John Riley Hill, Ph.D. Office of Family Services - Acting Administrator

John Riley Hill, Ph.D. Office of Family Services - Acting Administrator

Council of Great City Schools • “The discipline process within the Milwaukee Public Schools is oriented toward setting forth punitive consequences, rather than toward reinforcing positive behavior. No district-wide framework exists for a research-based program to encourage positive behavior; nor is there a consistent program of interventions designed to build positive behavior.” (p. 5, 2008)

MPS Data for 2007-2008 • The Council of Great City Schools examined the data listed below: • During the course of the year, 94,349 students attended MPS. • Staff wrote 161,981 incident referrals. Administrators issued 87,051 suspensions. • That resulted in 148,737 days of suspension served by MPS students.

Referral Reasons

Timeline of PBIS Implementation August 2009: Office Referral Form September 2011: PBIS Across the District March 2009: In-Depth Presentation February 2010: Cohort 2/ Tier 1 June 2011: Staff Cuts January 2008: Research Begins May 2009: PBIS Portal Page September 2010: Cohort 1/ Tier 1 & 2 November 2008: Planning Begins 2008 2009 2010 2011 August 2008: Presentation to Principals August 2009: Coaches Hired September 2010 : Cohort 2/ Tier 1 November 2009: Supervisors Hired February 2011: State Budget February 2009: Media Site May 2011: Cohort 3/ Tier 1 May 2009: Cohort 1/ Tier 1 January 2010: Media Site and Newsletter

Researching PBIS • Contacted other school districts and asked questions. • Attended the APBS Conference. • Brought Nancy Franklin from LAUSD to Milwaukee to present to different stakeholders. • A team of district administrators, principals, teachers, and union officials to another school district to learn about PBIS.

Bottom-Up/Top-Down • Worked with the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) to plan how we would roll-out PBIS to the district. • Spent a year working together • Used an existing joint Safety and Discipline Labor Management Committee • Collaboration is not always easy • Starts and Stops • Desire to be included in the research and planning

Laying the Ground Work • Presented to Principals/School Leaders at the annual weeklong Leadership Institute prior to the start of the 2008-2009 school year. • Could not reference PBIS • Did include all of the basic elements of PBIS Tier 1 • School-wide Expectations • Behavior Matrix • Teaching Expectations • Acknowledgements • Using Data (data quality)

Joint MTEA & MPS Mediasite presentation on PBIS was done in February, 2009 • All schools were required to watch the Mediasite presentation • Presentation gave an overview of the critical data around discipline in MPS and what PBIS is • The presentation served as an “infomercial” on PBIS to peak interest among school staff members • Unique approach to rolling out a district-wide initiative • Schools decided whether or not to send an exploratory team to in-depth presentation http://mslweb.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=404a129142d5486b956ec3b7c3ab4bcb1d

Team personnel/positions of the exploratory team were agreed upon by union and administration • In-depth presentation for school teams by Dr. Lucille Eber, Director of Illinois PBIS Network on March 16, 2009 • Over 100 schools signed up to attend the In-depth presentation

Exploratory teams brought back information to school staffs during the months of March and April • Schools determined if they wished to apply to be in the first cohort of 30 schools • 65 Schools applied to participate in the rollout

April, 2009 – Schools were selected to be part of the first cohort. Schools were selected on a holistic approach in order to have representation of all the following: • School structures • Student demographics • Academic and discipline performance • Traditional calendar and year-round calendar • Non-charter, charter, and partnership • Expanding schools • Administrative experience (retirements, APIC’s, etc.) • Variety of programs at the schools (SS/HS, RJ, L&L, etc.)

