Use of Behavior Management Strategies by Teachers: Fidelity and Implementation of the ABC Program

1. Use of Behavior Management Strategies by Teachers: Fidelity and Implementation of the ABC Program Greta M. Massetti, Daniel A. Waschbusch, & William E. Pelham, Jr. University at Buffalo, SUNY Presentation at the 2006 SPR Conference

2. Background: Violence and Aggression • NCLB legislates use of evidence-based programs in violence prevention and character education • Little scientific evidence on effective practices for • Building character and social competence, and • Reducing violence, disruptive behavior, and aggression

3. Domains of Influence • School contexts • Peer relationships • Parent-child relationships

4. Social Skills Interventions for Children with DB Problems • Data on positive short-term effects • Problems: • Long-term effectiveness • Generalizability • Magnitude of effects • At-risk and identified children • Interventions must be comprehensive and target multiple areas of functioning

5. Levels of Intervention in Comprehensive Programs • Universal • Targeted/At risk • Indicated/Identified • Rarely combined in programs • Must be effective for both average child and higher-risk children

6. The Academic and Behavioral Competencies (ABC) Program: A School-Wide Intervention

7. ABC Program Components: Universal Components • School-wide behavior management • Classroom management • School-wide rules • Consequences for rule following/violations: Daily Positive Notes, Fun Friday, Honor Roll, Time Out • Homework components • School-wide teacher-led social skills training • School-wide peer tutoring for academic skills

8. ABC Program Components: Targeted Components • Individual consultation services • Individualized programming • After-school program • Parent workshops

9. Methodology • 14 Schools: • 10 Buffalo Public Schools (PK-8) • 2 Charter schools (PK-9) • 2 Suburban schools (K-5) • Urban, high-risk populations • Matched and randomly assigned

10. Fidelity Model • Incorporates 2 elements of fidelity: • Content • Process

11. Fidelity: Content • The extent to which the teacher or school is implementing the identified component to the degree it was intended as specified by the program • Addresses whether teachers are implementing each component of the intervention • Is it being done?

12. Fidelity: Process • The extent to which the teacher or school is implementing the identified component in the manner in which it was intended as specified by the program. • Addresses how well each component is implemented • How is it being done?

13. Elements of Fidelity • Content and Process: • Elements independent of each other • Elements may interact • Impact on efficacy of program

14. Fidelity Model • One of the goals of the current project is to determine ways in which fidelity interacts with efficacy of intervention • Hypothesis: higher levels of process and content will have greater efficacy

15. Goals for Assessment of Fidelity • Dual purposes of assessing fidelity: • To evaluate role of fidelity as mediator of outcome (research goal) • To exert an influence on intervention process (intervention goal) • Document use of components in comparison schools • Data for goals gathered separately

16. Comprehensive Fidelity Model

17. Content

18. Process

19. Observations • Goals of observations: • Document use of classroom behavior management (control and intervention) • Evaluate intervention teachers’ implementation of behavior management techniques taught as part of intervention • Track rates of students’ disruptive behaviors

20. Observations • 10 minutes: orientation to classroom, evaluation of space • Presence of intervention elements (time out, honor roll chart, color chart) • 40 minutes: observations of students and teachers • Use standard set of operationalized “rules” • Record instances of rule infractions • Record teachers’ reactions to rule infractions

21. Student Observation Code • Based on set of standard “rules” • Be respectful of others • Remain in assigned seat or area • Raise hand to speak or to ask for help • Work quietly • Use materials appropriately • Obey adults • Stay on task

22. Teacher Observation Code • Rates teachers’ response to rule infractions on 3 dimensions

23. Additional Teacher Behaviors • Observers also track teachers’ use of: • Social Reinforcement (both group and individual tracked separately) • Effective commands • Ineffective commands

24. Variability of Fidelity • Variability in implementation across intervention schools: both process and content • Variability across components of intervention • Variability across time (within the year, across years) • Variability within classroom

25. THANK YOU • Contact Information • Greta Massetti: gmm23@buffalo.edu • Dan Waschbusch: dw35@buffalo.edu • William Pelham: pelham@buffalo.edu • http://Wings.buffalo.edu/adhd/