Student Behavior and Discipline
NVUSD emphasizes school-wide systems of behavioral support that include proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behavior to create positive school environments.
Rather than just reacting to behavior problems, we implement a continuum of positive behavior support for all students in both classroom and non-classroom settings (such as hallways, buses, and restrooms).
We use research-validated practices that help make problem behaviors less effective, efficient, and relevant, while making desired behavior more functional.
Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) is a comprehensive, 3-tiered approach to implementing positive and consistent student discipline systems in schools. Unlike other approaches to student discipline, PBIS encourages a positive climate schoolwide, in all locations and for all students, by focusing systematically on:
- The general school population (Tier 1: Schoolwide PBIS)
- Students at risk (Tier 2: Targeted PBIS)
- Students with intensive or chronic behavioral and emotional problems (Tier 3: Intensive PBIS)
PBIS also recognizes that student discipline systems, including the definitions of and responses to problem behavior, need to be consistent across classroom and non-classroom settings.
The California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) is a statewide survey given to all 5th graders across California in October each year. The CHKS is the measure we use to look at student outcomes, asking students how they feel at our schools. Over the past years of implementing PBIS we have been examining office referrals, suspensions, expulsions, attendance, and the level of our PBIS Implementation to evaluate our work on creating more positive school climates.
Results indicate that students in NVUSD feel safer and more connected, and report having more caring relationships with teachers and staff than most other California students. In fact, nearly all of our middle and high schools rank in the 87-97 percentile range when compared to other California schools.
