Workshop Agenda

1. Strategies for Working with the Unmotivated, Non-Compliant, Disorganized, Struggling StudentJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org

2. Download PowerPoints and Handouts from this workshop at:http://www.interventioncentral.org/NJASP.php

3. RTI & Behavior: Introduction • Teachers as Behavior Change Agents • Intervention Ideas for Motivation • Using Rewards Effectively in the Classroom • Intervention Ideas for Individual Challenging Behaviors • Structuring Behavioral Recommendations to Maximize Teacher ‘Buy-In’ Workshop Agenda

4. RTI: The Basics

5. Five Core Components of RTI Service Delivery • Student services are arranged in a multi-tier model • Data are collected to assess student baseline levels and to make decisions about student progress • Interventions are ‘evidence-based’ • The ‘procedural integrity’ of interventions is measured • RTI is implemented and developed at the school- and district-level to be scalable and sustainable over time Source: Glover, T. A., & DiPerna, J. C. (2007). Service delivery for response to intervention: Core components and directions for future research. School Psychology Review, 36, 526-540.

6. Tier 3: Intensive interventions. Students who are ‘non-responders’ to Tiers I & II may be eligible for special education services, intensive interventions. Tier 3 Tier 2 Individualized interventions. Subset of students receive interventions targeting specific needs. Tier 2 Tier 1: Universal interventions. Available to all students in a classroom or school. Can consist of whole-group or individual strategies or supports. Tier 1 RTI ‘Pyramid of Interventions’

7. Early Identification. As students begin to show need for academic support, the RTI model proactively supports them with early interventions to close the skill or performance gap with peers. Chronically At-Risk. Students whose school performance is marginal across school years but who do not qualify for special education services are identified by the RTI Team and provided with ongoing intervention support. Special Education. Students who fail to respond to scientifically valid general-education interventions implemented with integrity are classified as ‘non-responders’ and found eligible for special education. The Purpose of RTI in Schools: What Students Should It Serve?

8. Behavioral Interventions: Student Factors

9. Student Motivation & The Need for Intervention “A common response to students who struggle in sixth grade is to wait and hope they grow out of it or adapt, to attribute early struggles to the natural commotion of early adolescence and to temporary difficulties in adapting to new organizational structures of schooling, more challenging curricula and assessment, and less personalized attention. Our evidence clearly indicates that, at least in high-poverty urban schools, sixth graders who are missing 20% or more of the days, exhibiting poor behavior, or failing math or English do not recover. On the contrary, they drop out. This says that early intervention is not only productive but absolutely essential.” Source: Balfanz, R., Herzog, L., MacIver, D. J. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping students on the graduation path in urban middle grades schools: Early identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychologist,42, 223–235. .

10. Student Motivation Levels Are Strongly Influenced by the Instructional Setting (Lentz & Shapiro, 1986) • Students with learning or motivation problems do not exist in isolation. Rather, their instructional environment plays an enormously important role in these students’ degree of academic engagement. Source: Lentz, F. E. & Shapiro, E. S. (1986). Functional assessment of the academic environment. School Psychology Review, 15, 346-57.

11. Big Ideas: Similar Behaviors May Stem from Very Different ‘Root’ Causes (Kratochwill, Elliott, & Carrington Rotto, 1990) • Behavior is not random but follows purposeful patterns.Students who present with the same apparent ‘surface’ behaviors may have very different ‘drivers’ (underlying reasons) that explain why those behaviors occur.A student’s problem behaviors must be carefully identified and analyzed to determine the drivers that support them. Source: Kratochwill, T. R., Elliott, S. N., & Carrington Rotto, P. (1990). Best practices in behavioral consultation. In A. Thomas and J. Grimes (Eds.). Best practices in school psychology-II (pp. 147=169). Silver Spring, MD: National Association of School Psychologists..

