Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is committed to fostering a responsive, caring, and inclusive culture where all feel valued, supported, and hopeful. FCPS also believes that students have a right to attend a safe, welcoming school and belong to a community that values and promotes learning alongside social and emotional skill development through a positive behavior approach. The FCPS Behavior Education Professional Development (PD) Plan is a teaching and learning plan that is designed to build the capacity of school-based and central office staff to support the social, emotional, and academic development of all students in FCPS and is aligned with the guiding principles, beliefs and goals outlined in the FCPS Strategic Plan.

FCPS Guiding Principles and Beliefs

• Each student is entitled to an excellent education that meets his or her individual needs.
• Dynamic and supportive partnerships among students, parents, educators, and the community are critical to meet student needs and provide enriching experiences.
• Effective educators are essential to student success.
• Families play a fundamental role in their children’s education.
• High expectations inspire high performance.
• Everyone thrives in a vibrant, healthful, safe, enriching, and respectful environment.
• We believe in teaching and intervention over consequences and punishment.
• We believe that every child, when provided with appropriate support, can learn and succeed.
• We support proactive problem-solving on behalf of students.
   

FCPS Strategic Goals

FCPS is committed to:

• Student Success in order to reach, challenge, and prepare every student for success in school and life
• a Caring Culture in order to foster a responsive, caring, and inclusive culture where all feel valued, supported, and hopeful
• a Premier Workforce in order to invest in our employees, encourage innovation, and celebrate success
   

Behavior Education Professional Development Plan Goals and Metrics

While building on the aspirations outlined in the Strategic Plan, the FCPS Behavior Education Professional Development Plan outlines required professional development opportunities designed to: 

• Ensure that all school personnel receive evidenced-based training that focuses on skills related to positive behavior support, student mental wellness, conflict prevention, de-escalation, and crisis response. 
• Ensure that all school personnel receive evidenced-based, initial training regarding the regulations, policies, and procedures governing the use of physical restraint and seclusion. 
• Provide annual, follow-up professional development regarding positive behavioral interventions and supports, conflict prevention, de-escalation, and crisis response for classroom personnel, transportation personnel, and school-based administrators. 
• Provide evidenced-based, advanced training in the use of physical restraint and seclusion for at least one administrator in every school building, for personnel assigned to work with any student whose IEP or Section 504 team determines the student is likely to be physically restrained, and for FCPS personnel authorized to implement restraint.

More specifically, the Behavior Education PD Plan is intended to address the five (5) goals outlined below in Table 1. 

Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS)

Originated and developed by Dr. Ross Greene, CPS is an evidence-based approach for understanding and helping students with concerning behaviors. The CPS approach sets forth two major tenets. First, the reason some students respond maladaptively to problems and frustrations is that they are lacking the skills (e.g., flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, emotion regulation, problem solving) to respond adaptively. Second, the best way to reduce concerning behaviors is by solving the problems that are causing those behaviors. The problem solving should be collaborative (i.e., done with the student) and proactive.  

FCPS has collaborated with Dr. Greene to develop introductory, expanded, and implementation training in the CPS model. All school-based instructional staff and administrators in FCPS will receive introductory training and have access to on-demand expanded training. Select schools will receive targeted and enhanced implementation training. Behavior Intervention Teachers will receive training in the CPS model that will allow them to provide implementation training at any FCPS school. Consideration for full implementation training will be based on student needs and will be coordinated through the Office of Special Education Instruction (OSEI). To support students who have participated in the CPS approach, and who transition to another school in FCPS that has not received implementation training, OSEI will collaborate with the new school team to provide training.

 

Universal School-Wide Systems and Practices (all instructional staff)

FCPS uses a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), a data-driven, solution-seeking framework, to support enhanced outcomes for all students. MTSS relies on a continuum of evidence-based practices matched to students’ individualized and dynamic needs. Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is a component of MTSS that focuses on a proactive, trauma-informed care approach to supporting students’ social, emotional, and behavioral needs via universal support provided to all students.  

School-wide professional development provides proactive, universal support and behavior education that is integrated into daily school and classroom practices. Integration of these practices is a collaborative process that takes effort and time, and is the collective responsibility of all central office and school-based staff. The professional development listed in Table 2 below is required in order to foster universal, proactive social, emotional, and behavioral support for all students. 

 

School/Classroom Systems and Practices (Targeted - select instructional staff)

Beyond the universal support provided to all students, some students require additional support to be successful. The professional development outlined in Table 3 is required for select staff who may support students who require targeted support or interventions to access the curriculum and/or make progress toward their individualized goals.

 

 

Intensive Intervention (select school and program staff)

Finally, intensive professional development will be provided to select school and program staff who support students that may require intensive interventions to meet their social, emotional and/or behavioral needs. The professional development for staff in this category, as outlined in Table 4, is in addition to the professional development outlined in the Universal School-Wide Systems and Practices and School/Classroom Systems and Practices section that is specific to their respective job classification. 

