A Contextual Consideration of Culture and School-Wide Positive Behavior Support

Students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds have historically experienced poor outcomes related to academic achievement, special education, school discipline and climate, and juvenile justice. Differences between home and school cultures likely contribute to these outcomes. Evidence-based practices in schools are promoted to improve the academic and social outcomes for all students, but attention must be paid to cultural factors when implementing practices. School-wide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) is a systems approach to promoting evidence-based practices to affect important social and academic outcomes for all students. The purpose of this article is to consider culture within the implementation context of SWPBS. To achieve this purpose, we adopt and describe a contextual perspective on culture that is based on behavioral theory and principles of behavior analysis, and incorporate findings from a review of the literature related to culture and student behavior.