12. B C Big Ideas: Be Proactive in Behavior Management (Martens & Meller, 1990) • Teachers who intervene before a student misbehaves or when the misbehavior has not yet escalated have a greater likelihood of keeping the student on task and engaged in learning. Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence Timeline A Source: Martens, B.K., & Meller, P.J. (1990). The application of behavioral principles to educational settings. In T.B. Gutkin & C.R.Reynolds (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology (2nd ed.) (pp. 612-634). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

13. Big Ideas: Behavior is a Continuous ‘Stream’ (Schoenfeld & Farmer, 1970) • Individuals are always performing SOME type of behavior: watching the instructor, sleeping, talking to a neighbor, completing a worksheet (‘behavior stream’). • When students are fully engaged in academic behaviors, they are less likely to get off-task and display problem behaviors. • Academic tasks that are clearly understood, elicit student interest, provide a high rate of student success, and include teacher encouragement and feedback are most likely to effectively ‘capture’ the student’s ‘behavior stream’. Source: Schoenfeld, W. N., & Farmer, J. (1970). Reinforcement schedules and the ‘‘behavior stream.’’ In W. N. Schoenfeld (Ed.), The theory of reinforcement schedules (pp. 215–245). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

14. Big Ideas: Academic Delays Can Be a Potent Cause of Behavior Problems (Witt, Daly, & Noell, 2000) Student academic problems cause many school behavior problems. “Whether [a student’s] problem is a behavior problem or an academic one, we recommend starting with a functional academic assessment, since often behavior problems occur when students cannot or will not do required academic work.” Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Noell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West, p. 13

15. ……………… ……………… 10 0 X X ...………… ...………… 0 10 ……………… 10 0 0 X ...………… 10 100 Unmotivated Students: What Works Motivation can be thought of as having two dimensions: • the student’s expectation of success on the task The relationship between the two factors is multiplicative. If EITHER of these factors (the student’s expectation of success on the task OR the student’s valuing of that success) is zero, then the ‘motivation’ product will also be zero. Multiplied by • the value that the student places on achieving success on that learning task Source:Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. A. Shinn, H. M. Walker & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp.373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

16. Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation “An intrinsically motivated behavior [is defined as] one for which there exists no recognizable reward except the activity itself (e.g., reading). That is, behavior that cannot be attributed to external controls is usually attributed to intrinsic motivation.” “…an extrinsically motivated behavior refers to behavior controlled by stimuli external to the task.” p. 345 Source: Akin-Little, K. A., Eckert, T. L., Lovett, B. J., & Little, S. G. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom: Bribery or best practice. School Psychology Review, 33, 344-362.

17. Intrinsic Motivation: Is There Any Utility to This Construct? By definition, intrinsic motivation is supported by the reinforcing quality of the activity alone. As a construct, ‘intrinsic motivation’ may be untestable, because the reinforcer cannot be directly observed or experimentally manipulated. Source: Akin-Little, K. A., Eckert, T. L., Lovett, B. J., & Little, S. G. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom: Bribery or best practice. School Psychology Review, 33, 344-362.

18. Childhood and Beyond Longitudinal Project • 3 cohorts of children (about 250 children per cohort) were followed across elementary, middle and high school. (Children were recruited from 4 middle-class school districts in the midwest.) • In the subject areas of math, language arts, and sports, students were asked each year to rate their competence in the subject and their valuing of it. Source: Jacobs, J. E., Lanza, S., Osgood, D. W., Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Changes in children’s self-competence and values: Gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve. Child Development, 73, 509-527.

19. Childhood and Beyond Longitudinal Project: Some Findings • Ratings of both competence and value declined for all 3 subject areas (math, language arts, and sports) for boys and girls as they grew older. • Girls rated themselves lower in competence in math throughout school—until grade 12, when boys and girls converged in their ratings (because boys’ ratings declined faster than did girls’ ratings). • Across all grade levels, boys rated themselves significantly less competent than did girls in language arts. • Not surprisingly, boys’ and girls’ valuing (enjoyment, liking) of a subject area correlated with perceived ability. Generally, boys and girls who rated themselves as lowest in ability also rated their valuing of the subject area as lowest. Source: Jacobs, J. E., Lanza, S., Osgood, D. W., Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Changes in children’s self-competence and values: Gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve. Child Development, 73, 509-527.

