Sidney Public Schools offers positive behavioral support to students

Positive behavioral support is the umbrella term for the training and tools provided to Sidney Public Schools (SPS) teachers, administration and counselors.

Seven main ideas make up the positive behavioral support programs: behavior support, evidence based interventions, proactive screening for all students, progress monitoring, treatment integrity, data-based decision making, and collaborative problem solving.

There are three tiers to the program, prevention, at risk children and intense needs. All children kindergarten through sixth grade that attend school in Sidney are evaluated using these tiers, said Angie Jacobsen, special education coordinator and school psychologist for SPS.

“We started being trained about three years ago,” Jacobsen said. “We trained a team with key people in every building in the district. What we wanted to do was take a proactive, preventive, approach. That’s what the tier one looks like.”

Jacobsen said that the schools have a universal screener that all teachers fill out.

“We utilize the screening three times a year, and what we are looking for is if the child’s behavior throws up any red flags,” she said. “We are looking for acting out behaviors but also internalizing behaviors.”

Tier one of the program is prevention, implementing multi-levels of support that address the academic, physical health and the social and emotional health of the child. Behavior supports are put in place and tools are given to administration and staff. These tools include social emotional learning curriculum, proactive classroom management and engagement strategies, universal screening and high quality interventions.

Jacobsen said interventions would be just small talk sessions, where the guidance counselor would meet with the child and talk about skills that would help them be more successful.

Tier two determines the need for increased support. Teaching opportunities are provided for the students to learn appropriate behaviors and positive reinforcement systems are implemented.

Tier three is for “intense need” students, when data and evaluation indicates that even more support is needed. The behavioral team then develops a comprehensive behavior intervention plan that includes modification and support within the students environment.

“Once we had all of the tiers in place and we realized we still had kids that were struggling, we knew we needed something more,” Jacobsen said. “We were fortunate to have a teacher on staff who is trained in that highly structured behavioral program.”

The “All Children Experience Success,” or ACES, program works in conjunction with the Positive Behavior Supports that are a district wide, multi-tired behavior program for K-6 students.

A student is placed into ACES program when he or she has been through the three tiers and may benefit from a more intensive, highly structured program, Jacobsen said.

Caroline Russel is the ACES program teacher. While she has been with SPS for two years, her role as the ACES teacher began this year.

The ACES program is offered by the Educational Service Unit 13 (ESU13), which serves the northwestern Nebraska counties of Sioux, Dawes, Sheridan, Box Butte, Scottsbluff, Morrill, and Banner counties, providing links to member schools, multiple resources. ESU13 gives the staff the training they need to implement the program and continue with education and training.

“We have always wanted to provide additional support for kids with behavior difficulties,” Jacobsen said.

Jacobsen said the ACES program helps to empower students with strategies and skills to overcome behaviors and integrate them back into a general education setting.

“Everything that we have implemented has been researched and is scientific based for the success of our students,” she said.