# Meet the Authors

## Elizabeth A. Steed, Ph.D.
Elizabeth A. Steed, Ph.D., is currently an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of the Early Childhood Special Education program in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at Georgia State University. She has more than 15 years of experience working with young children with disabilities and their families in preschool, kindergarten, and home-based settings.

## Tina M. Pomerleau, M.Ed.
Tina M. Pomerleau, M.Ed., is the Early Childhood Coordinator at the New Hampshire Center for Effective Behavioral Interventions and Supports (NH CEBIS), and Preschool Technical Assistance Network (PTAN) Projects of the Southeastern Regional Education Service Center (SERESC). She has more than 10 years of experience working in partnership with early childhood professionals, children, and their families in order to effectively address the social and emotional needs of young children with challenging behaviors.

## Robert H. Horner, Ph.D.
Robert H. Horner, Ph.D., is the Alumni-Knight endowed professor of special education at the University of Oregon, where he directs the Educational and Community Supports research unit. Dr. Horner’s research has focused on developing evidence-based interventions that result in socially significant changes for people with and without disabilities. He is codirector of the OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.

## Purpose of PW-PBIS
The purpose of PW-PBIS is to address the behavioral and social needs of young children in educational contexts, such as preschool classrooms and Head Start programs.

### Q: What is PW-PBIS?
The Preschool-Wide Evaluation Tool (PreSET™) is used to measure an early childhood program’s fidelity of implementation of program-wide positive behavior intervention and support (PW-PBIS).

### Q: How does the PreSET™ measure PW-PBIS?
A: The PreSET™ measures a program’s implementation of universal practices associated with building positive relationships, supporting children’s use of positive social and emotional skills, and preventing challenging behaviors in the classroom. The tool measures an early childhood program’s implementation by examining the program from many perspectives, in order to provide a complete picture.

When young children’s behavioral and social needs are met, they are more likely to develop school readiness skills that assist them throughout their education.

The interviews and observations are guided by 38 desired skills and supports that are organized into 8 categories—Expectations Defined; Behavioral Expectations Taught; Responses to Appropriate and Challenging Behavior; Organized and Predictable Environment; Monitoring and Decision Making; Family Involvement; Management; and Program Support.

### Q: Who administers the PreSET™? How often should programs be evaluated?
A: An outside evaluator such as a positive behavior support coach, behavior consultant, or inclusion specialist administers the PreSET™. This individual should be someone who does not have direct involvement in teaching or leadership responsibilities at the program in order to obtain an objective measure of current PW-PBIS implementation.

To determine how often to administer the PreSET™ in a program, the evaluator must consider whether the program is just beginning PW-PBIS development or whether the program already has an established system of PW-PBIS in place. It is recommended that the PreSET™ be conducted before and after implementation to attain baseline information, establish action planning goals, and measure progress towards goal attainment. A program that is just beginning PW-PBIS development should have the PreSET™ completed twice within the first year. For example, it can be completed once to attain pre-implementation data and determine an action plan and then completed again at the end of the program year to measure growth during the course of the year and determine action planning for the following year.

### Q: Why is it important to measure positive behavior interventions in early childhood settings?
A: Because the culture and organization of early childhood settings is much different than K–12 educational settings, an adaptation was needed to accurately assess universal and PW-PBIS in early childhood settings. The language and methods in PreSET™ are early childhood friendly, the items are infused with developmentally appropriate practice, and the tool has a section on family involvement, which is an important component of early childhood programs.

### Q: Why is it important to measure whether the first tier of support is provided in an early childhood program?
A: The first tier of support is the most critical layer for focusing PW-PBIS efforts. It is essential that all children attend high-quality centers that foster positive relationships amongst teachers, children, families, and amongst the program staff. Without this initial foundation of a nurturing and high-quality learning environment, it is not possible to effectively layer other aspects of PW-PBIS (e.g., social emotional teaching strategies or individualized interventions).

### Q: How can programs apply the information from PreSET™ observations?
A: The PreSET™ includes a Feedback to Preschools/Programs form, which helps evaluators provide valuable data to early childhood programs. After hearing the results of the PreSET™, teacher teams can discuss priorities, set goals, and develop action plans toward PW-PBIS improvement. Professional development in the form of training, workshops, or coaching for teachers and administrators may be beneficial. It may also be useful for programs to acquire more resources to reach full implementation and maintain use of PW-PBIS. The PW-PBIS Action Plan form will help programs plan.

The Gilbert Creek Child Development Program in Oregon has been using PW-PBIS since approximately 2006. They began this process by having a behavior consultant conduct the PreSET™. The behavior consultant already worked in their region and had worked with the center director and teachers on various social-emotional issues in their classrooms. The PBIS leadership team at Gilbert Creek used their initial PreSET™ results to develop an action plan for new activities and strategies that they would use in their program.

### Q: Why is it more important than ever for programs to implement PW-PBIS?
A: When children don’t receive positive behavior supports and interventions early on, their schooling and development may be affected. Challenging behaviors in the preschool years may persist and develop into more dangerous patterns of behavior in later childhood and conduct disorders, substance abuse, and delinquency in adulthood. Implementing PW-PBIS can reduce these early challenging behaviors and prevent later behavior issues.

### Example of Effective Implementation
For example, they added a “feelings check-in” where parents and children check in with a particular emotion card at the start of the day. Emotions are addressed openly in the program. When negative emotions are expressed (e.g., sadness, frustration), they are acknowledged. Teachers (and often other children) also offer support as appropriate for the child to come up with strategies that might resolve the situation. The teachers also teach the children about Tucker the Turtle who goes into his shell when he has negative emotions. Tucker thinks about the situation and comes out of his shell when he feels ready to problem solve. Teachers use a stuffed turtle, social stories, role-play, and naturally occurring opportunities to allow children to practice how Tucker the Turtle regulates his emotions and deals with problems.

The Gilbert Creek Child Development Program uses data to make decisions about changes to interventions and assess the effectiveness of PW-PBIS in its program. First, the program administers the PreSET™ twice a year to monitor their progress on each of the 8 categories of the universal tier of PBIS. They also collect data using direct observation of specific children during 20-minute intervals (15 minutes of play and 5 minutes of transitions) to evaluate if their challenging behavior is decreasing. Teachers also rate individual children that have the most social-emotional difficulties with a validated measure of social skills and problem behavior, designed for children who are 3–5 years of age. These data further support whether or not children are responding in positive ways to the PW-PBIS that the program is implementing.