20. Our Working Definition of ‘School Motivation’ For This Workshop The student puts reasonable effort into completing academic work in a timely manner.

21. Behavioral Interventions: Teacher Factors

22. ‘Special Education is Magic’: A Barrier to Interventions in the General-Education Setting “…some teachers view students with handicaps as being qualitatively different from normal achievers and believe that only special teachers can teach these special students. At the very least, this kind of magical thinking reduces teachers’ expectations for student progress, and we know that ambitious goals increase achievement. At its worst, believing that special education is magic leads teachers to actively resist accommodating students with special needs in their classrooms through behavioral or instructional consultation.” Source: Martens, B. K. (1993). A case against magical thinking in school-based intervention. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 4(2), 185-189.

23. Role of ‘School Culture’ in the Acceptability of Interventions “…school staffs are interested in strategies that fit a group instructional and management template; intensive strategies required by at-risk and poorly motivated students are often viewed as cost ineffective. Treatments and interventions that do not address the primary mission of schooling are seen as a poor match to school priorities and are likely to be rejected. Thus, intervention and management approaches that are universal in nature and that involve a standard dosage that is easy to deliver (e.g., classwide social skills training) have a higher likelihood of making it into routine or standard school practice.” Source: Walker, H. M. (2004). Use of evidence-based interventions in schools: Where we've been, where we are, and where we need to go. School Psychology Review, 33, 398-407. pp. 400-401

24. Factors Influencing the Decision to Classify as BD (Gresham, 1992) Four factors strongly influence the likelihood that a student will be classified as Behaviorally Disordered: • Severity: Frequency and intensity of the problem behavior(s). • Chronicity: Length of time that the problem behavior(s) have been displayed. • Generalization: Degree to which the student displays the problem behavior(s) across settings or situations. • Tolerance: Degree to which the student’s problem behavior(s) are accepted in that student’s current social setting. Source: Gresham, F. M. (1992). Conceptualizing behavior disorders in terms of resistance to intervention. School Psychology Review, 20, 23-37.

25. I call the range of students whom [teachers] come to view as adequately responsive – i.e., teachable – as the tolerance; those who are perceived to be outside the tolerance are those for whom teachers seek additional resources. The term “tolerance” is used to indicate that teachers form a permissible boundary on their measurement (judgments) in the same sense as a confidence interval. In this case, the teacher actively measures the distribution of responsiveness in her class by processing information from a series of teaching trials and perceives some range of students as within the tolerance. (Gerber, 2002) “ ” Source: Gerber, M. M. (2003). Teachers are still the test: Limitations of response to instruction strategies for identifying children with learning disabilities. Paper presented at the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities Responsiveness-to-Intervention Symposium, Kansas City, MO.

26. Applying ‘RTI Logic’ to Better Understand Behavior Problems

27. Inference: Moving Beyond the Margins of the ‘Known’ “An inference is a tentative conclusion without direct or conclusive support from available data. All hypotheses are, by definition, inferences. It is critical that problem analysts make distinctions between what is known and what is inferred or hypothesized….Low-level inferences should be exhausted prior to the use of high-level inferences.” p. 161 Source: Christ, T. (2008). Best practices in problem analysis. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 159-176).

28. High-Inference Hypothesis. The student is ‘just lazy’ and would do better if he would only apply himself. Unknown Known Unknown Low-Inference Hypothesis. The student has gaps in academic skills that require (a) mapping out those skill gaps, and (b) providing the student with remedial instruction as needed. Known Examples of High vs. Low Inference Hypotheses An 11th-grade student does poorly on tests and quizzes in math. Homework is often incomplete. He frequently shows up late for class and does not readily participate in group discussions.

