Expert Instruction: The Teach by Design Podcast

Over the 2025–26 season of Expert Instruction, we explored how data help schools make better decisions for students. In this year-end reflection episode, Megan Cave and Danielle Triplett look back on the conversations, lessons, and stories that shaped the season. Together, they revisit favorite moments from guests across the PBIS community and reflect on what they learned about prevention, relatio...

We're coming to you LIVE from the NWPBIS Conference in Tacoma, WA to explore another PBIS myth. Joining us today are Becky Gawenit and Charisse Elliott. Becky is from Battle Ground Public School District in Battle Ground, WA. She's been a part of that district for the last 18 years as either a school psychologist or as a district MTSS coach. Charisse is a behavior program associate with Salem-Keiz...

We continue our exploration of Tier 3 support by focusing on an important and often misunderstood part of behavior support plans: measuring fidelity. Joining us today is Rose Iovannone. • Rose is a research professor at the University of South Florida and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). She also serves as director of the University of South Florida Interdisciplinary Center for Evaluatio...

Some of the most important systems and practices you can implement are the proactive things you do to prevent behavior from escalating. This episode is part of a special Crisis Prevention Series produced in partnership with the Center on PBIS Crisis Prevention Workgroup, where we explore how PBIS systems can support schools in preventing, preparing for, and responding to crises. When we talk about...

We continue our exploration of Tier 3 support by focusing on the way systems make it possible to get students the level of support they really need. Joining us today are Mara Lynaugh and Jess Olson. Mara is a member of our PBISApps training team. She brings to the team over 25 years of experience in public education as a special education teacher and a Student Services coach where she supported sc...

When targeted interventions don't improve the behavior you hope to see, what's the next step? Today's guest might tell you to check the function of that behavior. Today, we're talking with Dr. Chris Borgmeier and exploring the myth: Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is a process only meant for special education . Chris is a Professor and the Doctoral Program Director in the College of Educati...

When we talk about Tier 2 support, we usually talk about the support we offer students. Today, we're talking about the ways we support the adults in our building to implement Tier 2 with fidelity...and maybe even a little enthusiasm. Back with us again are our colleagues Dr. Billie Jo Rodriguez and Noah Van Horn. Billie Jo is an Associate Teaching Professor and the School Psychology director of cl...

In this episode, we're sharing some of our favorite things from past lists...including one of our favorite episodes. This month, we're revisiting a conversation from 2021 with Drs. Erin Chaparro and Ginny Joseph about Tier 2 teams and the foundations of decision making at the Tier 2 level. Dr. Chaparro is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Oregon and the Principal Investigator for...

We're continuing our year-long series exploring the way data play a crucial role in our PBIS implementation. In this episode, we’re going to put those data to use as we look to address the myth that student behavior is more significant now than ever before. Joining us are Dr. Billie Jo Rodriguez and Noah Van Horn. Billie Jo is an Associate Teaching Professor and the School Psychology dir...

All this month we’re looking at the ways we can use data to guide our decisions on how to get students the additional support they need sooner. There are some common decision rules your team can follow, but what does that look like in practice? Our guests today will share their experience. Joining us in conversation are Dr. Lisa Friesen from North Kansas City Schools and Jamie Ferguson from Oak Pa...

In this episode, we continue the conversation around our year-long theme: Data in PBIS. Collecting data is an important step in your PBIS implementation. Using data to drive decisions is how those data truly come alive. How do you do that? Well, the Team Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) framework is the only scientifically-based data-based decision making practice available to schools. Joining us...

This episode kicks off PBISApps’ 2025–26 school year theme: data in PBIS. Our guest today is a true PBIS pioneer: Dr. Rob Horner. Dr. Horner is an emeritus professor at the University of Oregon and a key figure in developing PBIS. He brings with him a 40-year history of research, grant management, and systems change efforts related to school reform and PBIS. He has published over 390 professi...

