Behavior Intervention Plan in Massachusetts: What It Must Include and How to Ensure It's Used

A Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) is not a disciplinary document. It is a support document — a written protocol describing how the school will proactively address behaviors that interfere with a student's learning or the learning of others. In Massachusetts, a BIP is required when a student's behavior is identified as an area of need, and it must be grounded in a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA).

When a BIP is well-designed and consistently implemented, it reduces the behavioral incidents that lead to suspensions, removal from class, and placement in more restrictive settings. When it's vague, inconsistent, or untrained-for, it's paperwork that doesn't help anyone.

When Is a BIP Required in Massachusetts?

Under 603 CMR 28.05 and DESE guidance, a BIP should be developed any time a student's behavior impedes their own learning or the learning of other students. This is not limited to students with intellectual disabilities or severe behavioral diagnoses — it applies to any student whose IEP includes a behavior domain goal, and to any student for whom the Team has identified behavior as a barrier to accessing the curriculum.

In practice, a BIP is typically triggered by one or more of the following:

• A pattern of disciplinary referrals, in-school suspensions, or out-of-school suspensions
• Behaviors that result in removal from the classroom (elopement, aggression, property destruction)
• Behaviors that appear in the Behavior/Social-Emotional domain of the new 2024 DESE IEP form as a target for intervention
• A Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) that finds a student's behavior was a manifestation of their disability
• A parent request for a functional behavioral assessment

The BIP is not a standalone document in Massachusetts — it is an attachment to the IEP. It must be reviewed and updated at each annual IEP review, and it can be revised more frequently if the current plan is not working or if new behaviors emerge.

The FBA-to-BIP Connection

A BIP without a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is guesswork. The FBA is the investigative process that determines the function of the behavior — the "why" behind what the student is doing. The most common behavioral functions are:

• Escape/avoidance — the student engages in behavior to get out of a task, person, or setting
• Attention-seeking — the student engages in behavior to obtain social interaction or adult attention
• Access to tangibles/activities — the student engages in behavior to obtain a preferred item or activity
• Sensory/automatic reinforcement — the behavior is self-stimulating and not contingent on environmental response

If the function is escape and the BIP's primary strategy is denial of attention, the plan will fail — not because the student is unresponsive to intervention but because the intervention doesn't match the need.

Request a copy of the FBA report before the Team presents the BIP. The FBA should include direct observation data across settings, teacher and parent input, a hypothesis about the function of the behavior, and baseline data on the frequency, duration, and intensity of the target behavior.

What a Massachusetts BIP Template Should Include

There is no mandated BIP form in Massachusetts. DESE has issued guidance documents, but districts use their own formats. Regardless of the format, a legally adequate BIP includes the following elements:

Target behavior definition A precise, observable, and measurable definition of the behavior being addressed. "Aggression" is not a definition. "Hitting peers with a closed fist or open hand, occurring an average of 4 times per school day in the general education classroom" is a definition.

Baseline data The frequency, duration, or intensity of the target behavior before intervention begins. This is drawn from the FBA and gives the Team a measurable starting point to assess whether the BIP is working.

Hypothesized function A statement of the Team's conclusion about why the behavior is occurring, based on FBA data. "Hitting appears to function primarily as escape from non-preferred writing tasks."

Antecedent strategies (prevention) What the school will do to prevent the target behavior from being triggered. These are proactive, environmental changes. Examples:

• Modify the task that typically precedes the behavior (break it into smaller chunks)
• Provide advance warning before transitions
• Create a visual schedule so the student can anticipate what comes next
• Seat the student near supportive peers or away from specific triggers

Teaching replacement behaviors The BIP should identify a functionally equivalent replacement behavior (FERB) — a behavior that serves the same function as the target behavior but is socially appropriate. If the behavior functions as escape, the replacement might be requesting a break using a word or card. The school must explicitly teach this replacement behavior; assuming the student knows how to ask for a break is not a plan.

Consequence strategies How adults will respond consistently when the target behavior occurs (do not reinforce the function) and how they will respond when the replacement behavior occurs (do provide the reinforcer the target behavior was seeking). Inconsistent adult responses are one of the most common reasons BIPs fail.

Crisis/safety plan For behaviors that escalate to physical safety concerns, a separate crisis response protocol should be included or appended. Massachusetts has specific regulations governing restraint and seclusion (603 CMR 46.00) — a BIP must never authorize restraint as a consequence; it can only include emergency safety interventions as a last resort when imminent danger is present.

Data collection method and review schedule How data on the target behavior and the replacement behavior will be collected, by whom, and how often. The Team should set a progress review schedule — typically every 4-6 weeks for active BIPs — and specify what criteria would trigger a revision.

Staff training requirement List which staff members are responsible for implementing the BIP and confirm they have received training on the plan. A BIP that the student's afternoon teacher doesn't know about is not being implemented.

What to Do When a BIP Isn't Working

If the target behavior is not decreasing or the replacement behavior is not increasing after 6-8 weeks of consistent implementation, the BIP is not working and needs to be revised — not ignored.

Request a Team meeting specifically to review the BIP. Before the meeting:

1. Document the specific behavioral incidents with dates and details
2. Ask for the data the school has been collecting on the target and replacement behaviors
3. Note whether the antecedent strategies are consistently being implemented across all settings
4. Ask whether all staff have been trained and whether training is current

If the school is not collecting data on the BIP, that is a compliance problem. A BIP with no data collection mechanism is unenforceable — you cannot determine whether it is working or whether it needs revision. Document this in writing and, if necessary, file a PRS complaint with DESE.

When a BIP Crosses Into Seclusion or Restraint

Massachusetts regulation 603 CMR 46.00 places strict limits on the use of physical restraint and seclusion in schools. Restraint is permitted only as an emergency safety intervention — it is never a planned consequence in a BIP. Seclusion (placing a student alone in a space from which they are prevented from leaving) is prohibited in Massachusetts public schools, with narrow exceptions for students in specific residential or therapeutic programs.

If your child's BIP includes language authorizing placement in a "quiet room," review it carefully against 603 CMR 46.00. A space that is used voluntarily by the student as a calming area is different from a space where the student is placed involuntarily. The distinction matters legally.

The Massachusetts IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a BIP review framework built around the 2024 DESE IEP form's behavior domain, with a checklist for evaluating whether the FBA-to-BIP connection is sound, a data log template for tracking BIP effectiveness, and guidance on requesting an FBA when the district has not initiated one.

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