CalSTAT California services for technical assistance and training

California Cadre of BEST Trainers

About Building Effective Schools Together (BEST)

In the initial years of California’s State Improvement Grant (SIG), a federally funded program, the focus on improving student outcomes has been addressed, in part, through a positive behavior supports program developed and refined by researchers and practitioners at the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior (IVDB) at the University of Oregon College of Education. This program, Building Effective Schools Together (BEST), is a whole-school, standardized curriculum based on principles developed by the National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (an  research center funded by the Office of Special Education Programs) at the University of Oregon. As of May 2006, the California Cadre of 35 BEST trainers have trained 197 school teams. Up to ten school teams can be trained in a three-day training series with follow-up technical assistance—a design that provides the intensive support required for success.

The California Cadre of BEST Trainers

In 2002, California was awarded additional SIG dollars to expand the efforts of the state’s first SIG grant in the area of positive behavioral supports. The goal of the supplemental dollars is to develop a cadre of 45 trainers by preparing and supporting them to deliver BEST trainings. In addition, for each school site trained in BEST, cadre trainers provide follow-up coaching and assist each site as they implement their BEST programs. Cadre trainers also work with sites to ensure that timely and accurate evaluation data is reported in an effort to track program effectiveness and impact over time.

Contact Information

All questions and communications related to BEST subcontractors should be addressed to CalSTAT Project Coordinator Shannon Paymal at (707) 953-0863 or shannon.paymal @calstat.org.

Activity Reports

Forms, Surveys, and Instruments