29. Tier 3 Targets: Focus on School Factors Over Which We Have Influence “The hypothesis and intervention [for struggling students] should focus on those variables that are alterable within the school setting. These alterable variables include learning goals and objectives (what is to be learned), materials, time, student-to-teacher ratio, activities, and motivational strategies.” p. 95 Source: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York.

30. The Problem-Solving Model & Multi-Disciplinary Teams A school consultative process (‘the problem-solving model’) with roots in applied behavior analysis was developed (e.g., Bergan, 1995) that includes 4 steps: • Problem Identification • Problem Analysis • Plan Implementation • Problem Evaluation Originally designed for individual consultation with teachers, the problem-solving model was later adapted in various forms to multi-disciplinary team settings. Source: Bergan, J. R. (1995). Evolution of a problem-solving model of consultation. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 6(2), 111-123.

31. Writing Quality ‘Problem Identification’ Statements • A frequent problem at RTI Team meetings is that teacher referral concerns are written in vague terms. If the referral concern is not written in explicit, observable, measurable terms, it will be very difficult to write clear goals for improvement or select appropriate interventions. • Use this ‘test’ for evaluating the quality of a problem-identification (‘teacher-concern’) statement: Can a third party enter a classroom with the problem definition in hand and know when they see the behavior and when they don’t?

32. Format for Writing RTI Team Teacher Concerns Conditions when the behavior is observed or absent Description of behavior in concrete, measurable, observable terms During large-group instruction The student calls out comments that do not relate to the content being taught. When reading aloud The student decodes at a rate much slower than classmates. When sent from the classroom with a pass to perform an errand or take a bathroom break The student often wanders the building instead of returning promptly to class. Writing Quality ‘Problem-Identification’ Statements: Template

33. Writing Quality ‘Teacher Referral Concern’ Statements: Examples • Needs Work:The student is disruptive. • Better: During independent seatwork , the student is out of her seat frequently and talking with other students. • Needs Work:The student doesn’t do his math. • Better: When math homework is assigned, the student turns in math homework only about 20 percent of the time. Assignments turned in are often not fully completed.

34. Key Points about Behavioral Interventions

35. Academic or Behavioral Targets Are Stated as ‘Replacement Behaviors’ “The implementation of successful interventions begins with accurate problem identification. Traditionally, the student problem was stated as a broad, general concern (e.g., impulsive, aggressive, reading below grade level) that a teacher identified. In a competency-based approach, however, the problem identification is stated in terms of the desired replacement behaviors that will increase the student’s probability of successful adaptation to the task demands of the academic setting.” p. 178 Source: Batsche, G. M., Castillo, J. M., Dixon, D. N., & Forde, S. (2008). Best practices in problem analysis. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 177-193).

36. Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out • Interventions. An academic intervention is a strategy used to teach a new skill, build fluency in a skill, or encourage a child to apply an existing skill to new situations or settings. An intervention is said to be research-based when it has been demonstrated to be effective in one or more articles published in peer–reviewed scientific journals. Interventions might be based on commercial programs such as Read Naturally. The school may also develop and implement an intervention that is based on guidelines provided in research articles—such as Paired Reading (Topping, 1987).

37. Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out • Accommodations. An accommodation is intended to help the student to fully access the general-education curriculum without changing the instructional content. An accommodation for students who are slow readers, for example, may include having them supplement their silent reading of a novel by listening to the book on tape. An accommodation is intended to remove barriers to learning while still expecting that students will master the same instructional content as their typical peers. Informal accommodations may be used at the classroom level or be incorporated into a more intensive, individualized intervention plan.

38. Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out • Modifications. A modification changes the expectations of what a student is expected to know or do—typically by lowering the academic expectations against which the student is to be evaluated. Examples of modifications are reducing the number of multiple-choice items in a test from five to four or shortening a spelling list. Under RTI, modifications are generally not included in a student’s intervention plan, because the working assumption is that the student can be successful in the curriculum with appropriate interventions and accommodations alone.

