D1: Domain-Based Decision Making Flashcards
What is data-based decision making?
The collection of formal and informal information to help a student.
4 Components of formal/informal data?
- Background data collection, techniques, and problem identification level
- Screening level
- Progress monitoring & RTI level
- Formal assessment level (special ed evaluation)
5 needs that data are used for?
- Identify the problem and plan interventions
- Increase or decrease levels of intervention
- Help determine whether interventions are related to positive student outcomes (effectiveness)
- Plan individualized instruction and strategic long-term educational planning
Background data collection, techniques, and problem identification
- Helps define the problem
- Broken down into 3 parts:
1. Collection & analysis of vital background information (informal data)
2. Interview and interview techniques
3. Observational techniques
Collection and analysis of informal data include:
- Student files and records
- Staff interviews/comments about the student
- Medical records/reports
- Review of previous interventions
- Developmental history
3 types of student interviewing
- Structured interviews
- Unstructures interviews
- Semi-structured interviews
Structured interviews
- Standardized/formal
- Same questions are given to each child
- Pros: high validity/reliability, responses can be directly compared with other kid’s responses, indicated the presence or absence of a problem not level of functioning
- Cons: interviewer is unable to modify questions to the student’s needs, must follow strict format and administration
Unstructured interviews
- Conversational style can help put the student at ease
- Less structure you put on the child, the more they share
- Pros: can be adapted to the needs of the student
- Cons: kid’s response can be difficult to interpret bc they can’t be compared with norms as seen in structured interviews
Semi-structured interviews
- Combine the best features of both structured and unstructured interviews
- They allow for flexibility and follow-up questions
7 Observational Techniques
- Whole-interval recording: behavior is only recorded when it occurs the entire time interval. (Good for continuous behaviors/behaviors occurring in short duration)
- Frequency or event recording: record the number of behaviors that occurred during a specific period
- Duraction recording: the lenght of time the specific behavior lasts
- Latency recording: time between onset of stimulus or signal that initiates a specific behavior
- Time-sampling interval recording: select a time period for observation, divide the period into a number of equal intervals, and record whether or not behavior occurs. Effective when beginning/end of behaviors are difficult to determine or when only a brief period is available for observation.
- Partial-interval recording: behavior is scored if it occurs during any part of the time interval. Multiple episodes of behavior in a single item interval are counted as one score or mark. Effective when behaviors occur at a low rate or inconsistent durations.
- Momentary time sampling: behavior is scored as present or absent only during the moment that a timed interval begins. This is the least biased estimate of behavior as it actually occurs.
6 componants of assessment and problem analysis
- Universal screening
- Universal Screening Measures
- Progress monitoring & RTI level
- Best practices in deciding what to assess
- Best practices in analyzing variability of progress-monitoring data
- Best practices for making decisions based on RTI data
Universal Screening
- Broadly implemented
- Assesses all children within a class, grade, school, etc. on academic, behavioral, social or emotional indicators of success
Purpose of universal screening
Broad: helps determine whether modifications are needed in core curriculum, instruction, or general education environment
Narrow: to guide decisions about additional or intensive instruction for those specific students who may require instructional support beyond what’s already provided at a broad level.
Universal screening measures
- Curriculum-based measures (CBM): typically reliable but must be used only if they align with local norms, benchmarks, and standards. EX: reading fluency measures
- Fluency-based indicators of skills are common universal screeners. Such screeners include initial-sound fluency, letter-naming fluency, phoneme segmentation, nonsense-word fluency, and oral-reading fluency
- Cognitive Assessment Test (CogAT): cognitive measure, but it’s group administered and can be employed as a screener.
- State educational agencies employ formal group-administered tests that are given to students every year to monitor student growth in reading, writing, and math.
- System to Enhance Educational Performance (STEEP): when used, CBMs must be conducted several times a year in reading, math and writing to identify students in need of additional support
Benefits/liabilites of universal screeners
Benefits: cost-effective, time efficient, & easy to administer
Liabilities: chance of misclassifying students when using screening tools. Least dangerous assumption: err on the side of caution and classify a kid even if they end up not needing services as opposed to missing a kid who needed help.
RTI Process:
- Student is identified with an academic or behavioral concern by teacher/parent
- After student is identified, school psych uses the 1st two steps of info-gathering process (data collection/screening info).
- When kid’s problem is known, baseline performance data are collected on the student’s specific area of concern.
- Research-based interventions are emploed and systematic tests are provided to measure student’s progress.
