Advanced Graduate Certificate: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

This program is targeted to educators and other qualified professionals who are interested in pursuing careers as state-wide, regional, or district-wide PBIS developers and consultants. The focus is on building capacity of school districts, regional consortia, and state agencies to plan and implement tiered prevention systems to improve social behavior and learning outcomes for K-12 students. The advanced graduate certificate in PBIS may be issued alone or in conjunction with the MA degree. Students seeking this advanced graduate certificate must have earned a recognized baccalaureate degree and meet all of the admission and acceptance criteria as outlined in the graduate program's Academic Policies and Procedures. The grading system in the advanced graduate certificate program is the same as that described in the Grades section of this catalog.

Students may receive the graduate certificate by completing a minimum of 18 credit hours from the SPED courses listed below.

• SPED 5700 School-Based Prevention/Intervention: RTI and PBIS 3 hours
• SPED 5701 Universal School-Wide PBIS 3 hours
• SPED 5702 Secondary Prevention: Targeted Group Interventions 3 hours
• SPED 5703 Applying PBIS: Functional Behavior Assessment/ and Behavior Support Planning/Implementation 3 hours
• SPED 5704 PBIS/Systems Leadership: Staff Development & Coaching 3 hours
• SPED 6000 Applied Field Experience 3 hours

Course Descriptions

SPED 5701 Universal School-Wide PBIS (3)

This introduction to the concepts and processes of PBIS will focus on school-wide implementation. School-Wide implementation includes understanding roles and functions of the PBIS Universal Team, action planning for sustainable practices, data collection systems and tools, and the process for aggregating and analyzing data for decision making and action planning. Additionally, this course will provide an overview of the elements of School, Family, and Community Partnerships in relation to PBIS implementation, with an emphasis on proactive systems change that involves district, school, classroom, and individual student.

SPED 5702 Secondary Prevention/Targeted Group Interventions (3)

Secondary Prevention is designed for use in schools where there are students who are at risk of chronic problem behavior, but for whom high intensity interventions are not essential. In this course, students will learn about different secondary prevention interventions, how to determine who needs secondary level interventions, how to implement them and how to measure progress, fidelity, and social validity.

SPED 5703 Applying PBIS: Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavior Support Planning (3)

Students will gain broad foundation skills in applied behavioral technology principles for the purpose of solving academic and behavior problems. Principles will include: problem identification and defining, functional assessment, selection of quantitative measurement systems, development of systematic behavioral interventions, and progress evaluation through repeated (ongoing) measurement and use of single subject designs.

SPED 5704 PBIS/Systems Leadership: Staff Development & Coaching (3)

The purpose of this class is to give the tools necessary to implement school-wide PBIS or any research-based classroom management practices through presentations and coaching. The role of the coach is to provide collaborative and non-evaluative communication and feedback to teachers by creating a positive climate and common purpose among teachers and students. Prospective coaches will learn the skills of active listening, pausing, paraphrasing, and asking meditative questions. Additionally, students will learn how to plan, implement, and evaluate staff development.

SPED 6000 Applied Field Research (1-6)

This course offers students an opportunity to engage in applied research to evaluate and improve curriculum, instructional strategies and programs and services for students with disabilities. Students conduct field research, and implement the proposed applied research project, or curriculum unit. Research projects and findings are conducted and analyzed using scientifically based methodology and principles. Students are expected to work independently, with the guidance from the instructor of record and/or mentor. Students may register for a minimum of one credit, up to a maximum of six credits, depending on the extent and scope of the field research. Students considering graduate study at the doctoral level are encouraged to complete 6 credits of field research.