In November, the US Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) jointly released the guidance Using Functional Behavioral Assessments to Create Supportive Learning Environments. This guidance focuses on the evidence-based practice of developing FBAs and BIPs to support students, with or without disabilities, whose behavior interferes with learning. This follows the Centers for Disease Control’s October 2024 report identifying inequitable use of school discipline as an urgent public health problem with long-lasting negative effects for students and parents.

In this guidance, the Department clarifies how educators can use FBAs and BIPs to support student inclusion and learning, not student exclusion. They call for improvements in these processes, including using FBAs and BIPs more proactively, using them with students with and without disabilities, and using them to support greater student inclusion and access to educational, social, and extracurricular opportunities at school.

This guidance provides educators and families with information, tools, and resources to support the broader use of FBAs and BIPs for students with and without disabilities, and includes:

• Recommendations for incorporating function-based positive behavior support into all tiers of an inclusive multitiered system of support (MTSS), including the use of an FBA and BIP for any student, with or without a disability, who needs Tier 3 behavior support;
• Key components of FBAs and BIPs, guiding principles for their use, and recommendations for effective collaboration between qualified staff, parents, and the student when appropriate;
• For students eligible for special education services, how the IEP can address behavior that interferes with learning by meaningfully reflecting the content of an FBA and BIP;
• Discussion of when parent consent is and is not required to complete an FBA; and
• Sources of federal funding and technical assistance that can support the use of FBAs and BIPs and foster safe and supportive learning environments.

*Originally published by Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instructions - Special Education