BY MICHELLE KIM

New Boston Central School welcomed a delegation of educators from Iceland who came to observe the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) program as an example of what they might like to try back home.

Six teachers from the Njardvikurskoli School in Iceland stopped by as part of a three-day trip to New Hampshire taken by the entire faculty of the school, 48 educators in all, to learn more about PBIS.

The delegation toured New Boston Central’s classrooms and hallways, asked and answered questions, and exchanged ideas Monday, Oct. 22, as PBIS team leaders Julie McNish and David Mudrick explained how the school carried out its PBIS program.

PBIS, created by educators at the University of Oregon over 20 years ago, is a framework calling for consistent expectations of student behavior throughout the school, no matter the classroom or department, and for good behavior to be recognized and appreciated, explained McNish.

The program addresses student discipline at three levels. Most students respond at the universal level to positive reinforcement for good behavior, said Joyce Welton, project manager at the New Hampshire Center for Effective Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Students having trouble following school-wide rules are given more attention at the targeted level as teachers and administrators try to figure out the cause of the behavior.

Chronic behavioral issues are given intensive attention by a team of educators, specialists, family, and may even involve outside experts.

Disciplinary incidences are also entered into a tracking system known as the School Wide Information System (SWIS), giving teachers and administrators tools to help analyze patterns and determine reasons for behavior problems.

New Hampshire began using PBIS in 2002 and now has one of the highest numbers of schools participating in the program, including Bartlett Elementary School in Goffstown and New Boston Central, which have had the program for nearly two years.

 “It’s amazing,” said McNish. “I don’t think our school was bad to begin with, but there were a lot of inconsistencies. Having everyone on the same page has improved things tenfold.”

The kids appreciate being recognized for doing the good thing, she said, and teachers can spend more time teaching instead of disciplining.

Art teacher and American transplant Eric Farley Hearn said the Njardvikurskoli School, which has 420 students age 6 to 15 years old, had discovered the program through research on the Internet.

“We were looking at different tools to better our school,” he said, “and found this area had a lot of schools” with PBIS.

They were impressed enough to arrange for the entire faculty to come the States during the school’s winter vacation to observe PBIS in action, although it took more than two years to apply for grants and plan the trip.

Students were just as curious about the visitors. For many, the visit became a living geography lesson as they looked up Iceland on maps and atlases.

One first-grader, when told the visitors had come from far away, paused and asked, “From Boston?”     

A second-grade student impressed the teachers with his knowledge of why Iceland and Greenland were given their names.

Other students asked about jobs, sports, religions, and the language in Iceland.

The visitors explained that, despite its name, Iceland was not covered in ice but did not have as many trees, and that the Icelandic language was closely related to old Norse and had 32 letters.

The visiting teachers also said they had watched the final ALCS game and had bought Red Sox shirts for the whole group.

The delegation presented the school with a book on Iceland a small flag of the Njardvikurskoli school.

The visitors also received gifts from New Boston Central teachers of poster clips and classroom decorations as they made their way through the building.

“We’re really impressed with the whole system,” said Hearn. “We’ve all seen something we’d like to take back with us.”