Foundations: A Proactive and Positive Behavior Support System

Foundations will walk your staff through the process of designing a proactive and positive schoolwide discipline plan. The Foundations process effectively addresses how to establish a positive school climate and culture, school safety, student motivation, and academic engagement.

The six modules in Foundations (3rd ed.) guide leadership teams from planning steps and inservice through implementation:

Module A: Foundations of Behavior Support—A Continuous Improvement Process

Module B: Managing Behavior in Common Areas and With Schoolwide Policies

Module C: Conscious Construction of an Inviting School Climate

Module D: Responding to Misbehavior—An Instructional Approach

Module E: Improving Safety, Managing Conflict, and Reducing Bullying

Module F: Establishing and Sustaining a Continuum of Behavior Support

Designed to enhance the workflow of a school-based leadership team, each of the six new Foundations modules includes:

• DVD inservice presentations and vignettes
• 8 copies of the leadership team guide
• PowerPoint presentations to enhance staff training
• Real-life samples from schools
• Lesson plans to teach expected behaviour
• Reproducible forms

The modules in Foundations are designed to be used sequentially by a school or district that is just getting started with behaviour support. However, if a school or district is already implementing a team-based, data-driven approach to continuous improvement of climate, safety, discipline, and motivation, the modules can be used in any order. You can also purchase each module separately (see below).

Districts and schools that have implemented Foundations report:

• Reductions in disciplinary referrals, suspensions, and expulsions
• Increases in staff co-ordination, consistency, and collegiality
• Improvements in school climate
• Increases in positive interactions between staff and students
• Improvements in staff skill in effective supervision and Positive Behaviour Supports
• Application of data-based decision making to behaviour and discipline policies

New in this third edition:

• Reducing out-of-school suspensions
• Improving attendance
• Preventing bullying
• And more . . .

Research Validated: see Ward, B., & Gersten, R. (2013). A randomised evaluation of the Safe & Civil Schools model for positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) at elementary schools in a large urban school district. School Psychology Review, 42(3), 317–333. 

Foundations is listed on the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP). The online National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices was discontinued in January 2018, but the Safe & Civil Schools NREPP listing can be viewed in the Evidence tab.

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Table of Contents

Set of Modules A-F, each containing:

• DVD or online video inservice presentations and vignettes
• 8 copies of the leadership team guide
• PowerPoint presentations to enhance staff training
• Real-life samples from schools
• Lesson plans to teach expected behavior
• Reproducible forms

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"The focus of Foundations is a great way of looking at truly universal supports for all students. We’ve realized with our Foundations implementations that we can implement a structure that affects a larger range of students, and those top-tier problem students rarely reach a point where they need to be specifically targeted for individual intervention."
- District Psychologist

"What happens with a Foundations implementation is hard to capture. It’s best felt by visiting a school before and after. In the schools that have implemented Foundations, it’s clear that an intentional culture works for both students and teachers."
- Social Worker