Support for District Change and Improvement

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the role of district leadership teams in supporting the implementation of inclusive school-wide initiatives, using Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports as an example. District leadership teams serve critical functions for building the systems to implement, sustain, and scale up tiered behavior supports in schools to improve outcomes for all student groups. These functions include executive (engaging stakeholders, funding and alignment, policy and workforce capacity) and implementation actions (training, coaching, evaluation, and local implementation demonstrations). The chapter concludes by offering recommendations for practice on how to increase district capacity to support schools and recommendations for research to identify additional key district variables important for facilitating the implementation of evidence-based practices in schools and improving school outcomes.