The Montana Behavioral Initiative: A Statewide Response

As the number of violent incidents involving school aged children increased in Montana and students with significant behavioral needs returned to their home schools from residential settings, Montana educators sought ways to ensure a safe school environment for all students. The result is the Montana Behavioral Initiative (MBI), a project that has grown from five original sites in the 1995/96 school year to nearly 100 sites across the state during 1998/99. The MBI is a comprehensive program involving staff development, school wide attitudinal changes toward student discipline, a commitment to problem solving, and ongoing technical assistance. Schools that have adopted the MBI process have been able to improve their school environments through site attention to the five key indicators of MBI and document their continuing school improvement using the MBI Environmental Scan.