TFI 1.13 EVALUATION: Data-Based Decision Making
The Tier 1 Team reviews and uses discipline data at least monthly for decision-making.
Valued outcomes are specified, endorsed, emphasized and monitored frequently and regularly because of their social and educational significance.
Data are used to develop plans and actions that respond to what is really occurring in the school rather than reaching at straws and making assumptions. Data that are kept current provide a real-time look at your school climate. Data is used to select, monitor, and evaluate outcomes, practices and systems.
TFI 1.13 Big Ideas
In TFI 1.12 the Tier 1 Team ensured the site has immediate access to graphed discipline reports that are accurate.
In this element, TFI 1.13, the Team will familiarize themselves with the Aeries Discipline data-base.
Action planning includes: ensuring all relevant staff have access to the Aeries Discipline Manual and trainings, providing staff with resources to support the accurate completion of office referrals, and ensuring site discipline data is input into Aeries in a timely and accurate manner.
On-Your-Own Learning
Teams use data on a regular basis to problem solve and identify solutions that are effcient, effective, relevant, and durable.
Culturally Responsive - TFI 1.13 Elaboration
Teams engage in active data-based decision making with a specific focus on equity. Teams and school staff take responsibility for the outcomes for each student, regardless of her or his circumstances. Inequitable outcomes are first examined from a system perspective before considering individual behavior support.
Improving student outcomes is why we do what we do! It does not matter how well a school scores on the SAS or the TFI if students experience poor or declining outcomes in our schools. The outcome data the team monitors always depends on the desired outcomes. Outcome data help SW-PBS teams to identify goals, and to monitor progress toward those goals. They are used to evaluate the effectiveness of SW-PBS Implementation, and to monitor implementation progress over time.
Key Terms
Tier 1 Teams use implementation and student outcome data to monitor both what the adults in the building are doing (implementation or “cause” data) and the impact these efforts have on students (outcomes or “effect” data). Building leadership teams use implementation and outcome data to guide development of systems and practices of their SW-PBS framework, monitor implementation of their SW-PBS framework, problem solve, monitor progress toward implementing plans and achieving goals, and evaluate their SW-PBS framework. (source: MO Implementation Guide)
What is Student Outcome Data?
OUTCOMES are academic and behavior targets. Valued outcomes are specified, endorsed, emphasized and monitored frequently and regularly because of their social and educational significance.
Data-Based Decision Making - Monthly
PBiS schools use discipline data regularly to make decisions that improve student behavior and school climate. By continuously using this data to identify, define, and analyze a new problem to tackle, select and implement evidence-based practices to address the problem, and progress-monitor and evaluate the implementation of these practices and progress toward desired student outcomes, the team creates cycles of continuous improvement, slowly but steadily decreasing the frequency of unexpected behaviors.
A monthly cycle is frequent enough to have a meaningful impact on school climate and student behavior. It also allows for timely midcourse corrections if the team has not yet met the goal of their Solution Plan. At the same time, it allows enough time for the intervention to have the desired effect on student behavior. Some teams may wish to hold brief progress-monitoring meetings more frequently, such as weekly or biweekly, to allow the team to respond quickly and make any needed midcourse adjustments.
By focusing on solving school-wide problems, the team not only systematically improves outcomes for more students, but also systematically refines implementation of Tier 1 systems of support.
MOHandbook
Question 1: Is There a Problem?
Question 2: Why's the Problem Happening?
Leadership for Learning Framework (Reaves, D. A. 2006)
This framework demonstrates how schools can use data to better understand cause-and-effect relationships between adult actions and student outcomes. Schools that do not use data to gain an understanding of the relationship between adult actions and student outcomes are unlikely to identify strategies that improve student outcomes and may experience a decrease in student outcomes. (MO Implementation Guide, 67-68)
Question 3: What Can be Done About the Problem?
“Take the problem out of the kids and put it in a context. Then and only then we can work on a solution. Precise statements of the problem context lead to smaller, more efficient and more effective interventions.”
Rob Horner (2011)
Solution Plans address student behavior concerns which have been identified through student outcome data - office referrals, suspensions, referrals to counselor/outside agencies, school climate surveys (student/parent), and/or attendance reports. Estimated timeline for this type of plan is anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
Once the Team has agreed upon which student outcome data they will support, they will begin by writing a stated outcome goal. Next the Team will identify a staff strategy/practice to modify, create action steps, assign responsibilities, set timelines and determine what type of evidence will be used to measure goal attainment.
For additional guidance, see examples below.
Question 4: Did Our Intervention Work?
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Additional Data to Consider
Other student outcomes SW-PBS teams monitor include atten- dance, discipline equity, exclusionary discipline, graduation rates, and perceptions of school climate and safety (positive relationships, connectedness, etc). In addition, there is a relationship between stu- dent behavior and academic achievement. As such, SW-PBS teams often monitor academic outcomes as well. A process for grade or content alike collaborative teams to analyze academic data in con- junction with behavioral data is described later in this chapter.
Answer:
Referrals for Assistance
Panorama
Attendance
Counselor/Nurse referrals
Hazel Health Reports
Additional Readings and Supports
Tier 1 Overview Page & TFI Frameworks MO SWPBIS Tier 1 Implementation Guide - Extract Course 7