September 30, 2025

Eight years ago, Hughson Unified School District fully implemented PBIS, Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports, as a way to manage behavior at its school sites. PBIS is an evidence-based, three-tiered framework designed to improve and integrate all data, systems, and practices that impact student outcomes.

Schools implement practices to support students’ behavioral, social, emotional, and academic growth. Families, educators, and students set goals with concrete outcomes in these areas to create.

The Center of PBIS’s claim is that the PBIS improves social-emotional competence, academic success, and school climate, and improves teacher health and well-being.

This is accomplished by focusing on positive behaviors instead of punishment and isolating students through traditional disciplinary pathways, such as detention and suspension. Staff identify students in need early and seek to meet their particular needs, and reintegrate students struggling the most back into the classroom and student life in a positive way.

In implementing PBIS, students at all of Hughson’s school sites regularly hear the expectations “Be safe, respectful, and responsible” using a common language, no matter which adult they are interacting with.

At Fox Road Elementary, the school day begins with a Fox Road Pledge:

I am safe, I am respectful, I am responsible.

We are here to learn; therefore, I will:

Always do my best

Be respectful and kind to all,

And work together for the good of myself and others.

By acting this way, I am taking charge of my future.

I believe I will achieve, I will succeed.

At the start of the school year, Fox Road Elementary School students participate in rotations where they review school-wide expectations. Each week ends with a Friday Morning Opening assembly where they highlight these beliefs. Monthly assemblies support positive social/emotional behaviors and strategies. After each assembly, teachers apply the concepts in a classroom lesson, allowing students to personalize what they have learned and set goals for their own lives.

At Ross Middle School, Principal Mary La Rosa explained that staff often volunteer to act out the “wrong” way, while students demonstrate the “right” way, making lessons more memorable and fun.

Students see posters around campus with reminders. Short and succinct, it creates a memorable lesson even for Hughson’s youngest students.

At Hughson High School, “Be safe, respectful, and responsible” is consistently reinforced in classrooms, hallways, and common areas. Staff members teach and model these expectations in various settings, including the classroom, cafeteria, and restrooms, beginning with student-created videos during Pack Time at the start of the school year. Having students in the videos makes the lessons more accessible and engaging for students.

PBIS emphasizes positive rewards over punishment to shape behavior

The Center of PBIS defined Tier 1 as “practices and systems establish a foundation of regular, proactive support while preventing unwanted behaviors. Schools provide these universal supports to all students across the school.”

Around 80% of the student population is served through these practices.

The schools include representation from staff, parents, and students on their Tier 1 PBIS team to ensure that multiple perspectives are considered when evaluating concerns and determining appropriate rewards, making the system stronger, more inclusive, and more effective for the entire school community.

As a model of positive reinforcement, students first receive positive praise, and next, receive rewards in their own school’s currency.

At Hughson High School, these supports come in the form of “Pawsitive” coupons given out when students are seen following the expectations. Coupons can be redeemed at the student store for items such as sweatshirts, shirts, and other school spirit gear, as well as passes for privileges or snacks and drinks.

Teachers may also nominate students who consistently follow the expectations. At Hughson High School, these students are invited to attend a movie-and-popcorn reward during two class periods, and may invite a friend to join them.

Students of Ross Middle School earn “K-9 Kash” for meeting expectations, showing kindness, or going above and beyond. On Fridays, the Husky Hangout Store opens, run by Mrs. Anna Eddings, where students can spend their K-9 Kash. Popular items include UNO games, hats, stickers, wallets, headphones, stress balls, and stuffed animals.

Last year, Fox Road Elementary distributed over 23,000 "Husky Bucks" to students who were recognized for being safe, respectful, and responsible, to be spent at the PBIS store. “Our teachers and staff are amazing at recognizing positive behaviors in students,” Fox Road Principal Jeff Persons said.

Students can buy prizes, including experiential items like "sitting in a comfy chair", "picking the music for morning announcements" and "buying your entire class an ice cream!” Paid tickets are placed in a bin, where names are drawn for larger prizes to reward positive behavior again. “The students have an amazing time with this, and our staff really enjoy the positive atmosphere that it provides,” Persons said.

Hughson Elementary School also hands out Husky Bucks, which students spend on purchases ranging from a sticker or bouncy ball all the way up to an experience with a staff member. Later in the year, they may purchase a "Munch with Mush" experience, a snack time with the school mascot, Mush the Husky.  

The program is data-driven.

Site Administrators utilize a PBIS data system named SWIS to record specific details of student incidents on campus, both big and small. Within SWIS, school site leaders can filter through behavior incidents, helping to narrow down specifics such as: what are the most common infractions occurring on campus, what day and time are they most likely to occur and which student demographic is committing this misbehavior. “By breaking down certain data points, school leaders can help provide interventions and solutions to commonly occurring problems on campus,” project lead Director of Student Services Eric Petersen explained.

During monthly meetings, schools analyze data to figure out where and how they can improve things to make sure our site is Safe, Respectful and Responsible. These meetings shed light on the areas and students who may need more attention.

When this process identifies particular common problems among students, they can build small group programs to help target those problems and support students with their specific needs or issues.

Those areas are addressed as part of Tier 2 or 3. Tier 2 captures the 10-15% of students considered at-risk with specific supports and practices. About 1.5% of the student body may fall into Tier 3, in need of more intensive, individualized support. At this level, schools rely on formal assessments to determine a student’s need.

Students, administrators, teachers, and families have all reported a difference

With concrete ways to reinforce behavior, the difference is measurable for the students rewarded, but also for the school sites. Each school site reported seeing fewer office referrals, more positive student interactions, better attendance, and greater student awareness of expectations and smoother classroom transitions for teachers. Teachers report smoother classroom management. Families have reported that they appreciate the consistency, giving them a language they can use at home to reinforce expectations.

According to Assistant Principal Lourdes Crawford, “We have seen a noticeable decrease in discipline referrals, and students make a stronger effort to follow the expectations. There is also a more positive campus culture, with students and staff using the shared language of PBIS to resolve issues and recognize good choices.”

“Students are also more aware of their behavior and how it impacts others, which has helped foster a stronger sense of community,” Crawford said. “Students really enjoy the incentives we offer. They get excited about drawings, classroom-wide rewards like ice cream for classes with no tardies, and seasonal treats such as hot chocolate and cookies in the winter. They also like redeeming their coupons for homework passes, drinks, snacks, or other privileges. These incentives not only motivate students but also help improve punctuality and attendance.”

Recognizing that different factors contribute to students’ struggles to follow expectations, in 2021–2022, Ross Middle School became a no-cell-phone campus. “This was a tough transition at first, but holding firm has dramatically reduced distractions, conflicts, and discipline issues tied to phones,” La Rosa said.

This year, Fox Road was awarded the Gold Certification by the State PBIS organization, highlighting the work done over the last few years.

“District-wide, we have seen a decrease in misbehavior with our students, a reduction in suspensions and a drastic decrease in expulsions,” Petersen said. “We did not have a single expulsion last school year, and recently the HS went 18 straight months without a fight on campus,”

“PBIS has truly helped us create a more positive, predictable, and respectful learning environment,” La Rosa said. “Even staff who were initially skeptical now see the benefits.”

“PBIS gives us the opportunity to catch students doing the right thing, which is great for the kids who are always doing the right thing, but it also helps us encourage those who may be struggling with a behavior that is unwanted and teaches them how to replace that behavior,” said Megan Reisz, Hughson Elementary School Principal.

By keeping it consistent and concrete, PBIS has helped Hughson’s schools communicate and build a positive culture that students can practice on campus, at home and beyond.