SERC offers two approaches for district/school personnel and families to receive professional development regarding positive behavior support. Statewide opportunities offered through SERC's various professional development booklets is one approach. These opportunities are available to all district/school personnel, preschool to the secondary level, and families within Connecticut.

In addition to these statewide professional development opportunities, SERC provides training to selected Connecticut districts on school-wide positive behavior support. This approach includes centralized training sessions as well as job-embedded technical assistance provided at the school or district setting. It is customized to meet the needs of the individual school/district and ranges from one to three years of training and technical support.

SERC trains district level teams simultaneously with school-based teams in an effort to develop local capacity to facilitate PBS implementation across the entire district. District level and school-based teams are comprised of various stakeholders from the school community, including administrators, general and special education personnel, student support services professionals, paraprofessionals, and families.

School-based teams concentrate on developing, implementing and maintaining the school-wide focus of PBS. The district level team examines district policy, potential barriers, and implications for building the district's capacity to sustain and expand PBS across the district.

SERC training and on-site technical assistance focus on the following components:

• Philosophy of PBS
• Key Components of School-wide PBS
• Set priority and mission
• Form a leadership team
• Examine needs through data
• Establish school-wide behavioral expectations
• Teach expectations across all settings
• Encourage expected behavior
• Discourage problem behavior
• Monitor implementation and progress
• Assessment of the function of specific behaviors and the development of effective behavior intervention plans
• Establishment of effective collaboration and communication among district/school personnel, families, and the community
• Building district level capacity for sustainability.

Contact SERC Consultants David R. Grice at (860)632-1485 ext. 343, or Kristina Jones at (860)632-1485 ext. 377 for more information.