Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

ED 252 may be applied toward the Educator AAS Degree and the Paraprofessional Educator Certificate,  and Elementary Education Transfer courses. In addition, this course may be accepted by the Teachers Standards and Practices Commission toward teacher re-licensing (Be sure to get prior authorization from TSPC).

Upon successful completion of the course student should be able to:

1. Describe the foundational principles and philosophy of positive behavioral support strategies, including and ensuring cultural considerations and diverse perspectives.
2. Define culturally responsive evidence-based instructional techniques that promote positive behavior and engagement, preventing challenging behaviors before they occur.
3. Develop and name corrective culturally responsive intervention strategies that address challenging behaviors while maintaining a supportive and positive learning environment.
4. Identify school-wide intervention strategies for promoting a positive and culturally inclusive school culture.
5. Explore critical and culturally responsive methods for collecting and analyzing behavioral data to inform interventions.
6. Develop culturally responsive communication skills for working collaboratively with educators, parents, and support staff in implementing effective behavior support.

This course aspires to:

1. Help students connect their lived experiences of schooling with research and current scholarship on education in the United States
2. Be a space of connection and relationships among learners

3. Understand the legal and ethical aspects related to behavior intervention in educational settings, including issues of confidentiality, consent, and adherence to relevant laws.

4. Encourage reflective practice, where students critically evaluate their own teaching and intervention strategies, adjusting their approaches based on ongoing assessment and feedback.

5. Foster a commitment to ongoing professional development and staying current with research and best practices in positive behavior intervention.

6. By the end of this course, participants will be equipped with a toolkit of practical and culturally responsive strategies and interventions to create a positive and supportive learning environment, address challenging behaviors effectively, and maximize instructional time for enhanced student success.

Students will:

• Create a safe and culturally welcoming environment in the classroom.

• Write a functional behavioral assessment  AND a behavior intervention plan change program.

• Write a letter or create a presentation for a school administrator advocating culturally responsive PBIS strategies to support a particular student in school-wide activities such as the lunchroom, recess, transition, etc 

Student progress will be evaluated and criteria for assigning a course grade by the following tools:

• Weekly discussions and assignments
• a presentation or letter to a school administrator in which behavior strategies are advocated for a particular student
• Positive Behavior Strategies Plan for a student

• Examine ethical and professional guidelines for the application of behavior strategies.
• Characterize the basic principles and components of the four traditional models of the etiology of human behavior.
• Examine appropriate and inappropriate behaviors in children and adolescents and be able to identify the environmental and cultural factors supporting the behaviors.
• Examine steps in the behavior change process. (Selecting target behaviors, collecting/recording data, identifying reinforcers, implementing interventions, collecting intervention data, and evaluating the effects of the intervention.)
• Apply five standard techniques (positive reinforcement, shaping, contingency contracting, token economy, and modeling) to increase appropriate target behavior.
• Compare strategies for matching needs and abilities of students within the classroom curriculum to decrease the antecedents to challenging classroom behavior.
• Create practical and culturally-responsive accommodations and modifications for students who do not respond to behavioral interventions.
• Implement culturally-responsive techniques to facilitate parent-teacher collaboration to effectively partner with families to improve student behavior.
• Describe and practice diagnostic procedures with awareness of students’ diverse cultural and language backgrounds
• Evaluate the effectiveness of using positive behavior management strategies with students from diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic groups.