School
Based Behavioral Health (SBBH)
The Children’s Bureau has been working with the Department
of Education in working to ensuring that schools are caring and
supportive places that maximize learning as well as social, emotional,
and behavioral development. SBBH will bring together schools, county
mental health programs, and community resources to develop a continuum
of services that enable children to have their educational and mental
health needs met within their school districts. The Children’s
Bureau is moving forward in several areas of the state to support
school-based mental health initiatives.
The State Leadership Team of Pennsylvania School-Wide Positive Behavior Support initiative now has its own web site: papbs.org. The Pennsylvania Positive Behavioral Support Network web site is one component in fulfilling the mission to “support schools and their family and community partners to create and sustain comprehensive, school-based behavioral health support systems in order to promote the academic, social and emotional well-being of all Pennsylvania’s students.”
Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network Newsletter
PAPBS Implementers’ Forums
Approximately 1,000 people attended the Second PAPBS Implementers’ Forum on May 23 - 24, 2012 in Hershey. Forty-nine schools and nine early childhood programs were recognized for implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) with fidelity. Keynote presentations and several workshops featured speakers known nationally for their leadership and expertise in developing the PBIS model, and implementing and evaluating it. Many of the programs and schools involved with PBIS presented workshops describing their experience and providing tips and resources for others. A brief presentation on the most recent evaluation highlighted how schools that are implementing PBIS with fidelity have increased their PSSA test scores in reading and math.
Information about PAPBS Implementers’ Forums
Student
Assistance Program (SAP)
The Student Assistance Program (SAP) is a collaborative effort between
the Pennsylvania Departments of Education, Health and Welfare that
is comprised of school personnel and behavioral health professionals.
The primary goal of the program is to address barriers to learning
and to enhance student success. SAP is operating in all 501 school
districts throughout the Commonwealth.
School-Wide
Positive Behavior Support: A Plan for Pennsylvania
The Education Law Center recently released a report on School-Wide
Positive Behavior Support, which is a research-based, highly effective,
approach to creating, teaching, and reinforcing students’
social, emotional, and academic learning skills that improves and
sustains academic achievement and mental and emotional wellbeing
of all students. Other states that have implemented PBS have reduced
disciplinary referrals, increased students’ academic achievement,
and improved school climate and safety. Pennsylvania has already
started to implement PBS through a small pilot project. A workgroup
of the OMHSAS Children's Advisory Committee is developing a white
paper on positive behavior support that will recommend its implementation
in all 501 school districts in Pennsylvania.
National
Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavior and Intervention
Supports
Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs in the US Department
of Education, the National Technical Assistance Center on Positive
Behavior and Intervention Supports was established to address the
behavioral and discipline systems needed for successful learning
and social development of students. The Center provides capacity-building
information and technical support about behavioral systems to assist
states.
SharedWork.org
Pennsylvania participates in the National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health, just one of the emphases of the SharedWork.org web site. This site is "designed to support and facilitate the shared work that occurs among individuals, organizations and agencies at the local, district, state, and national levels." In addition to the Community of Practice on School Behavioral Health, where Pennsylvania is one of 12 states participating, the SharedWork.org web site also includes a Community of Practice on Transition where Pennsylvania is one of 13 states. Each community of practice contains sections on What’s New (upcoming meetings, news, and announcements), Repository (important files and documents for use by the community), and Discussion (ongoing communications and sharing among all the practice groups and stakeholders). To access the information on the various Communities of Practice on the web site, you will need to create a user account with a password.
Reducing Behavioral Problems in the Elementary School Classroom, published by the US Department of Education
Designed for elementary school educators and school- and district-level administrators, Reducing Behavioral Problems in the Elementary School Classroom, offers prevention, implementation, and schoolwide strategies that can be used to reduce problematic behavior that interferes with the ability of students to attend to and engage fully in instructional activities. The guide provides five concrete recommendations for promoting positive student behavior in elementary schools. A project of the US Department of Education, the WWC is a central and trusted source of scientific evidence for what works in education. The WWC develops and implements standards for reviewing education research, assesses the rigor of research evidence on the effectiveness of interventions (programs, products, practices, and policies), and produces user-friendly practice guides for educators.
School Re-Entry for Children with Traumatic Brain Injury
More than 4,000 children in Pennsylvania have traumatic brain injuries each year that require hospitalization. Many children are left with difficulties in physical, cognitive, or behavioral functioning. The BrainSTEPS program was created in 2007 by the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania, as part of a contract with the Department of Health, to inform and support those who provide educational services to children with traumatic brain injury.
|
