Positive Support Systems: A Qualitative Investigation into the Perceptions of Elementary School Leaders Regarding Family Engagement with School-wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports

Families play a vital role in their child's education both educationally and behaviorally. Schools hold family engagement events and want parent support, but schools are not including families in the planning and implementation of their School-wide Positive Behavior and Intervention Support (SWPBIS) process. Policy holds schools responsible for family engagement involvement as well as reducing discipline referrals, but there is little research on schools including family engagement with their SWPBIS. The purpose of this study was to identify elementary school administrators' overall perceptions of family involvement in SWPBIS implementation. Specifically, this study sought to identify family engagement in decision-making, barriers limiting family engagement, and family engagement activities focused on student behavior. Fourteen school administrators were interviewed and shared they have not been including families with the SWPBIS process, they need to get their school's process out to families so the families understand it and can have a voice in the school, they need training on how to involve families with the implementation process, and they need to plan events that focus specifically on their SWPBIS system. The study has created future opportunities for elementary school administrators to share ideas for involving families, utilize a common database or handbook for guidance with involving families, and ways to train school administrators on how to involve families in the SWPBIS implementation process. A suggestion for future research would be to expand the sample to include more regions of Virginia.