All this month we’re looking at the ways we can use data to guide our decisions on how to get students the additional support they need sooner. There are some common decision rules your team can follow, but what does that look like in practice? Our guests today will share their experience.

Joining us in conversation are Dr. Lisa Friesen from North Kansas City Schools and Jamie Ferguson from Oak Park High School, both in Kansas City, MO.

• Lisa has been with North Kansas City Schools for 22 years. She is a former elementary and high school special education teacher and currently serves as a District Instructional Coordinator for MTSS, organizing and supporting academic and behavior interventions and systems K-12.
• Jamie has been part of the North Kansas City School District for the past 16 years. She spent 11 years at Linden West Elementary co-leading Tier 1 interventions and served on the Tier 2 and Tier 3 support teams. At Oak Park High School, Jamie focuses her time on academic intervention and student success through programs like Missouri Options and Check-In/Check-Out.

Listen in as they share how they learned the value of Tier 1 systems to support their efforts at the Tier 2 level and how getting students the support they need involves both personal relationships and consistent data.

For more information on the resources shared in this episode, check out the following links:

• Missouri PBIS
• CICO in Practice: A Proven Tier 2 Behavior Intervention That Builds Connections (Free PBISApps Webinar)
• An Overview of Targeted Interventions

In this episode, we continue the conversation around our year-long theme: Data in PBIS. Collecting data is an important step in your PBIS implementation. Using data to drive decisions is how those data truly come alive. How do you do that? Well, the Team Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) framework is the only scientifically-based data-based decision making practice available to schools. Joining us today to talk about the fundamentals of the TIPS framework is Dr. Erin Chaparro.

Dr. Chaparro is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Oregon and the Principal Investigator for the TIPS project. For more than a decade, Erin has worked with districts and schools to implement multi-tiered systems of support for literacy as well as PBIS. She is also the co-author of the book Assessment in Special and Inclusive Education.

Listen in as we share how to get more out of your team meeting time, make more informed decisions, and get students the support they need faster than ever.

Don’t forget to check out the TIPS website and click “Submit Inquiry” at the bottom of the page to learn more about participating in their upcoming study!

For more information about the resources shared in this episode, check out the following links:

• TIPS Fidelity Checklist
• Upcoming SWIS Drill Down Webinars
• Teach by Design “Start With Why: How to Put Purpose Back in Your Work”
• *NEW* TIPS meeting minutes template

This episode kicks off PBISApps’ 2025–26 school year theme: data in PBIS. Our guest today is a true PBIS pioneer: Dr. Rob Horner. Dr. Horner is an emeritus professor at the University of Oregon and a key figure in developing PBIS. He brings with him a 40-year history of research, grant management, and systems change efforts related to school reform and PBIS. He has published over 390 professional papers and directed over $200 million dollars in federal grants. Among many past national awards, in 2020 he won the Association of Positive Behavior Support Leadership Award. During our conversation, we talk about the early days of PBIS, when Rob and colleagues worked directly with schools to address challenging behaviors. They discovered that individual behavior plans could help—but lasting change required schoolwide systems and a preventative culture. PBIS emerged as a framework with core features that could adapt to local cultures, from rural schools to Native communities. Data always played a key role in this work. Listen in and learn how collecting and analyzing data can help your team see what’s really happening, ask better questions, and identify the smallest changes that make the biggest impact.  

In this episode, we’re looking back at the podcast over the past school year and sharing our favorite episodes and lessons learned. We’ve interviewed 16 guests across nine episodes. Every conversation gave us something to think about and find ways to infuse it in our work moving forward. Today, we wanted to highlight just five of those episodes and encourage you to take another listen over these summer months.

To travel back in time to any of these episodes mentioned today, check out the following links:

• Ep. 43: Mythbusters - Rewards Don't Work to Improve Outcomes
• Ep. 45: Mythbusters - Students Today Don't Care About School Like They Used to
• Ep. 46: Creating Equitable PBIS Solutions that Work for All Students
• Ep. 47: Cultivating a Culture of Belonging in Your Classroom
• Ep. 48: All Means All - Inclusive Practices in Tier 1 PBIS

...and don't forget to sign up for more information about our PBISApps Community. We've got some great topics coming next year. You won't want to miss out of these conversations. Sign up for our email list!

In a perfect world, there would be a mental health professional embedded in every school across the country. Students would have immediate access to the support they need and the resources they deserve. The reality is, there is a workforce shortage among mental health providers and community resources are overwhelmed by the need. More students need support than we can serve efficiently. If we could change that outcome, shouldn’t we?

That’s exactly what our friends and colleagues at The Ballmer Institute are trying to do! The Ballmer Institute offers an ground breaking undergraduates an opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree in child behavioral health. Graduates will enter the workforce with specialized training to:

• Identify youth who can benefit from early intervention or referral to mental health services
• Teach youth to label and regulate emotions and develop other skills to support well-being
• Deliver evidence-based prevention and intervention programs to prevent or disrupt the progression of youth mental health concerns
• Collaborate with other professionals (like teachers, psychologists, and social workers) to support health and wellness among young people

Joining us today is Dr. Miriam White-Pedeaux, an assistant clinical professor at the Ballmer Institute. In her work, Miriam supervises undergraduates completing their bachelor’s degree and she mentors youth-serving professionals earning a graduate-level microcredential in evidence-based mental health practices. Miriam has supported K-12 students at various school districts in Southern California, Oregon, Ghana and Ecuador. She is deeply passionate about increasing access to high-quality care and improving healthy literacy in youth and families.

