Pre-Service Preparation of Educators

How Can We Incorporate PBIS into Pre-Service Preparation?

Pre-service training includes a range of experiences designed to prepare future educators, including both university-based and field-based coursework. University faculty typically design these experiences to meet discipline-specific professional standards and state requirements for licensure and certification. Within and across these experiences, faculty can incorporate PBIS to enhance their pre-service preparation. Specific approaches may include:

• Developing a program or course sequence on PBIS (e.g., graduate certificate program)
• Offering a course on PBIS (e.g., classroom PBIS, school improvement with PBIS/MTSS)
• Incorporating content and resources into an existing course (e.g., incorporating classroom PBIS into a traditional “classroom management” course, incorporating mental health and well-being into coursework in social work)
• Adjusting field-based activities to include evidence-based practices, systems, and data routines that are part of the PBIS framework
• Recommending videos or readings on PBIS for further learning

For any option, topic pages provide an overview and highlight critical content that may be included in coursework. For example, coursework on classroom PBIS may (a) share content from the classroom PBIS topic page and (b) teach the Supporting and Responding to Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs (see p. 10).

Why Address PBIS During Pre-Service Preparation?

Educators benefit from PBIS implementation. Research shows that educators experience (a) greater self-efficacy and well-being and (b) improved school culture, organizational health, and climate when they implement PBIS (see Why Implement PBIS?).

Across disciplines, pre-service preparation in PBIS can empower future…

• …educational leaders to form effective leadership teams and collaboratively develop, implement, and continuously improve supports for staff, students, and families within a PBIS/MTSS (multi-tiered system of support) framework
• …general and special education teachers to engage their students and families in creating vibrant teaching and learning environments where all students thrive with differentiated and culturally relevant implementation of evidence-based practices
• …specialists (e.g., school psychologists, school counselors, school social workers, school nurses, occupational and physical therapists, speech language pathologists, audiologists, community-based mental health providers, vision and mobility specialists) to partner with students and their families to design and implement individualized, culturally relevant, and evidence-based supports

Critical Features of Pre-Service Preparation in PBIS

An effective approach to pre-service preparation is gradual release, or explicit instruction, which can be used both (a) within each university-based or field-based experience and (b) across the whole preparation program. A similar approach can set educators up for success during induction, or their initial years in the profession. Consider the following gradual release example for PBIS.

During Pre-Service Preparation

• ‍Explicit instruction in relevant components of evidence-based PBIS framework (i.e., equitable systems, practices, and/or data)
• Opportunities to practice with supportive feedback to support initial implementation
• Opportunities to demonstrate in context with supportive feedback to build fluency refine implementation
• Opportunities to independently demonstrate practices to meet competencies (for successful course or licensure/certification)

During Induction (Initial Years in Profession)

• Ongoing training in PBIS to support professional growth
• Supportive coaching to promote contextualized implementation of PBIS

How to Support Future Educators with PBIS During Pre-Service Training

For some ideas about how to incorporate classroom PBIS resources into educator preparation coursework and field experiences, check out the following examples:

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