School-Wide Prevention and Early Intervention: A Process for Establishing a System of School-Wide Behavior Support

Recently, the issue of developing school-wide systems of behavior support has received significant attention from school administrators around the country and in the literature. A number of articles have described the various levels of behavior support (e.g., school-wide, nonclassroom, classroom, and individual student levels). Additionally, recent case studies have highlighted the effectiveness of this approach in reducing the number of reported discipline incidents and improving student achievement and overall school climate, particularly in elementary and middle schools. The purpose of this article is to synthesize existing information and experiences into a description of the essential components in the process for developing a system of prevention and early intervention in schools. Furthermore, a cohesive model for developing and implementing system-wide behavior support will be outlined. Such a model is intended to support administrators to evaluate current and emerging needs in light of existing resources in an effort to improve school climate by reducing incidents of problem behavior.