Listen in as we talk about the current mental health realities facing schools today and the low-level, high-impact strategies you can use right now to support all students in your building. For more information about the resources shared in this episode, check out the following links:

• What Works Clearinghouse  
• National Center for School Mental Health
• Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration ‍
• Resources about mental health and social-emotional well-being from The Center on PBIS

As we explore what inclusive education means, we need to talk about what it means to create truly inclusive schoolwide systems, data, and practices. If schoolwide means all students have access to the same foundational features, how do you ensure “all” really means “all” in your Tier 1 PBIS implementation?

Joining us to help answer this question is Dr. Sheldon Loman from Portland State University (PSU).

Sheldon is a Professor in the Special Education Department at PSU. He has a passion for researching and teaching about inclusive practices to support students with extensive support needs. Most recently, his research explores universal design and how to make schoolwide PBIS more inclusive of students with extensive support needs. Before his work at PSU, Sheldon was a special education teacher and positive behavior support coordinator in a diverse, urban school district in California. 

For more information about the resources shared in this episode, check out the following resources and links:

• Research Findings: Walker, V. L., & Loman, S. L. (2021). Strategies for Including Students With Extensive Support Needs in SWPBIS. Inclusive Practices, 1(1), 23-32. https://doi.org/10.1177/27324745211000307
• Research Findings: Walker, V. L., Loman, S. L., Mickelson, A. M., & Lyon, K. J. (2022). Participation of students with extensive support needs in SWPBIS: Administrator and educator perspectives. Psychology in the Schools, 59(8), 1623-1642.
• The TIES Center. This center works with states, districts, and schools to support moving students with disabilities from less inclusive to more inclusive environments.
• The TIES Center resources on PBIS
• The TIES Center PBIS video series on how to make PBIS more inclusive

Join us this month with guest Dr. Nikole Hollins-Sims as we discuss how to cultivate a culture of belonging in your classroom. Using the elements of PBIS, Dr. Hollins-Sims helps us break down how students thrive at school when they feel they belong. For starters, the ABCs of student wellbeing, Agency, Belonging and Connectedness, have a tremendous influence on whether students feel like they are part of your school. When educators focus on cultivating each of these components in their classroom climate through greetings, exercises and class culture, students thrive. We also visit how your own SWIS data results can tell a story of class belonging.

Nikole Y. Hollins-Sims, Ed.D., is an internationally recognized speaker, author and facilitator. She currently serves as a research associate for Educational and Community Supports (ECS) as a research unit within the University of Oregon’s College of Education. Nikole has formerly served as a technical assistance coordinator for the Midwest PBIS Network and is a former Special Assistant to the Secretary of Education at the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

For more information about the resources shared in this episode, check out the following links:

• Expert Instruction Ep. 21: Benefits & Examples of Creating a Schoolwide Purpose Statement with Dr. Nikole Hollins-Sims
• School Climate Survey
• Feedback & Input Survey
• Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI)
• Teach by Design “Proven Ways to Make Schoolwide Feedback Work”

As we explore what it means to achieve equitable solutions in PBIS implementation, we start by defining what equity looks like. So, what happens when our definitions of equity are different from each other? In this episode, learn how one coach successfully collaborates with the whole schoolwide community to create shared definitions and equitable systems that work for everyone.

Joining us is Mari Meador from the University of Washington’s School Mental Health Assessment Research and Training (SMART) Center. As an implementation coach, Mari supports schools in their implementation efforts. She has been a PBIS state facilitator, an assistant coordinator for the Northwest PBIS Network, and a school-based counselor and mental health associate. Mari is a forever advocate for system-level change, culturally responsive practices, and social-emotional learning.

Listen in as Mari shares her strategies for working with community and family members to define their shared values and identify interventions that are culturally responsive. Additionally, we’ll discuss the importance of mental health screening in schools and how it serves as a powerful foundation within any multi-tiered system of support.

For more information about the resources shared in this episode, check out the following links:

• SMART Center
• Behavioral Health Audit
• PBIS Community of Practice!
• Intervention Map Template

Whether its students clutching their phones or endlessly scrolling YouTube shorts, there is a sense student apathy is real and rampant. In this episode, we’re out to bust the myth that students today just don’t care about school like they used to. Joining us are Marisa Cardenas-Joslyn and Aydree, from Silverado High School in Mission Viejo, CA. Our colleague and friend, Mimi McGrath Kato is also a special guest cohost today while Danielle Triplett is out of the office.

Marisa is a member of the Silverado’s PBIS team and an instructional coach supporting teachers and administrators to use data to enhance their instructional practices. She comes to our conversation with a passion for continuous improvement and helping everyone achieve their fullest potential for student success.

Aydree is an 11th-grader at Silverado and a student in the school’s Peer Assistance Leadership (PALS) class.

When the Silverado PBIS team needs to reteach an expectation, the PALS class comes up with the lesson plan and delivers it to their peers. The class is new this year, but Silverado has already seen more active engagement from students and an increase in the behaviors they hope to see. For her part, Aydree says the class makes her feel more involved at school and more confident in her skills as a leader. If students didn’t care about school, a class like this wouldn’t work…but it does!

For more information about the resources shared in this episode, check out the following links:

• PBISApps Job Posting
• Expert Instruction Ep. 42: Creating and Sustaining Positive School Climate
• School Climate Survey

In this episode, we’ve tracked down some hilarious teacher stories from around the internet about the goofy things students say and do in school. From fart jokes, to the 1990s as the “old days,” to a student bringing in a live goat, this podcast will have you in stitches. The guests this month are our very own PBISApps trainer Nadia Sampson and Customer Support Manager Diertra Lomeli. Give it a listen and enjoy your winter break!