An Educator's Guide to Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Inteventions and Supports. Jason E. Harlacher
disruption). Prior to implementation of SWPBIS, it is likely that different teachers have different ideas of what is acceptable and not acceptable in the classroom. Getting the staff to agree on minor versus major behaviors can be an iterative process, so school teams should be prepared to revisit the definitions of problem behaviors a few times before establishing consensus (George et al., 2009). School teams can also conduct activities in which the staff review referrals from their own school and discuss if the behavior is a minor or major behavior, or they can have staff develop definitions on their own and compare them to reach agreement. The result of such a process should be a graphic or a chart that lists the minor and major behaviors. Staff might decide to include a definition of the behaviors like you see in table 2.9 (page 42) and list crisis behaviors as well.
Table 2.9: Minor Versus Major Behaviors
| Minor Behaviors | Definition | Example |
| Defiance | The student willfully does not follow or respond to adult requests within five seconds of receiving them. | Student ignores a 1:1 direction to begin his or her worksheet. |
| Disrespect | The student is rude to a teacher or speaks in a condescending or contentious manner. | The student makes a sarcastic comment and rolls his or her eyes. |
| Disruption in class | The student engages in behavior that interrupts a lesson or activity, such as untimely noisemaking, roughhousing, or sustained out-of-seat behavior. | The student throws crumpled-up paper across the room. |
| Inappropriate language | The student communicates using vulgar or derogatory speech, gestures, or writing. | The student utters a curse word. |
| Tardiness | The student arrives late to class or is not seated when the bell rings. | The student is not in his or her seat when the bell rings. |
| Major Behaviors | Definition | Example |
| Fighting and other physical aggression | The student pushes, shoves, hits, kicks, or is in some way violent toward a classmate. | A student punches another student. |
| Harassment and bullying | The student harasses or bullies a peer by making rude comments, fighting, spreading rumors, or otherwise targeting the peer with malicious intent. | A student writes a false and mean rumor about a student in a notebook. |
| Property misuse and vandalism | The student intentionally uses property or materials in a destructive or improper manner. | The student is writes in a school textbook. |
| Repeated tardiness | The student is tardy two times in one week. | The student is late to class on Monday and Tuesday. |
| Stealing | The student takes something or has something that does not belong to him or her. | The student steals another student’s electronic device. |
Source: Todd et al., 2006.
Identify Strategy Levels for Responding to Undesired Behaviors
Following identification of the minor versus major behaviors, the school team and staff identify options for how the staff can or should respond to minor, major, and crisis behaviors. This response begins with preventative and antecedent strategies as well as reinforcement-based and instruction-based methods (that is, reteaching the desired behavior; note that the desired behavior has likely been taught previously as part of the schoolwide teaching of expectations) before progressing to punishment-based methods. Additionally, the strategies or responses to behavior can be organized based on how frequently a behavior occurs (for example, more intensive involvement is specified for repeat behaviors).
For example, teachers may provide a brief error correction for the first minor misbehavior. To provide error correction, a teacher labels the misbehavior that the student is engaging in, reminds him or her of the expectation, models it, and asks him or her to demonstrate it. (“Jacob and Laura, I see you are off task by talking to each other instead of working. Remember that to be respectful during independent work time, we work quietly and stay focused on our task. [Briefly models working quietly, holding pencil, eyes on own paper.] Please show me that.”) Then the teacher provides acknowledgment when students comply. (“Thank you for working quietly and being responsible.”) The error correction is brief and instructional, and afterward everyone continues with his or her day; the teacher holds no grudge and displays no reluctance to acknowledge the students for appropriate behavior after the incident. The teacher then makes a concentrated effort moving forward to use prompts, active supervision, and increased praise for appropriate behavior.
For future occurrences of the same behavior, the teacher response becomes more intensive. For the second offense, the teacher response may involve reteaching the desired behavior and using more antecedent and reinforcement strategies. For a third offense, the teacher may use punishment strategies in addition to antecedent and reinforcement strategies, such as reteaching again and assigning a time-out or loss of a privilege.
A school can provide a general list of strategies for managing minor behavior to teachers, or it can organize a list of strategies into a hierarchy, such as the example in figure 2.2. The options are limited for the first and second occurrence before offering more choices for the third occurrence of the behavior. This is by design to communicate to teachers the schoolwide plan for managing minor behavior. Bear in mind that this is just an example; schools may wish to include more or fewer options to respond.
Note: DRL = differential reinforcement of lower rates of behavior; DRO = differential reinforcement of other behavior; DRA = differential reinforcement of alternative behavior; DRI = differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior.
Figure 2.2: Strategies organized into a hierarchy. Visit MarzanoResources.com/reproducibles to download a free reproducible version of this figure.
If a student continues to display the same minor behavior despite the use of a variety of classroom-based strategies, it is likely the behavior will constitute a major referral. In this situation, the classroom teacher has exhausted what is reasonable for him or her to use to manage a behavior and now requires support of the administration to manage a particular behavior. Sometimes, schools determine three or four minor behaviors (George, 2009), or a certain number of minor behaviors within a time period (for instance, three minors within four weeks) equate a major behavior referral. However, this process can be confusing for students, parents, and staff. Instead, we encourage teams to document both minor and major behavioral infractions and use that information to make decisions about if or when a repeated minor behavior becomes a major behavior. Teachers can also use this information when determining individual and group problems as part of discipline data review (for example, decision rules are created around major office referrals as well as minor discipline referrals for interventions and other problem-solving supports).
For major behavior, school administration will determine options for responses and communicate the range of possibilities to the staff. The response to a major behavior will be more substantial and involved compared to responses to a minor behavior, but the administration will still focus on teaching and strengthening the desired behavior and not just assigning punishment strategies.
Finally, leadership within the school clearly outlines responses to crisis behaviors. Crisis behaviors are ones that pose a danger or threat to the student or others. The immediate response is to secure the safety of the student and others, so typically the staff will notify the office of the behavior and have a lockdown where no one can leave or enter the school. The school’s district staff usually determine such procedures.
For students with disabilities or who are on individualized behavior support plans, it is typical that teachers will still document major and minor behaviors for these students according to schoolwide procedures following the process. This is to ensure that discipline behavior data accurately reflect the incidents in the school. Additionally, these data can determine the effectiveness of supports for the individual student. However, the actual response to misbehavior (for example, the consequences