In this episode, we’re looking back at the podcast over the past school year and sharing our favorite episodes and lessons learned. We’ve interviewed 16 guests across nine episodes. Every conversation gave us something to think about and find ways to infuse it in our work moving forward. Today, we wanted to highlight just five of those episodes and encourage you to take another listen over these s...

In a perfect world, there would be a mental health professional embedded in every school across the country. Students would have immediate access to the support they need and the resources they deserve. The reality is, there is a workforce shortage among mental health providers and community resources are overwhelmed by the need. More students need support than we can serve efficiently. If we coul...

As we explore what inclusive education means, we need to talk about what it means to create truly inclusive schoolwide systems, data, and practices. If schoolwide means all students have access to the same foundational features, how do you ensure “all” really means “all” in your Tier 1 PBIS implementation? Joining us to help answer this question is Dr. Sheldon Loman from Portland State University...

Join us this month with guest Dr. Nikole Hollins-Sims as we discuss how to cultivate a culture of belonging in your classroom. Using the elements of PBIS, Dr. Hollins-Sims helps us break down how students thrive at school when they feel they belong. For starters, the ABCs of student wellbeing, Agency, Belonging and Connectedness, have a tremendous influence on whether students feel like they are p...

As we explore what it means to achieve equitable solutions in PBIS implementation, we start by defining what equity looks like . So, what happens when our definitions of equity are different from each other? In this episode, learn how one coach successfully collaborates with the whole schoolwide community to create shared definitions and equitable systems that work for everyone. Joining us is Mari...

Whether its students clutching their phones or endlessly scrolling YouTube shorts, there is a sense student apathy is real and rampant. In this episode, we’re out to bust the myth that students today just don’t care about school like they used to. Joining us are Marisa Cardenas-Joslyn and Aydree, from Silverado High School in Mission Viejo, CA. Our colleague and friend, Mimi McGrath Kato is also a...

In this episode, we’ve tracked down some hilarious teacher stories from around the internet about the goofy things students say and do in school. From fart jokes, to the 1990s as the “old days,” to a student bringing in a live goat, this podcast will have you in stitches. The guests this month are our very own PBISApps trainer Nadia Sampson and Customer Support Manager Diertra Lomeli. Give it a li...

We’re back with another episode of Mythbusters where we explore some of the critiques about PBIS. Along with our guests, we’ll declare the criticisms true or busted! The myth we’ll explore today is: Rewards don’t work to improve student outcomes. Joining us in our conversation are Erica Bauer, Joya Mitchell, and Jaymz Keller Jr. Erica is a school counselor and the Green Local School District’s PBI...

There’s a feeling you get when you walk into a school. You get a sense for the kind of place it is when you look at the people’s faces, or the way the light that comes through the windows. It’s even in the colors and art on the walls in the hallway. This intangible thing is your school’s climate and it’s something you co-create with your schoolwide community. In this episode of Expert Instruction,...

When educators are in the classroom day after day, year after year, the focus on fresh authentic, genuine PBIS implementation gets harder. In this episode, we’re talking about how to adapt, evolve, and continuously improve your efforts over the long term. Joining us in conversation are the three co-directors of the Center on PBIS . Dr. Brandi Simonsen is a professor of Special Education in the Dep...

In this episode, we’re looking back at every podcast we had over the past school year and sharing our favorite episodes and lessons learned. We’ve interviewed 16 guests across nine episodes. Every conversation gave us something to think about and find ways to infuse it in our work moving forward. Today, we wanted to highlight just five of those episodes and encourage you to take another listen ove...

By the end of the school year, you have a lot of data at your fingertips. There are two important actions to take. The first is to share it with your schoolwide community as part of your annual PBIS evaluation . The second is to plan how you’ll build on your success next year. In this episode, we’re talking about what it takes to evaluate PBIS implementation and use data to create an action plan a...

Have you heard this before in your teams: If we removed these students from our schoolwide data, our trends would look better. In this episode, we’re tackling the myth that some students’ behavior data skew our schoolwide data. Joining us in this conversation are Rayann Silva and Mari Meador from the University of Washington’s School Mental Health Assessment Research and Training (SMART) Center. R...