Transportation Transformation – Effective Strategies to Improve Behavior on the Bus

School Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) and Classroom PBIS have been shown to be effective at improving the rates of Office Discipline Referrals (ODRs) across the school environment. However, many schools continue to experience chronic behavior concerns on the bus, despite seeing tangible changes in other environments. While there are many reasons for this lag in behavior change on the bus, the SWPBIS and Classroom PBIS frameworks and core components can be effectively applied to bus behavior. Explicit instruction of behavioral expectations, maximization of structure, and consistent responding to desired and undesired behaviors are some of the components of an effective PBIS framework appropriate for settings such as the school bus. In this presentation, two initiatives which have been shown to have positively impacted student behavior on the bus will be described. One initiative, implemented at the elementary level, emphasizes the use of an early warning system for students at-risk for engaging in undesired behaviors and targeted behavioral interventions. The second initiative, also implemented at the elementary level, utilizes a whole-bus reward system to improve behavior. In addition, a third promising initiative recently implemented with secondary students will also be described. Strategies pertaining to one major issue with implementing a PBIS strategy on the bus, obtaining buy-in from transportation staff, will be discussed as well.