PBIS Initiatives

The Mid-Atlantic PBIS Network trains and supports the Archdiocese of Baltimore. As of December 2014, 51 of the 52 Catholic schools in the area have been trained in PBIS.

The Coping Power in the City Project was developed in order to increase safety and lower rates of violence, discipline problems, and related mental health concerns in Baltimore City Public Schools. It includes a multi-component preventive intervention, as well as a training initiative to support the Baltimore City School Police Force’s transition to a community policing model.

MDS3 is a four-year grant funded through the U.S. Department of Education and the Maryland State Department of Education, aimed at improving school climate in high schools. The project, in partnership with the Johns Hopkins University, focuses on preventing school bullying and providing additional mental health support for students in 61 high schools across the state of Maryland.

The Maryland Safe and Supportive Middle Schools Initiative is a study that aims to find an intervention for schools that improves school safety and academic success while also decreasing behavioral infractions and ethnic disparities.

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD) developed an intervention called RENEW (Rehabilitation for Empowerment, Natural Supports, Education, and Work), to assist students ages 15 to 21 with emotional and behavioral challenges who are disengaged, failing, and without clear adult life goals to successfully complete high school and pursue a career path. Currently, the Mid-Atlantic PBIS Network is working with Sheppard Pratt’s school-based mental health programs to conduct a clinical trial of the RENEW program in select public high schools in Maryland.

The Double Check RCT project was developed in order to test the efficacy of the Double Check model, which includes five core components: Connection to Curriculum, Authentic Relationships, Reflective Thinking, Effective Communication, and Sensitivity to Students’ Culture. The project, assessing the impact of using the Double Check model on student engagement, performance, and behavioral outcomes, is being conducted across 30 Maryland middle schools.

This project, run by the Johns Hopkins University and University of Alabama, tests a recently adapted middle school version of the Coping Power Program. It is being tested in 20 middle schools in Maryland, and 20 middle schools in Alabama.

The Mid-Atlantic PBIS Network is working in partnership with the Virginia Tiered System of Support (VTSS) state leadership team to install sustainable methods of support at the state, division, and school levels through a variety of methods including technical assistance, training, and coaching.

The School Climate Transformation Grants will help 8,000 schools across the country train their educators to implement evidence-based strategies, such as PBIS, to make improvements to the school environment for both students and educators.