The Illinois PBIS Network's Announcements page includes communications sent statewide to stakeholders on a range of topics. |
Annnouncements
Federal Grant Opportunities
Please contact us (lucille.eber@pbisillinois.org or jessica.swainbradway@pbisillinois.org) if you are interested in applying for one or more of the grants. We appreciate your continued efforts to merge school and community resources to support your most vulnerable students.
Note on due dates: The grant.gov website is slated for maintenance June 21-23, and will be offline! For more information about how this impacts timelines, visit: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/outreach/calendar.html
Current GrantsNEW: Grant.gov website- the site to upload the School Climate Transformation Grant proposal- is slated for maintenance June 21-23, and will be offline! Note from the grant Manager: "The grants.gov site will be down for maintenance Friday night at midnight and back up at 6:00 am on Monday the 23rd. Applicants have until 4:30 pm to upload their application packages. In addition, they can download the package and work on content while it is offline over the weekend and then upload and submit once the system is back up and operational on the 23rd.
To be safe, aim to upload the SCTG no later than Friday, June 20th! “Purpose of Grant: The School Climate Transformation Grant Program — Local Educational Agency Grants provides competitive grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to develop, enhance, or expand systems of support for, and technical assistance to, schools implementing an evidence-based multi-tiered behavioral framework for improving behavioral outcomes and learning conditions for all students… Research demonstrates that the implementation of an evidence-based, multi-tiered behavioral framework, such as positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), can help improve overall school climate and safety.” p.2-3
Estimated range of School Climate Transformation awards is $100,000-$750,000 per year for up to 5 years, with average size of award $200,000 per year. SCTG Federal announcement: Project Prevent Grant Program:
Developing Knowledge About What Works to Make Schools Safe Grant:
Areas that would be appropriate matches for School Climate Transformation Grant, Project Prevent, and Developing Knowledge About What Works to Make Schools Safe may include:
| Important Links:Accounts districts need for applying for the grants:
Resources page for SCTGs on Ed.Gov Additional Resources:Webinar Slides on Overview of Grants (5/16/14): Transformation Grants: Overview from National PBIS TA Ctr. (Click to download) |
PoI Updates and the NEW National PBIS Implementation Inventory
Hello district leaders and coaches,
This year, we are excited to transition from the Illinois Phases of Implementation (PoI), to the new PBIS National Center Implementation Inventory. This fidelity tool is intended to measure all three tiers, and was created by the PBIS National Center partners using the Illinois PoI as well as other fidelity measures, including the SET, BoQ, BAT, and ISSET to ensure multi-tiered PBIS systems are in place within a school building. The Implementation Inventory will be available in PBIS Assessments and used nationwide to provide a full picture with one assessment tool across all three tiers of PBIS implementation.
Fall 2013
Spring 2014
FY14 PBIS Recognition Process
Please click here to register for one of the webinar dates listed below to learn more about the new PBIS Implementation Inventory tool.
Thursday, December 5 8a-10a 12p-2p Friday, December 6 9a-11a 11a-1p Monday, December 9 10a-12p Tuesday, December 10 2p-4p
See below for one example of an Implementation Inventory item from each tier of the new tool.
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
Sincerely, PBIS Evaluation Team
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Revised PBIS Technical Assistance Support Structure for 2013-14
Dear District-based Coaches and Administrators, We hope your school year is off to a good start! As the behavior focus area of the Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance Collaborative (ISTAC), the Illinois PBIS Network is undergoing some organizational changes. One change, starting in October, is the reassignment of half of our field-based staff to work on a foundational level curriculum across all of the ISTAC focus areas. We are excited about this work that includes PBIS implementation as a core component for school improvement. However, these state-level changes require us to modify our communication structure in order to more efficiently support PBIS implementing districts. Under our previous structure, all districts were assigned to a specific PBIS Technical Assistance Coordinator (TAC) for personalized communication and support. Since many of the PBIS TACs will be focused on ISTAC curriculum development, we are moving to a more centralized structure for answering questions and providing information about PBIS tools and processes. Therefore, we ask that you please direct your questions about the following areas of PBIS accordingly:
These contact categories are also posted on the Illinois PBIS Network’s website for your future reference. Our team is looking forward to seeing you at regional coaches network meetings, and continuing to support your work through our website, conferences, trainings, webinars, and newsletters. Our key focus areas continue to be on sustainability, building capacity at Tier 3, and related innovations including mental health integration and bullying prevention. We appreciate your support and understanding of this transition. Thank you for creating positive social environments where your students can experience personal and educational success. Sincerely, Lucille Eber Ed.D, Statewide Director, IL PBIS Network 550 Quail Ridge Dr. Westmont, IL 60559 630-861-1200 - FAX 630-325-2605 lucille.eber@pbisillinois.org www.pbisillinois.org |
Response Papers to Sandy Hook Tragedy - Jan 17, 2013
Dear PBIS Administrators, Principals, and Coaches,
Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, there has been renewed public debate over the appropriate measures and practices to ensure school safety. The Illinois PBIS Network would like to share the following two resources with school officials. We encourage you to share these response papers with your school leaders, teams, and community. We hope this information assists you in advancement of a positive school culture including an interconnectedness among all individuals. We look forward to our continued partnership toward our shared mission to improve the school climate, safety, and outcomes for all students in Illinois.
