Cathy McKenzie, Ed.S.

Why collect data? Identify if the behavior / problem is student specific, class specific, grade level or school specific Determine current frequency, intensity, duration and if this is different from behavior of other students Track changes over time (response to intervention) Identify antecedents / triggers to assist with functional behavior assessment Georgia regulations

Pyramid of Interventions Tier I

Classroom Management Checklist See form in appendix – This can be used as a self- evaluation by teachers but also used by administrators / others when observing the class Things to look for: Physical setting Posting of rules and routines Students actively engaged (limit downtime) Commands / directions specific Rate of positives to negatives Consistency

Direct Whole Classroom Observation See the form used in the appendix Alpha Commands (also known as effective commands or precision requests) – concise instructions that elicit a distinct outcome, are precise, specific, direct, given one at a time, stated positively and in a calm tone of voice (e.g. “Please sit down” or “Turn to page 22”) Beta Commands – commands that are NOT Alpha commands, such as using a questioning format, multiple steps, negatively stated or not specific (e.g. “Will you sit down?” or “Behave yourself.”)

Compliance Percentage Each time a command / direction is given the command is categorized as either Alpha or Beta Next, begin timing to see if student complies within 10 second. If so, tally mark is made in the compliance box. If the command was given to the whole class then look to see if 75% of the students comply with the direction within 10 seconds

Whole Classroom Observation Positives for Behavior – any praise or reinforcement for appropriate behavior (e.g. “Thanks you Sally for raising your hand” or “Timmy is doing a good job standing in line.”) This includes giving tokens, check marks, stickers, candy, etc. Positives for Academics – any praise or reinforcement for correct responses to academics, praise or reinforcement for attempting to answer an academic task (e.g. “Great answer!” or “Good thinking.”) Negatives for Behavior – any correction, consequence or feedback indicating a behavior was inappropriate (e.g. “Move your clip” or “Tina is not being responsible.” This includes taking away points or other items that result in loss of privileges, placement in time-out, or removal from the class. Negatives for Academics – any feedback indicating the response to academics was incorrect (e.g. “No that’s wrong” or “No you are not listening”).

Data on Compliance Based on 75 Classroom Observations from Pre-K through High School Average 78% compliance with Alpha Commands Average of 40% compliance with Beta Commands Teachers that averaged over 80% compliance used Alpha commands an average of 87% of the time Teachers that had at least 80% of commands being Alpha Commands AND had at least 3 positives for every negative (ratio of 3:1 positives to negative) had an average of 93% compliance (range 88% to 100%)

So what does this mean? Teaching staff to use Alpha (effective commands) and to provide ratio of 4 positives to every negative sets a good foundation for classroom management. This involves a change in communication style of the adults (change in their behavior). This does not cost anything and involves no additional time (no loss of instructional time).

Pyramid of Interventions Tier 2 & 3

Types of Behavior Data Frequency – How often it happens Use for things like hitting, getting out of seat, blurting out, swearing, turning in homework Duration – How long does the behavior last? Use for things like remaining in seat, crying, tantruming, sleeping in class Interval – Is it occurring at a certain interval? Use for very high frequency behaviors such as blurting out, sitting in seat, working on a task, drumming on the desk Latency – How much time elapses before the behavior is exhibited? Use for things such as beginning a task / following a direction after a command is given, turning in completed work, stopping a misbehavior when redirected

Forms for Individual Student Data Collection (Forms in Appendix) Behavior Calendar – used for frequency data collection (not for long term data collection) ABC Checklist – use for behaviors that are not high frequency Behavior Report Card Generator (from Intervention Central) – gets student involved and also used as part of the intervention Classroom observation by someone else – gets a time sampling and is better for high frequency behaviors

Behavior Doctor – FBA Tool A free excel download to be used for collection and analysis of behavior for Functional Behavior Assessment. This instrument / tool is a bit more complicated and time intensive but useful for more difficult cases

Resources Intervention Central Behavior Advisor Discipline Help Behavior Doctor

THANK YOU Cathy McKenzie, Ed.S. Or