POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS AT A NC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: A PROGRAM EVALUATION

Abstract

AB STRACT Chris Meadows, POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS AT A NC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: A PROGRAM EVALUATION (Under the direction of Dr. Marjorie Ringler). Department of Educational Leadership, December 2020. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a multi-tiered framework utilized in over 26,000 schools across the United States, to create a school culture consisting of a positive learning environment and successful student (Sugai & Horner, 2020). This study sought to determine the effectiveness of PBIS at a North Carolina public charter school in regards to three major indicators: student attendance; student academic achievement; and student discipline. The rise of charter schools in both the US and NC is discussed along with charter school advocate and critic perceptions. To gain a greater understanding of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of PBIS at this charter, many topics were detailed to mirror the charter’s student population. At the time of the study, the study site was predominately African American and high poverty. Because of the predominate student population of the study’s site, African American and high poverty student issues and concerns are discussed based on numerous educational theorist’s ideas and their respective research. Determining the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of PBIS at the charter occur through data collection procured through various PBIS documents from the three years at the charter, equating to the first year (2017-18) of PBIS implementation, the second year (2018-2019) of PBIS implementation, and the third year (2019- 2020) of PBIS implementation. The three years of data included student proficiency on NC End of Grade (EOG) assessments, student suspension data, and student attendance rates. Qualitative data was obtained from charter school staff responses of semi-structured interview questions. The evaluation of this this program was completed with the CIPP (Context; Input; Process; and Product) method. The program evaluation was favorable overall in the fidelity of PBIS implementation and generated the following findings: academic growth in each of the three years of PBIS implementation; a decrease in student short-term suspensions in each of the three years of PBIS implementation; and a steady and remarkable increase in student attendance rate in each of the three years of PBIS implementation.