Sincerely,
Lucille Eber The Illinois PBIS Network |
IL PBIS Network Support for LEAs, 2012-13 Update - Sept 7, 2012
Dear District, Special Education Cooperative, and ROE leaders, Greetings from the Illinois PBIS Network! The purpose of this communication is to thank you for your ongoing partnership, and to describe how you can continue to access training and technical assistance resources to support your implementation of multi-tiered behavioral supports. One way we facilitate this access is to assign a PBIS Technical Assistance coordinator (TAC) liaison to all districts. In the next week, your assigned TAC for the 2012-13 school year will be in contact with your coaches and district leaders in a follow up to this communication. We have also created a webpage that lists TAC assignments for your reference at http://www.pbisillinois.org/about/statewide-contacts. The TAC liaison’s role is to facilitate your knowledge of and access to ongoing training and technical assistance opportunities. TACs provide this support through regional coaches’network meetings, forums, trainings, and connecting you with online resources for information about all three tiers. TACs can also answer your questions by phone and email regarding district leadership team facilitation and development of your training and evaluation plans. District coaches receive additional support through a monthly electronic Front Page Newsletter highlighting specific state and national website resources, upcoming meetings and trainings, and the latest innovations in multi-tiered behavioral supports. In addition to these primary supports provided to all districts, the Network is also continuing to collaborate more intensively with a smaller number of districts on various innovations including implementing advanced tiers, advanced tiers at the high school level, bullying prevention, and reducing disproportionate outcomes for students based on ethnicity or disability. The lessons from these innovations are then integrated into curriculum and tools, and shared with all districts through meetings, trainings, technical assistance activities, and the monthly electronic newsletter. For example, the external coaches forum in June included implementation refinements in bullying prevention and in our techniques for coaching tier three practices to fidelity. We appreciate the opportunity to continue supporting your efforts in PBIS implementation. Please share your questions or feedback with us. We look forward to another successful year implementing multi-tiered behavioral supports for the benefit of all students. Sincerely, |
Bullying Prevention (BP) Update - Feb 14, 2012
Dear IL PBIS Colleagues, Thank you for all the hard work and effort each of you put into creating positive school climates. As many of you know, the topics of bullying and the effectiveness of bullying prevention (BP) efforts continue to be areas of focus for the IL PBIS Network. In addition to district requests for assistance, the Network receives calls directly from concerned parents and family members about bullying. It is also a topic in the media and in local communities because of unfortunate and repeated tragedies. Therefore we want to reach out and share 1) resources and information on bullying prevention efforts, 2) strategies for responding to and working with families who raise concerns about bullying behavior directed towards their children, and 3) the Illinois PBIS Network’s policy on responding to family concerns about how schools implementing PBIS are handling BP. Finally, we would like to ask you to share any policies and strategies that have helped your district partner effectively with families who have raised concerns about their child experiencing bullying behavior. Resources: In December 2010, the IL PBIS Network created a technical assistance brief on bullying prevention. This resource, along with other research, presentations, and curriculum, is available at http://www.pbisillinois.org/curriculum/bullying. The brief provides an overview of the current research on effective practices and strategies to use when implementing your BP system. For example, research suggests that bullying prevention efforts should be incorporated within a school-wide system of behavior support, and also should establish and utilize partnerships with families and the community. Ineffective strategies identified in research include the use of peer-mediated counseling sessions, using the word “bully” in posters or materials promoting your school-wide efforts, and targeting only a subset of students for the intervention. Responding to Family Concerns: Families are often the first to notice bullying issues their children experience at school. Therefore questions and concerns from families, especially those related to bullying or safety issues, need to be seriously considered by school and district leaders. The majority of family concerns expressed to the Illinois PBIS Network have been specifically about steps school leaders did, or did not take following documented bullying-related events. For example, parents of youth who had been bullied reported feeling left out of the decision-making process regarding interventions for their child, and not having access to progress-monitoring data on how their child is responding to the interventions. Also, parents have contacted the Network because they were told their school was using PBIS to implement BP and they had questions about the BP efforts within the PBIS context in their child’s school. As you are aware, a family who expresses concerns about their child experiencing bullying should feel that school leaders are taking their concerns seriously. This can be accomplished by school/district leaders: a) meeting with the family to listen to their concerns and gather all pertinent information from the family perspective; b) working closely with the family by including their input as they develop plans to support their child, c) keeping families updated by sharing data on their child’s response to the support and interventions provided, and d) seeking the family’s perspective on the effectiveness of the interventions. These procedures may be more effective if schools, as part of their school-wide BP efforts, universally encourage all parents to share questions, fears and ideas about BP efforts. Establishing a climate where all families feel informed and comfortable sharing concerns and suggestions can help ensure effective school and family partnerships when incidents do occur. Illinois PBIS Network’s Policy: When a family member shares concerns with the Network related to their child’s school’s response to a bullying issue, the Network will, with the family’s permission, share the expressed concern with the district and offer support and technical assistance to the district. This could include self-assessing, action planning, and progress-monitoring current bullying prevention including school, family, and community partnership efforts. The Network can support the school in improving their multi-tiered systems of support; including their individual student support processes for youth involved with bullying. The Network may also provide support to the concerned family member including sharing bullying prevention literature, connecting the parent to local resources, and inviting the parent to participate with the Illinois PBIS Network as we continue exploring ways schools can better meet the needs of all youth and families. Next steps school leaders can take in order to learn more about and improve bullying prevention efforts.
We hope you find these resources and information helpful when working with your PBIS schools. If you need any further clarification or have any questions about any aspect of this correspondence, please don’t hesitate to contact me, or your PBIS Technical Assistance Coordinator. In closing, we again thank you for all you are doing to create safe learning environments in your schools and we encourage you to continue sharing strategies that have proven effective with stopping and preventing bullying behavior with our Network. We are especially interested in examples of policies to guide schools as they work closely with families to ensure quick and effective supports and interventions for youth experiencing bullying behavior. Your successful experiences can help us continue to shape the messages and information we share through our statewide network.
Sincerely, Lucille Eber |