In March of 2020, schooling, as we have known it, changed.  Educators were catapulted into a new and challenging way of teaching due to the worldwide pandemic.   Homes became schools and family members became teachers. 

However, this change has not been challenging for all.   Some students have thrived.  Students we were providing supports for in brick and mortars have become virtual learning rock stars!    Others, who thrived on daily routine and in person social interactions, now struggle with this “new normal”.  

For all of us, the context of how we “do” school transformed overnight.  Those things considered “challenging” or “problematic” in the classroom shifted when the classroom became a computer monitor with visuals and sounds.

In the article, 5 Ways to Manage Behavior in an online classroom,  it reminds us that Learning is a process, not a location.

Context includes the variables of who, what, when, where and why.  As PaPBS Network Facilitators partnering with 46 schools (including 2 approved private schools and one cyber charter school) in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, the answers to most of these “Wh” questions remain relatively the same.   The what (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework), who (students and staff), and when (school day) were in place and working prior to the worldwide pandemic.  The “where” has changed from a brick and mortar school building to online to a “back and forth” hybrid model.   But the “why” has remained constant:  Learning is a process not a location.

Our schools implementing PBIS relied on its foundational elements to provide them the “how to do school” during a pandemic.  This included shared ownership and collaboration among teachers and families and establishing common language in the form of defining expectations and routines.   Using this same framework that had proven successful pre pandemic allowed these schools to continue to teach and students to learn within a new context.  Learning is a process, not a location. 

Honoring Success

Today we honor the students, staff, families, and the communities of 16 schools who persevered through uncharted waters of a worldwide pandemic to be state recognized by the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support (PaPBS) Network for implementing PBIS with high fidelity proving that learning is a process, not a location.

Congratulations to the following schools who were recognized on November 13, 2020.