In the world of data, it can get confusing very quickly; questions like -

When planning for intervention in your classroom, how do you know it is working?

What data do you collect consistently?

What are the standard data collection tools at your site?

What data collection tools do you have easy access to? Which data tools require leadership or SSS support?

What screeners are used at site level?

Start popping up, and sometimes the most honest answer is ‘I don’t know’ – and that is fair. Teaching is a challenging and busy profession, and data seems like it is the lowest of our priorities when we practice teaching.

In PBIS, data is vital in two places – pre and post-intervention.

What do we know about the cohort we are applying PBIS to before we do it – this is typically done through some kind of screener or functional need analysis, and what was the effect of the intervention – which can be collected with the same data tool.

Typically, we want our data tool to reflect the cohort we are implementing PBIS with – the larger the cohort, the more universal the data collection tool can be, and the smaller the cohort, the more focused the data collection tool should be.

In practice, this can look like –

School, year level or class data = Screener

Small group = screener, checklist, ABC chart individualised intervention = functional needs assessment, ALSUP, ABC etc.

You must ensure your data collection tool matches the behaviour and cohort you are trying to engage with. Below is an accumulation of resources that may help match your data collection tool to your situation.

In the example we are using, I would create a short screener to see if the students were following the explicit behaviour steps I was teaching – I would apply it before and for a time after my lesson to see if there was an increase in the behaviour happening. This out also let me identify students who needed more focused remediation.

Consider the data collection tools available to you and those available below – select a tool to practice with. Plan to collect data a few times before teaching your explicit lesson and a few times after to track the impact of your instruction.

Us your selected data tool to collect pre and post-data on your students - analyse the data collected. Are there any students that are not showing the desired behaviour?

Us your selected data tool to collect pre and post-data on your students - analyse the data collected. Are there any students that are not showing the desired behaviour?

Reflect on your collected data –

Are there any patterns?

Are all of the behaviours being seen?

Consider are there enough behaviour errors to reteach the lesson / desired behaviour, or do students need to be escalated to a higher tier of intervention?