Examining Rural School Staff Perspectives on PBIS Sustainment

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is implemented in schools across geographic locales. Some existing research has explored variables influencing the sustainability of PBIS, yet there is a need to further investigate sustainable PBIS implementation in rural school communities and learn from the experiences of school PBIS team members. In this qualitative study, we examined the views of PBIS school team members ( N = 32) from nine rural schools in one Midwestern U.S. state. We explored rural PBIS team members’ perspectives during semi-structured focus groups on (a) variables contributing to their success with PBIS sustainment and (b) aspects of rurality that influenced PBIS implementation and sustainment. We used thematic analysis to identify themes from participant responses. Findings suggest that team members expressed a variety of facilitators contributing to sustainment, including having dynamic and data-informed frameworks, integration into their school and community, staffing, external support and collaboration, and necessary structures and resources. Team members also viewed their rurality as influential for the relationships between communities and schools, relationships within smaller schools, demographics and cultural responsiveness, and their need for tailoring of PBIS efforts. We discuss finding implications on the implementation and sustainment of PBIS in rural schools and communities.