PBIS at DJJ: Eastman YDC Music and Munchies

Earlier this month, youth of the Eastman Youth Development Campus (Eastman YDC) participated in a special event hosted by the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program team. Named “Music and Munchies,” this event allowed participating youth to play music while enjoying various food snacks. During the event, youth were separated into three groups with organized games and quizzes on PBIS TRACKS. Of the 29 youth who signed up for this event, 24 of them met the criteria of being disciplinary report- and special incident report-free for more than a week as well as having 100 percent attendance in group participation events. The PBIS Music and Munchies event was sponsored by Eastman YDC Volunteer Services/PBIS Lead Misty Winter.

PBIS is an evidence-based, data-driven framework proven to reduce disciplinary incidents, increase a school’s sense of safety and support improved academic outcomes. More than 23,000 U.S. schools are implementing PBIS and saving countless instructional hours otherwise lost to discipline. The premise of PBIS is that continual teaching, combined with acknowledgement or feedback of positive student over the counter behavior, will reduce unnecessary discipline and promote a climate of greater productivity, safety and learning. PBIS schools apply a multi-tiered approach to prevention, using disciplinary data and principles of behavior analysis to develop school-wide, targeted and individualized interventions and supports to improve the school climate for all students.