Justin T. Cooper

Tertiary-Tier PBIS in Alternative, Residential and Correctional School Settings: Considering Intensity in the Delivery of Evidence-Based Practice.

Students in alternative, residential, and correctional settings present challenges in the classroom and facility due to the complexity and intensity of their behaviors. In addition, the factors typically associated with these settings including crowding, inconsistency, and conflicting staff perspectives on education and discipline present challenges for the delivery of effective function-based intervention plans. Multi-tiered frameworks such as positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) provide mechanisms for organizing systems to be both proactive and responsive to students with the most challenging behaviors. However, the complexities of alternative, residential, and correctional settings require that PBIS be implemented with heightened intensity across tiers. This paper presents considerations for the effective implementation of Tier III systems and supports including function-based support planning (FBP).

The Keys to Managing Instruction and Behavior: Considering High Probability Practices:

Academics and behavior are inextricably linked, and as such, management of behavior should be considered not as an addition to the teacher’s repertoire of skills but as an integral foundational component of effective instruction. Paradoxically, teachers report that students with challenging behavior are both their greatest challenge and that behavior management is the skill with which they are least prepared in their teacher preparation programs. In this article, the authors first review a rationale for considering high probability practices as those that provide the best probability for student success. Next, they present a set of key teacher-implemented management strategies as an essential part of the curriculum for any prospective teacher.

Using Immediate Feedback to Increase Opportunities to Respond in a General Education Classroom

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of immediately prompting a general education teacher to increase her rate of Opportunities to Respond (OTR) through bug-in-ear technology on the academic engagement of a first-grade student with emotional and behavior disorders (EBD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In addition, the study investigated if raising the rate of OTR would increase the teacher’s positive feedback while decreasing negative feedback. Using an ABA single-subject design, results indicated that student academic engagement increased as the intervention was introduced and continued to stay at elevated levels during a maintenance phase. Results on teacher feedback were mixed, with both positive and negative feedback increasing when OTR was increased. Implications for using immediate feedback to increase OTR for rural educators are discussed.

Effects of Shared Story Reading in Mathematics for Students with Academic Difficulty and Challenging Behaviors.

The primary focus of this study was to examine the effects of Shared Story Reading (SSR) during mathematics instruction on the behavioral outcomes of four elementary students with academic difficulty and challenging behaviors. In addition, the study examined the effect of implementing SSR during mathematics instruction on the teacher’s use of opportunities to respond (OTR). A multiple baseline design across participants was implemented to examine the effects of this curricular approach on increasing the teacher’s OTR, increasing student engagement, and reducing disruptive behavior. Results indicated there was an increase in OTR during the SSR lessons and suggest implementing SSR during mathematics instruction was effective for increasing engagement for students with academic difficulty and challenging behaviors. Results were not definitive regarding the effects of SSR decreasing disruptive behavior.

Functional Behavior Assessment and Function-Based Intervention Planning: Considering the Simple Logic of the Process:

While functional behavior assessment (FBA) has been a part of special education law and embedded in Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) since 1997, a precise definition of what actions or processes constitute a legal FBA has never been adequately addressed in the law. This article provides an overview of the underlying logic of FBA leading to effective function-based intervention. When focusing on a simplification of the logic behind FBA, there are three big ideas that serve as a foundation for considering the intersection of effectiveness and practicality: function matters, FBA requires repeated observations of behavior, and the only purpose of an FBA is to develop an effective intervention. These big ideas are discussed, leading to a conclusion as to how logic and simplicity must share priority in the process.

Function-Based Intervention Plans: What and How to Teach.

Most function-based intervention plans (FBIP) discuss what to teach, but often fail to address effective methods for teaching the skills addressed in the plan. This article discusses the various parts of the FBIP plan that may require teaching and provides potential instructional approaches for teaching the components of the FBIP to students and others.

Research-Based Practices for Managing Students During Instruction: Considering Probabilities for Student Success

Anybody can tell students what to do. It may even be easier to do nothing and hope that students learn from a rich environment. But teaching is a purposeful endeavor. Effective teachers create environments and plan instructional strategies to maximize the probability of student success. Because student behaviors are unlikely to change in the absence of effective instruction, the teacher must take responsibility for developing instructional environments to maximize the probability of student success. Probability is an efficient consideration of effective instructional practice choices. Among the endless list of potential strategies or interventions available to the teacher, scientific research identifies strategies that provide the greatest probability for student success (e.g., Brophy, 2006; Hattie, 2009). That is, some strategies and procedures are simply more likely than others to produce positive effects. As teachers, we should consider every interaction with students as a wager in which we have bet on the student’s success. As such, we will want to use those practices and procedures that provide the best chance of winning the bet (Scott & Hirn, 2014). Sometimes, we have the luxury of using effective strategies to prevent misbehavior, whereas other times, strategies are used as a reaction to student misbehavior. In either case, we must operate with the thought: When the student is successful, we win. This article summarizes evidence-based practices and procedures that provide high probabilities for student success. First, management will be discussed from a proactive perspective—the things that teachers must consider and develop prior to working with students. Although many of these strategies are implemented during instruction, they are planned well in advance to ensure that each strategy provides the best probability of student success. Second, reactive management is discussed in terms of high-probability responses to typical student misbehaviors.