Supports for All Students: Clemson’s Behavior Alliance of South Carolina Strengthens Rural Schools

Throughout schools across the country, it can be a challenge for educators and administrators to meet the needs of all students, particularly those with disabilities who may require more specialized instruction and individual support. Rural districts, in particular, face challenges around connecting staff to training, resources, and professional networks that support behavior-specific expertise and structures. In South Carolina, the Behavior Alliance of South Carolina (BASC) is seeking to become the go-to organization in the state on developing and strengthening behavior systems that support all students. BASC is a technical assistance organization based within Clemson University, funded by the South Carolina Department of Education.

While BASC’s work includes supporting districts and their schools in better serving students with disabilities, particularly with the goal of reducing suspensions, it ultimately focuses on strengthening sustainable systems that support all students. “In order to achieve this goal, we first recognize that our greatest need in strengthening a supportive behavior system that works for all students (including those with disabilities) starts by shaping adult behavior, instructional environments and practices, and aligning on decision-making and shared ownership across an entire district and an entire school.” shares Steven Rufe, Associate Director of the Behavior Alliance of South Carolina.

In working with schools around these goals, particularly the rural, isolated schools across the state that have fewer staff resources and less access to technical assistance, BASC forms renewable three-year partnerships with districts and their schools within a cohort model, so that they may learn alongside one another. Despite being a technical assistance organization, BASC’s underlying mindset is not to tell districts how to improve, but to celebrate local contexts and leverage existing strengths.

Steven shares that “by forging partnerships with districts, recognizing local expertise and context, and finding ways to build contextually-relevant behavior support systems, we aim to first understand the context of a district, provide the space and systems to align on priorities using data, and to authentically hear priorities, community perspectives, and assets that allow us to leverage what’s already in place to build a system that is on the next-level. In short, we work to do behavior systems ‘with’ our folks, not ‘to’ them.”

When partnering with districts, Steven describes that schools select members of their respective staffs to “serve as District Behavior Coordinators, through which our BASC Coaches/Points of Contact are able to collaborate to co-facilitate and co-lead all of the behavior systems efforts in a district and their partner schools.” In this way, BASC does not adopt the tell-and-leave model that can be common in technical assistance, but builds capacity at the district level for staff to support one another: “Often in rural settings like this, sustainability heavily depends on growing in-house capacity. We strive to build their internal knowledge, shared language, and problem-solving structures so that districts develop their own behavior leaders. When expertise lives within the district, the work is led by folks who know their context best and endures beyond any single initiative, grant cycle, or external partnership.”

One standout district that BASC has partnered with is Anderson 2, located about an hour southeast of Clemson. For Anderson 2, BASC’s Sarah Miller serves as their Regional Behavior Coach, where she works closely alongside the Anderson 2 District Behavior Coordinators and their partner schools to provide ongoing support. Teresa Phillips (Mental Health Services Coordinator) and Tracy Hedrick (Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction) of Anderson 2 reflect that joining BASC was an important step for the district: “ASD2 needed guidance in improving our Tier 1 foundation with high-leverage Tier 1 strategies so that every child has opportunity for student success. We believe that by equipping our teachers with these high-leverage strategies, we will create stable, productive environments where every student can thrive.”

The partnership addressed a key need in Anderson 2: building internal capacity through professional development and ongoing coaching. Anderson 2’s District Behavior Coordinators Teresa and Tracy shared that “We were in search of a solution with expertise and evidence-based strategies; BASC perfectly fit that profile. BASC has the unique ability to 'come alongside' our team; this partnership provides the hands-on coaching we need to ensure teachers feel confident and every student has the opportunity to succeed. The bonus is that this was a free solution.”

Teresa and Tracy report several positive early developments since forming the partnership with BASC. They describe that “BASC has far exceeded our initial expectations. Beyond the expert guidance from their team, the opportunity to collaborate with other school districts across the state has been invaluable. Our school teams are gaining mastery in several critical areas, including: clarifying school wide behavioral expectations with intentionality; concise wording use of classroom matrices to solidify daily routines and procedures; differentiating contextually appropriate vs. inappropriate behaviors; highlighting the importance of providing specific, high-impact positive feedback; and leading more efficient meetings using agendas that result in clear, actionable plans.”

In addition to these structural changes, the impacts are beginning to manifest. Tracy and Teresa note that “school teams are now reviewing behavior data with greater purpose and consistency. This has strengthened the accuracy and reliability of our data collection practices and ensured that decisions are grounded in clear trends and patterns rather than assumptions. There has been a noticeable increase in staff understanding of what to collect, how to collect it, and why it matters. This has led to more streamlined processes and more meaningful data conversations.”

Looking to the future, Anderson 2 staff are excited to dive deeper into the implementation of building consistent learning environments with universal norms and behavior skills to be taught, reinforced, and acknowledged. Both Tracy and Teresa project that “a key focus for the upcoming year is coaching—both receiving coaching and building our own capacity to coach others. The opportunity to engage in ongoing, job-embedded coaching rather than relying on a one-day training is incredibly valuable. We believe this sustained support will lead to improved implementation, increased staff confidence, and more meaningful long-term outcomes. We are also excited about continuing to equip teachers with practical tools and strategies they can immediately add to their instructional toolbox.”

While the Behavior Alliance of South Carolina’s district and school efforts are focused in South Carolina, anyone has access to their free online asynchronous self-paced modules or to join their free mailing list (for monthly newsletters and evidence-based practice special editions). To learn more, please visit www.behavioralliance.org.