Program Evaluation of CHAMPS- School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) at a Therapeutic School

Rotem Dayan, Pace University

Abstract

The contemporary approach of teaching adaptive behavior in educational settings is called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). School professionals expect an 80% response rate based on previous research of the PBIS framework studied in public schools using a mixed population of special education and typical students (Colvin, Kame'enui, & Sugai, 1993; Lewis, Sugai, & Colvin, 1998; Sprague et al., 2001). Limited research is available on the effectiveness of PBIS in non-public school settings, or with specific special education student populations. This study reviewed the efficacy of PBIS CHAMPS (Sprick, 2012) at a therapeutic school to determine whether a response to intervention rate similar to what has been reported with other student populations would be achieved. More specifically, students' gender and therapeutic treatment setting (non-residential vs. residential) were examined in relation to the frequency of incidents (out-of-program and aggression) and restraints prior to and during the 1st year of implementation of PBIS CHAMPS. Participants included 108 students in a therapeutic school in a suburban setting. There were 84 males and 24 females, of which 50 students were in the residential and 58 students were in the non-residential treatment setting. This was a quasi-experimental study utilizing an existing database. Results revealed that the frequency of incidents during the first year of CHAMPS implementation was significantly lower (p = .015) than the frequency of incidents a year before CHAMPS implementation. Results revealed that the change in frequency of incidents at the therapeutic school decreased significantly (p=.017), for students in residential treatment. Females in the residential treatment program were most likely to respond (p=.053) to PBIS CHAMPS as measured by the larger change in frequency of incidents. There were no significant decreases observed in the rate of restraints. CHAMPS was found to be a partially effective PBIS framework for students, particularly for female students in a NYS suburban residential therapeutic setting. The findings emphasize the importance of examining differences in how students respond to PBIS Tier One interventions based on their gender and treatment setting.

Subject Area

Psychology

Recommended Citation

Dayan, Rotem, "Program Evaluation of CHAMPS- School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) at a Therapeutic School" (2013). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI3579966.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI3579966

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