- Student’s test data are formally documented, tracked and analyzed. Several points of intervention, data are collected and analyzed to compare student’s baseline data to current post-intervention data.
- It’s expected that the student will have improved over the course of 30-60 days, but if not then special edu. evaluation is considered.
Best practices in deciding what to assess
Name 2 levels of collecting progress-monitoring data
- Subskill mastery measurement (SMM): Information on student progress is collected to determine whether the specific intervention for the target behavior is effective. SMM data should be collected frequently, even daily.
- General outcome measurement (GOM): Data are collected to determine whether the student is making progress toward long-range goals. GOMs are used less frequently than SMMs, such as once a week.
4 points of best practices in deciding how to assess and present data
- Progress-monitoring data should be based on the systematic and repeated measurement of behavior over a specified time.
- Frequency data, % correct, or number of opportunities to respond are the results that are typically recorded and displayed.
- The horizontal axis on a graph typically represents real and appropriate intervals of time (days or weeks)
- Three levels of analysis:
- Variability
- Level
- Trend
Variability and sources of error
Each progress-monitoring data point has important considerations and sources of variability:
1. First cause of data variability centers on the effectiveness of the intervention. Whether an intervention is effective or not is defined by its ability to change behavior. A change in behavior should be observed and measured in the progress-monitoring data.
- 2nd source of variability is called a confounding variable which includes uncontrolled subject and environmental variables. Controlling these variables is necessary.
- 3rd source is measurement error. It can occur if an observer wasn’t looking when the target behavior occurred or if something wasn’t administered properly
Consideration of mitigating factors
If extraneous variables are not considered, then student performance may be attributed to the intervention when the changes might be because of the effects of uncontrolled personal or environmental variables
RTI analyis of level
Level refers to the average performance within a condition. A student’s level of performance is often compared with the average level of performance of peers or to a benchmark level
RTI analysis of trend
- When a student’s performance systematically increases or decreases across time, then analyzing the trend in the data is important. The pattern of change in a student’s behavior across time can be described as a trend.
- Multiple measurements are required to estimate a trend. Statistical methods can be used to calculate the slope or trend line. Slope is easily calculated with software like SPSS and the resulting trend line can be plotted on a graph.
- Visual analysis can also be used to estimate the general pattern of change across time. Caution: it is important to determine whether the overall pattern in the data is consistent and linear across time or whether another pattern better explains the data.
Describing and analyzing baseline RTI data
Progress-monitoring data are first collected during baseline to determine the current level, trend and variability of behavior. Baseline is the condition before intervention
General RTI evaluation points
- One rule for baseline data is that there should be no new highs or lows for 3 consecutive data points.
- 80% of the data points should fall within 15% of the mean line or within 15% of the trend line
- Collect a minimum number of baseline data points, approx 3 to 5 points
- In schools, practical considerations often afftect the amount of data that can be collected
5 Reasons to use RTI data
- Should the intervention be changed?
- Are there no correct responses for 3 or more days (or sessions) in a row? If so, change the intervention
- Are the data highly variable?
- Is the % correct responding below 85%?
- Is the student’s performance accurate but slow?
A comprehensive special ed eval will include (in)formal data in the following 7 domains:
- Cognitive
- Achievement
- Communication (speech-language)
- Motor skills
- Adaptive skills
- Social, emotional, and behavioral functioning
- Sensory processing
5 most popular measures of cognitive function
- WISC-V
- DAS-II
- Stanford-Binet
- WPPSI-IV
- WAIS-V
4 most popular educational achievement measures
- Woodcock-Johnson
- WRAT-4
- K-TEA
- WIAT
Informal measures for social and emotional problems
Multiple data sources should be used, such as the number of office referrals, suspensions, and classroom-based disciplinary procedures. These can be used to detect preexisting levels of problem behaviors. These outcomes represent indirect measures of social skills as these outcomes are presumed to reflect corresponding levels of prosocial behavior
Functional behavioral assessment (FBA)
A comprehensive and individualized method to identify the purpose or function of a student’s problem behavior(s), and to develop a plan to modify factors that maintain the problem behavior and to teach appropriate replacement behaviors using positive interventions
7 Steps to complete an FBA
- Describe problem behavior operationally
- Perform the assessment
- Evaluate assessment results
- Develop a hypothesis
- Formulate an intervention plan
- Start or implement the intervention
- Evaluate effectiveness of intervention plan
