Statewide leadership in addressing identified areas of need in special education services is provided through eleven functions and five projects directed by various ESCs. Their primary responsibility is to provide leadership, training, technical assistance, and the dissemination of information throughout the state. The ESCs coordinating these statewide leadership functions and projects are responsible for the implementation of many of the state’s continuous improvement activities. Though both functions and projects provide statewide leadership, ESC function leads establish and coordinate a 20-region network. This ensures ongoing communication among ESCs about state-level needs assessment processes and planning, as well as implementing and evaluating statewide activities. Project leadership functions on a specific activity.

The Texas Behavior Support (TBS) network consists of representatives from each of the Texas Education Service Centers and the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Region 4 Education Service Center, in Houston, Texas, provides statewide leadership for the network. The focus of TBS is to provide capacity-building trainings and products for Education Service Centers and Child-Serving Agency Network Representatives for regional-level professional development and technical assistance activities with districts/charter schools and child-serving agencies. The goal is to create a Positive Behavior Support System in the Texas public schools that will enable students with disabilities to receive special education supports and services in the least restrictive environment and to participate successfully in the TEKS-based curriculum and state assessment system. The purpose of this website is to provide current and relevant information related to positive behavior supports for children with disabilities.

In the past, some of the materials authored by Region 4/Texas Behavior Support contained the acronym PBS to refer to Positive Behavioral Support. This use is in no way related to, endorsed by, or supported by the Public Broadcasting Service. To avoid confusion, Region 4/Texas Behavior Support has begun using the acronym PBIS for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. The acronym PBS used in past materials and the currently used PBIS may be read interchangeably and without any alteration in meaning.