Most District parents and students are probably familiar with BIST - even if they don't know what the acronym means. (Behavior Intervention Support Team was developed locally by Ozanam.)
At the beginning of 2012-2013 school year, the District quietly ended its contract with BIST. We say "quietly" because it was not discussed at an open Board meeting. However, it does remain a Board goal that BIST or Love and Logic be fully implemented in the District. See District website for Board goals.
In its place - at some elementary schools - BIST was replaced with another acronym - TBRI - or Trust Based Relational Intervention. This is about the extent of what we know. An internet search really didn't produce much information - or at least any information that seemed related.
TBRI was developed at Texas Christian University. See website. "It is a family-based intervention that is designed for children who have experienced relationship-based traumas such as institutionalization, multiple-foster placements, maltreatment, and/or neglect." We couldn't find any information about TBRI in schools - but that may just be our Googling skills!
That BIST went away quietly is an understatement. From what I understand, the decision was made sometime last summer between the time school was out and the time it started again. For schools who did not pilot TBRI there was no behavior management support system. Again, from what I understand principals were told they could continue to have a BIST consultant if it was paid for from building funds. But by that time most schools had already allotted their budgets. To my knowledge only 2 schools in the district had BIST consultants last year. I heard from MANY teachers around the district that buildings were struggling with discipline and behavior issues. This is just another example of the district jumping on a bandwagon (TBRI)without appropriate groundwork, training, or implementation.
ReplyDeleteIn view of the fact that implementing BIST is still a Board goal, the decision to end the district's contract with BIST and not provide any building support does not seem very well thought out.
ERIC--Education Research Information Center--is the world's largest digital education library,citing tens of thousands of journals. A search of ERIC yielded just one article about RTBI. The "Journal of Humanistic Counseling" (spring 2009) published an article about the use of RTBI with adopted children with severe emotional disturbance. The abstract is online, but if you wish to read the entire article, you will need to purchase it.
ReplyDeleteWell, here you go; everything you need to now about TBRI: http://www.child.tcu.edu/Articles/TBRI%20Principles%20and%20Practices_Both.pdf
ReplyDeleteIn both English and Kinyarwanda, or Rwandan if you prefer. This is really what TBRI is for--children who have survived genocide.
Genocide or 10 years of Dr. Hinson apparently....
ReplyDelete