintaining a positive school environment.