More than 1,200 Georgia educators are expected to attend a two-day conference starting Wednesday in Gwinnett County aimed at finding ways to improving classroom behavior.
The ninth annual Georgia Association for Positive Behavior Support conference will offer best practices from experts statewide and nationally. It’s being held at the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth.
Fewer Georgia schools scored "excellent" and more scored "unsatisfactory" on an annual state index released in June that rates schools in areas such as disciplinary incidents. Many schools have reported increases in suspensions on some grade levels, including kindergarten.
Gwinnett, the state’s largest school district, estimates it will have about 200 attendees at the conference. About 60 percent of its schools use Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports as a framework to improve student conduct, which they believe is helping. Gwinnett conducted a bus tour for conference attendees Tuesday of some of its schools that use PBIS.
“We ask schools to use their creativity and imagination to affect student behavior,” said Randolph Irvin, Gwinnett’s director of student discipline and behavioral interventions.
Irvin said he hopes conference attendees from learn techniques to work with students who exhibit patterns of problem behavior.