^{*Instructional staff includes teachers, school counselors, related service providers, librarians, and paraprofessionals (e.g., IA, PHTA, PHA)}

^{**Transportation personnel includes bus drivers and bus attendants}

^{***Any asynchronous sessions indicated as “One Time Completion” can be revisited any time in MyPDE and can be assigned to staff by their supervisor following the initial completion based on need reflected in data.}

^{****Tier I Behavior and Wellness Team includes a school administrator, school equity lead, grade level representatives (elementary), special area representative (elementary), and content area representatives (secondary).} 

^{⦽ Completion dates are subject to change with Cabinet approval.}

 

Monitoring and Compliance

MyPDE, the web-based FCPS Professional Development and Performance Evaluation System, is a district-wide system for the communication and registration of professional development and training, and performance evaluations for all FCPS employees.  MyPDE supports a comprehensive approach to professional development and serves as a central repository for all FCPS professional development and training, which includes a library of online courses and resources. MyPDE enables the management and delivery of face-to-face and online learning content to all FCPS employees.  

Professional development trainings that are included as part of the Behavior Education Plan will appear in each employee's Required PD List. The Required PD List is a system for accurately targeting and assigning compliance and required training to employee groups in FCPS. Employees for whom these trainings are required are responsible for ensuring completion of all training included on their Required PD List by the assigned due date. MyPDE gives school-based administrators the ability to view their direct reports' professional development progress and view the completion status of all assigned training. MyPDE also allows central office managers who sponsor individual training, the ability to view the completion status of all assigned staff. The aforementioned functions serve as a support for monitoring and accountability at both the school and central office level. 
 

Ongoing Support

Behavior Intervention Teachers, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Coaches, School Psychologists, School Social Workers and School Counselors provide both proactive support and interventions in response to identified needs to assist school staff as they build their capacity to meet students’ social, emotional, and behavioral needs.

Behavior Intervention Teachers provide assistance to schools on the design and implementation of behavioral prevention and intervention strategies, and support services. In collaboration with general education and special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and school administrators, behavior intervention teachers help build staff capacity to provide effective behavioral programming for a broad range of students. Through a job-embedded support model, behavior intervention teachers collaborate with school staff to demonstrate, model, and coach effective intervention strategies and techniques in the classroom and school environment. They consult with school teams to support the development of functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention plans.  Behavior intervention teachers also provide student crisis intervention support and assist in the development of crisis intervention and prevention plans.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Coaches provide direct coaching support to classroom instructional personnel and provide professional development that focuses on teaching technique, classroom management, behavior strategies, and communication skills. They assist classroom teachers and instructional assistants with the implementation of ABA principles and methods through regularly scheduled visits to assigned classrooms. This includes instructional program development and modification, assessment and data collection, and on-site and follow-up training to classroom staff. By addressing effective practices through job-embedded coaching, student achievement is improved. The ABA coaches support school teams with the completion of functional behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans. An added responsibility of the ABA coaches is to collaborate with other DSS staff to provide professional development and school support.

School Psychologists offer a broad range of prevention and intervention services to all Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) students, to include consultation, counseling, assessment, and crisis intervention services. School psychologists consult with school leadership and teachers to establish and sustain safe and supportive learning environments by advancing sound instructional and behavioral practices that are provided to students across a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS). They serve as critical members of problem-solving committees and teams, working to develop a comprehensive range of data-driven pre-referral interventions for students at risk for academic, social, emotional, or behavioral health concerns. In addition to providing consultative services to school teams and families, school psychologists provide direct services to students including individual and small group counseling, conducting suicide risk assessments, and membership on threat assessment teams to address urgent needs.

School Social Workers are committed to providing responsive and effective social work services which support student academic achievement and well-being. Their primary purpose is to remove barriers to student academic success, mitigate the impact of stressful and challenging situations, and ensure that all students have access to the educational opportunities needed to achieve their full potential. School social workers provide support to students with mental and behavioral health needs through counseling support, referrals to community agencies and services, consultation with families and school staff, and case management of services funded by the Children’s Services Act, which seeks to keep at-risk students from requiring more restrictive services and placements through the provision of community-based services and supports.

School Counselors are an integral part of the total school program. The counselor observes children; consults with teachers, psychologists, social workers, and the public health nurse; gathers and provides resources; conducts classroom lessons; collaborates on classroom interventions; conducts joint parent or guardian conferences; reviews and interprets school records; and serves on committees that plan for the individual needs of specific children. They work directly with students in individual and group counseling sessions as well as in classroom lessons so students may build positive feelings towards self and others, develop skills in interacting and communicating with others, cope with change in themselves and their surroundings, identify and accept their own and others’ strengths and weaknesses, recognize the causes and effects of their actions, become responsible for their behavior, and receive crisis intervention when necessary.