I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3165 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow 
State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and schools to 
increase implementation of school-wide positive behavior supports. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 12, 2011 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, and 
Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 to allow State educational agencies, local edu-
cational agencies, and schools to increase implementation 
of school-wide positive behavior supports. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Positive Behavior for 
Safe and Effective Schools Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
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(1) Educators, parents, and the general public 
cite ineffective school discipline policies as a leading 
challenge facing many public schools. 
(2) Overly harsh, nondiscretionary school dis-
cipline practices that address even minor mis-
behavior through suspension, expulsion, metal detec-
tors, surveillance cameras, and arrest are ineffective 
and counterproductive. 
(3) Research shows that ‘‘get tough’’ ap-
proaches to discipline reinforce bad behavior and 
predict higher future rates of misbehavior among 
suspended students. 
(4) However, suspensions and expulsions are on 
the rise nationally, and according to the United 
States Department of Education Office of Civil 
Rights during the 2005–2006 school year over 
3,300,000 students were suspended at least once 
and over 100,000 students were expelled. 
(5) Students of color and students with disabil-
ities are more likely to be suspended or expelled than 
their peers for similar disciplinary incidents. 
(6) There is a high correlation between school 
discipline and the student dropout rate. Suspended 
students are more likely to be retained, to dropout, 
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to engage in delinquent activity, and to become in-
volved in the juvenile or criminal justice system. 
(7) Teachers are also more likely to ‘‘dropout’’ 
of our schools because of school discipline issues. A 
2005 national survey found that 44 percent of 
teachers, and 39 percent of highly qualified teachers, 
listed school discipline as a reason for leaving the 
profession. 
(8) Learning is linked to student behavior. Suc-
cessful schools implement high academic and behav-
ior standards, where improvements in student behav-
ior and school climate are correlated with improved 
academic outcomes. 
(9) Evidence-based and scientifically valid prac-
tices for improving behavior and creating a school 
climate more conducive to learning such as school- 
wide positive behavior supports, have not been wide-
ly adopted, accurately implemented, or sustained. 
(10) Effective implementation of school-wide 
positive behavior supports is linked to greater aca-
demic achievement, significantly fewer disciplinary 
problems, lower suspension and expulsion rates, and 
increased time for instruction. 
(11) Early intervening services are an effective 
strategy for instructional support. Following imple-
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mentation of school-wide positive behavior supports, 
out-of-school suspensions at an elementary school in 
Illinois decreased 85 percent, from 243 to 37 or 
fewer in 2 subsequent years, with a resultant gain 
of 386 days of instructional time. The percentage of 
students meeting or exceeding proficiency on State 
standards increased measurably. 
(12) Many problems can be prevented or mini-
mized with early intervening services that have been 
shown to be effective and reduce the need for more 
intensive and more costly interventions. Upon imple-
menting such supports, an elementary school in 
Maryland witnessed a decrease in office discipline re-
ferrals for major rule violations by 42 percent, re-
couping 119 days of instructional time for students, 
and 40 days of administrator time within 1 school 
year. 
(13) Schools that implement school-wide posi-
tive behavior supports are perceived by teachers to 
be safer teaching environments. In South Carolina, 
a school using a system of positive behavior supports 
found that teacher transfer requests declined by 100 
percent and teacher absence days decreased by 36 
percent. 
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(14) When approaches such as school-wide posi-
tive behavior supports are employed, all students, in-
cluding those with significant and challenging behav-
iors, can succeed. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to ex-
pand the use of school-wide positive behavior supports in 
schools in order to systematically create a school climate 
that is highly conducive to learning, to reduce discipline 
referrals, and to improve student academic outcomes. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORTS. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘positive behavior supports’’ 
means a systematic approach to embed proven practices 
for early intervening services, including a range of sys-
temic and individualized strategies to reinforce desired be-
haviors and eliminate reinforcement for problem behav-
iors, in order to achieve important social outcomes and 
increase learning, while preventing problem behaviors for 
all students including those with the most complex and 
intensive behavioral needs. 
SEC. 4. SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORTS. 
(a) FLEXIBILITY TO USE TITLE I FUNDS TO IMPLE-
MENT SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1003(b) of the Ele-
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 6303(b)) is amended— 
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