Creating Infrastructure • Revised the MPS Incident Referral Form for improved data collection • Uniform referral form used by all schools across the district • Input from schools, administrators, and teachers’ union • Aligned district code of conduct, referral form, and data entry into student database • Technology developed specific PBIS data reports (modeled after SWIS)

Referral Form

Average Referrals per Day per Month

Referrals by Time

Referrals by Location

Referrals by Behavior

Referrals by Student

Staffing PBIS • Only had two individuals working on PBIS up through August, 2009. • 10 External Coaches were hired to support schools implementing PBIS. • Positions were reallocated from the district’s Problem Solving group. • 2 Supervisors were hired to oversee the External Coaches and support PBIS across the district.

PBIS Newsletter

Cohort 2 • January, 2010 – All schools required to watch PBIS video on Mediasite. • Schools could decide to apply for the second cohort of PBIS – all schools were accepted • Schools that applied to be part of the first cohort and were not accepted did not have to reapply • Schools that applied to be part of the first cohort and were not accepted could opt out if they decided to • Corrective Action identified schools to be included as well • Over 80 schools were added http://mslweb.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=d5602c8df65f4dc5a13c5e872b97b2e51d

Results of Year 1 • Monitored 4 categories: attendance, total suspensions, suspension rate, and suspensions due to learning environment violations • 93% improved or stayed the same in one or more categories • 63% improved or stayed the same in two or more categories • 46% improved or stayed the same in three or more categories • 21% improved or stayed the same in all four categories

Year 2 of Implementation • Additional schools are added to second cohort, all high schools in the Metro Region will begin implementing PBIS during the 2010-2011 school year • 110 schools implementing PBIS • 24 schools implementing both Tier 1 and Tier 2 • 86 schools implementing Tier 1

Tier 2 • District purchased Exceed/RtI Software for progress monitoring Tier 2 interventions in both academics and behavior • PBIS was first to use software with Check-In/ Check-Out progress monitoring • Cohort 1 schools begin implementing Tier 2 interventions • Cohort 2 schools begin training on Tier 2 interventions

Declining Resources • February 2011, the Governor and State Legislature make significant cuts to the funding of public schools in Wisconsin. • Voucher and Open Enrollment Caps lifted • MPS projects cutting 989 positions • Layoffs and not replacing retirements • PBIS cuts 50% or 5 External Coaching positions • Recover one position through a grant

Cohort 3 • Contains schools that did not want or think they need PBIS • PBIS will be across the entire district

Results of Year 2 • The percent of suspensions due to Learning Environment Violations decreased from 61% to 46% when compared to the previous school year. • The suspension rate for the district decreased by approximately five percentage points from the year before. • There was a 37% reduction in total suspensions when comparing the 2010-2011 data to the 2009-2010 suspensions

Results of Year 2 • There were 26,385 fewer suspensions in MPS during the 2010-2011 school year compared to the 2009-2010 school year. • The district recovered the following number of days from the previous school year: • 293 teacher days lost to writing referrals for suspensions • 2,472 administrator days lost to issuing suspensions • 2,827 student days lost to the process of being suspended and 37,487 days lost serving suspensions for a total of 40,317 student days.

Reduction in Suspension Rates at PBIS Schools Results of Year 2 School-level Implementation of PBIS

Year 3 Goals • Include PBIS in Board Policy for MPS (DONE) • Begin Tier 3 in Cohort 1 Schools • Improve documentation of meetings • Complete Tier 2 training to all of Cohort 2 and Cohort 3 • Increase the use of the progress monitoring system for Tier 2 interventions • Special training for clinicians • Develop video modules for in-school PD (started) • Support the entire district with 2 Supervisors and 6 External Coaches (started)

Lessons Learned • Be strategic • Like implementing PBIS in a school, it is important to take the time to plan in the beginning • Learn from others • Stay true to the training and the tools • Keep it simple and organized • Share the success stories and results early

Contact Information • Contact information: John Riley Hill, Ph.D. Milwaukee Public Schools Office of Family Services 414-475-8666 hilljr@milwaukee.k12.wi.us

John Riley Hill, Ph.D. Office of Family Services - Acting Administrator