Effective PBS Evaluation and SWIS Preparation Strategies

PBS Evaluation and Preparing for SWIS Robin Galloway, PhD • RISE, ISU, • Iowa Behavior Alliance – W063 • Cell - 641-430-1508 • rgal@iastate.edu Ismail Sahin, PhD • RISE, ISU, • Iowa Behavior Alliance Office – W063 - 515-294-9035 • isahin@iastate.edu

PBS Evaluation • What data do we need? • When do we need the data? • Why do we need the data?

Data Collected by Iowa Behavior Alliance from Year 1 and 2 Sites

Data that Sites are Responsible for Completing and Submitting

PBS Site Evaluation

Checklist Data: Year 1 Sites - NW

Checklist Data: Year 2 Sites - NW

Preparing for SWIS: Big Message #4 • Traditional approaches to punishment and exclusion are ineffective when used alone. • Behavior support needs to occur at the “whole-school” level • Teaching is the most powerful behavior support strategy available • On-going use of information for decision-making is a key feature of successful school-wide discipline systems.

Why Collect Discipline Information? • Decision making • Professional Accountability • Decisions made with data (information) are more likely to be (a) implemented, and (b) effective

Key features of data systems that work. • The data are accurate • The data are very easy to collect (1% of staff time) • Data are used for decision-making • The data must be available when decisions need to be made (weekly?) • Difference between data needs at a school building versus data needs for a district • The people who collect the data must see the information used for decision-making.

What data to collect for decision-making? • USE WHAT YOU HAVE • Office Discipline Referrals/Detentions • Measure of overall environment. Referrals are affected by (a) student behavior, (b) staff behavior, (c) administrative context • An under-estimate of what is really happening • Office Referrals per Day per Month • Attendance • Suspensions/Expulsions • Vandalism

Office Discipline Referral Processes/Form • Coherent system in place to collect office discipline referral data • Faculty and staff agree on categories • Faculty and staff agree on process • Office Discipline Referral Form includes needed information • Name, date, time • Staff • Problem Behavior, maintaining function • Location

When Should Data be Collected? • Continuously • Data collection should be an embedded part of the school cycle not something “extra” • Data should be summarized prior to meetings of decision-makers (e.g. weekly) • Data will be inaccurate and irrelevant unless the people who collect and summarize it see the data used for decision-making.

Organizing Data for “Information” • Counts are good, but not always useful • To compare across months use “average office discipline referrals per day per month”

Is there a problem? • Office Discipline Referrals • Attendance/Tardies • Achievement • Faculty Reports • Student reports

what where when How often The BIG 5 who

Interpreting Office Referral Data:Is there a problem? • Absolute level (depending on size of school) • Middle Schools (>5 per day) • Elementary Schools (>1.5-2 per day) • Trends • Peaks before breaks? • Gradual increasing trend across year? • Compare levels to last year • Improvement?

What systems are problematic? • Referrals by problem behavior? • What problem behaviors are most common? • Referrals by location? • Are there specific problem locations? • Referrals by student? • Are there many students receiving referrals or only a small number of students with many referrals? • Referrals by time of day? • Are there specific times when problems occur?

Referrals per Student

SWIS Readiness Checklist • Your SWIS facilitator will meet with you • Complete your SWIS Readiness Checklist • SWIS facilitator will meet with 3-4 key personnel for an approximate 3 hour training

QUESTIONS????? • Robin Galloway – rgal@iastate.edu • Ismail Sahin - isahin@iastate.edu • ISU Iowa Behavior Alliance Office Lagomarcino – W063 Office Number - 515-294-9035

Effective PBS Evaluation and SWIS Preparation Strategies