What is a Systems Approach to the Implementation of School-wide Positive Behavior Support?
Commonly, when schools encounter a problem that cannot be solved by existing strategies and resources, an expert, typically from the “outside,” is approached to provide technical assistance and training. An event is created to allow the expert to share and teach about ways to address the problem. The expert leaves, and the school is expected to implement the strategy. Borrowing a concept from Stokes and Baer (1977), this approach basically relies on a “train-and-hope” perspective: • Difficult-to-solve problem is encountered. • Expert is identified to provide a solution. • Expert provides or trains the solution. • Expert leaves and expects school to implement the solution. • Lacking supports and capacity, solution is not implemented effectively. • School waits for next problem to occur (“expert model” reinforced). This approach to problem solving is likely to fail because attention is not focused on what system supports (e.g., resources, training, policies) are needed to enable the init
