Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC)

Promoting Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS)

The Dignity in Schools Campaign is promoting Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) as one of several successful models for positive school discipline.  PBIS aims to prevent conflict and behavior problems, along with student suspensions and other extreme punishment, by making sure students understand what is expected of them and helping students meet those expectations. This approach provides assistance for students with chronic behavior problems and seeks to involve families and the community. 

Federal Legislative Proposals

Positive Behavior for Effective Schools Act
On October 2, Senators Barack Obama and Dick Durbin, and Representative Phil Hare, all from Illinois, introduced the Positive Behavior for Effective Schools Act in Congress which would make No Child Left Behind funds available for Positive Behavior Support programs and other efforts to create a positive school climate and reduce disciplinary problems.
Text of the bill in PDF or at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.2111:
Statement from Representative Hare

Websites

Illinois PBIS Network - http://www.pbisillinois.org/

National Technical Assistance Center on PBIS - http://www.pbis.org/main.htm

Southern Poverty Law Center - http://www.splcenter.org/legal/schoolhouse.jsp
Information on litigation settlements involving PBIS in Louisiana school districts.

Community Asset Development Re-Defining Education (CADRE) - http://www.cadre-la.org/article/9
Informaiton on successful parent-led campaign to pass a PBS policy in Los Angeles

You can also read the LAUSD PBS policy passed on February 27, 2008

• Discipline Foundation Policy: School-wide Positive Behavior Support
• Attachments

NESRI is a member of the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) a coalition of advocates, educators, organizers, and lawyers from across the country united to reframe the debate around school discipline from one that aims to punish and exclude children from school, to a human rights perspective that respects the child’s right to an education, and advocates for child-centered, dignified reform to keep children in school.  Our aim is to expose systemic problems in our nation’s school systems and provide solutions to end pushout and improve responses to school discipline.