Ep. 36: Culturally Sustaining Practices

For PBIS implementation to feel authentic to your school’s culture, it’s important to ask your larger schoolwide community for their feedback about the systems and practices you’ve put in place AND to use that feedback to improve your implementation.In this episode, Dr. Ambra Green joins us to talk about how you can implement the foundational features of PBIS to create culturally sustaining, truly inclusive spaces. Ambra is an Associate Professor of Special Education at The University of Texas at Arlington. She is a national scholar with publications and research focused on students of color with and at-risk for disabilities, inequitable school practices, behavior disorders, PBIS, and the use of evidence-based practices. Ambra currently serves as a member of the Center on PBIS Equity workgroup and provides technical assistance at the school, district, and state levels. During our conversation, the three of us talked about how to know when there's a mismatch between your implementation and the lived experiences in your schoolwide community, the way two-way conversations are critical to the process of creating culturally sustaining implementation, and to engage everyone in those conversations requires trust you need to develop over time. For more information about the resources shared in this episode, check out the following links: Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI)State and Local PBIS Coordinator LookupNational Center on Intensive InterventionPBIS Cultural Responsiveness Field Guide‍