39. Connection Between RTI & the Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

40. Essential Elements of RTI (Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino, & Lathrop, 2007) • A “continuum of evidence-based services available to all students" that range from universal to highly individualized & intensive • “Decision points to determine if students are performing significantly below the level of their peers in academic and social behavior domains" • “Ongoing monitoring of student progress" • “Employment of more intensive or different interventions when students do not improve in response" to lesser interventions • “Evaluation for special education services if students do not respond to intervention instruction" Source: Fairbanks, S., Sugai, G., Guardino, S., & Lathrop, M. (2007). Response to intervention: Examining classroom behavior support in second grade. Exceptional Children, 73, p. 289.

41. Essential Elements of the Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) “Functional assessment is a collection of methods for obtaining information about antecedents…, behaviors…, and consequences… The purpose is to identify the reason for the behavior and to use that information to develop strategies that will support positive student performance while reducing the behaviors that interfere with the child’s successful functioning.” Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Moell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West..pp. 3-4.

42. Essential Elements of the Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)(Cont.) “From this definition, several things are clear. First, functional assessment is not a single test or observation. It is a collection of methods involving a variety of assessment techniques, including observations, interviews, and review of records, that are conducted to acquire an understanding of a child’s behavior. Second, the definition clarifies exactly what is assessed—that is, the child’s behavior as well as what happens just before the behavior occurs and what happens as a result of the behavior. Third, the definition states clearly the goal of functional assessment, which is to identify strategies and interventions to help the child.” Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Noell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West..pp. 3-4.

43. Behavioral Disabilities [BD] and RTI (Gresham, 1992) “Resistance to intervention may be defined as the lack of change in target behaviors as a function of intervention. Given that the goal of all interventions is to produce a discrepancy between baseline and post-intervention levels of performance, the failure to produce such a discrepancy can be taken as partial evidence for a BD classification. ” Source: Gresham, F. M. (1992). Conceptualizing behavior disorders in terms of resistance to intervention. School Psychology Review, 20, p. 25.

44. Team Activity: What Are the Most Significant Behavioral Issues That You Face in Your School? • In your elbow groups: • Discuss the most prevalent behavior or motivation issues that you confront in your school(s). • To what degree do academic concerns overlap with those behavioral concerns?

45. Behavior Intervention Checklist: An IntroductionJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org

46. General Teacher Tips for Working With Behaviorally Challenging Students • While you can never predict what behaviors your students might bring into your classroom, you will usually achieve the best outcomes by: • remaining calm • following pre-planned intervention strategies for misbehavior, and • acting with consistency and fairness when intervening with or disciplining students.

48. Behavior Intervention Checklist: Whole-Group Strategies Post Positive Class Rules. The classroom has a set of 3-8 rules or behavioral expectations posted. When possible, those rules are stated in positive terms as ‘goal’ behaviors (e.g. ‘Students participate in learning activities without distracting others from learning’) (Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002).

49. Behavior Intervention Checklist: Whole-Group Strategies • Train Students in Basic Class Routines. The teacher has clearly established routines to deal with common classroom activities (Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino, & Lathrop, 2007; Marzano, Marzano, & Pickering, 2003; Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002). These routines include but are not limited to: • Engaging students in meaningful academic activities at the start of class (e.g., using bell-ringer activities) • Assigning and collecting homework and classwork • Transitioning students efficiently between activities • Independent seatwork and cooperative learning groups • Students leaving and reentering the classroom • Dismissing students at the end of the period

50. Behavior Intervention Checklist: Whole-Group Strategies Scan the Class Frequently and Proactively Intervene When Needed. The teacher ‘scans’ the classroom frequently—during whole-group instruction, cooperative learning activities, and independent seatwork. The teacher strategically and proactively recognizes positive behaviors while redirecting students who are off-task (Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002).