Positive Behavioral Support For At-Risk Students Promoting Social Competence in At-Risk Culturally Diverse Learners in Urban Schools

The authors examine positive behavioral support (PBS) as a behavior management intervention that facilitates the development of appropriate and positive behaviors in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children who are at risk for failure in urban schools. One of the major problems facing urban schools today is the abuse and misuse of zero-tolerance policies to suspend and expel at-risk CLD students and the need to create and maintain safe learning environments. In an age of accountability and political scrutiny, urban schools are being asked to accomplish more than ever with limited resources; consequently, there is a need for intensive academic and behavioral intervention for at-risk CLD children in these schools. Research on PBS has evolved and shows that this intervention can be designed to be culturally responsive and contextually fitting in urban schools.