Adoption of PBIS within school districts

Area of Science:

• Implementation Science
• Educational Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Implementation science research often focuses on school-level adoption of evidence-based practices.
• District-level adoption patterns of these practices remain less understood.
• School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a widely adopted evidence-based framework.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the adoption trajectory of school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) at the district level.
• To identify predictors of PBIS adoption across districts over time.
• To inform strategies for enhancing the implementation of evidence-based practices in educational settings.

Main Methods:

• A sequential cohort of 552 school districts across 25 U.S. states adopting PBIS was analyzed.
• Latent change score and multi-level growth modeling were employed to assess district-level adoption rates over five years.
• Data on PBIS fidelity and district characteristics were collected and analyzed.

Main Results:

• District adoption of PBIS significantly increased in the first four years, with growth slowing between years four and five.
• District size, the proportion of students receiving free or reduced lunch, and urban/town location predicted higher PBIS adoption rates.
• The study identified key factors influencing the scale-up of evidence-based practices within school districts.

Conclusions:

• District-level factors significantly influence the adoption and implementation fidelity of school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).
• Understanding these predictors is crucial for developing targeted strategies to improve the uptake of evidence-based practices in schools.
• Future research should continue to explore contextual factors affecting implementation science at the district level.