An Ecological Model

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• An Ecological Model
• for Discriminating
• Emotional Behavior Disorder
• from Cultural Difference
• Lisa Bardon, Ph.D. Daria Paul Dona, Ph.D.
• University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Minnesota
  State University-Mankato
• lbardon_at_uwsp.edu daria.dona_at_mnsu.edu

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U of M/ MDE Project

• 1999-2004
• Four suburban and urban pilot school sites
• Funded by Federal Flow-through dollars to the
  state
• Oversight Special Education Policy Section
• Charge Address the overrepresentation of
  African-American students in Minnesotas special
  education classrooms

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Our Goal

• 1) To design an effective model for training
  regular education teachers to use strategies and
  tools that would reduce referral and placement of
  African-American students in special education.
• 2) To examine the feasibility of implementing
  our model and evaluate the outcomes for both
  students and teachers

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2004-05 Project

• To translate findings from the previous study
  into professional development modules for
  in-service teachers

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2005-06 Project

• Currently conducting facilitator workshops for
  selected suburban/urban school teams based on
  overrepresentation data and AYP status
• Facilitator teams will use modules to train staff
  in their schools and districts.

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Where We Started
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• Review of research on variables associated with
  African-American student learning
• Immersion (participant-observers) in school
  prereferral procedures and activities
• Gathering of prereferral, referral and placement
  data schoolwide
• School staff surveys
• Synthesis of relevant theory and research for
  development of our model

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Changing Prereferral Practice
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AREAS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
1. Cultural self-awareness 2. Cross-Cultural
Competency 3. Use of Continuous
Progress-Monitoring methods for instructional
planning 4. Identification and use of culturally
relevant curriculum and curriculum materials
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The Professional Development Model Underlying
Assumptions

• Systems Variables
• The Ecological model of human development
  emphasizes the role of context and is
  culturally-sensitive

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ECOLOGICAL THEORY

• Each child is an inseparable part of a small
  social system
• Disturbance viewed as a lack of balance in the
  system
• Requires evaluation of environmental factors and
  the degree of match between child and
  environment
• Goal of intervention Make the system work

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Building Level Considerations

• Openness and Trust factors at the
  building-level are critical facilitators or
  impediments to learning and adopting new skills
• Prereferral policies and practices at the
  building-level are critical facilitators or
  impediments to learning and adopting new skills

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TRAINING CONSIDERATIONS

• Personal general self-efficacy are important
  variables
• Cultural self-awareness must be addressed
• Teachers need collegial partners for support and
  logistics

• Methods should promote distributed and situated
  learning
• Scaffolding promotes culturally-sensitive
  hypothesis formation

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ASSESSMENT CONSIDERATIONS

• Functional Behavioral Assessment is an
  ecological, data-driven approach
• Current FBA methods lack culturally-sensitive
  prompts tools

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INTERVENTION CONSIDERATIONS

• Interventions should be evidence-based at
  national and school-based level
• Interventions should be tiered
• Universal
• Primary
• Secondary
• Tertiary

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PHASE 1 Procedures and Outcomes
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Demographics

• Urban Pilot
• Urban
• 450 Students
• K-6
• 24 African American
• 42 Caucasion

• Suburban Pilot (typical)
• First Ring suburb
• 620 Students
• K-5
• 40 African American
• 52 Caucasion

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Assessment of Climate and Attitude Factors
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Students of different backgrounds are
proportionately represented in special education,
gifted education, and other school
programs.--School Environment Survey, 12
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Class size is such that teachers can
individualize instruction or try alternative
methods of instruction for students experiencing
problems.--School Environment Survey, 10
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Teachers in this school are experienced and
equitable in working with students of diverse
cultural backgrounds.School Environment Survey,
Question 7
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Ethnicity of the Students Referred to the
Prereferral Team
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Gender of African American Students Referred to
the Prereferral Team
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Percentage of African American Students Assessed
for Special Education Eligibility
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Conclusions Based on Qualitative and
Quantitative Data Sources

• African-American students referred significantly
  more often than other groups (most often for
  academic (reading) and/or behavioral problems

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Factors Influencing Referral

• Teacher Variables
• Attitudes and Beliefs
• Lack of communication with parents
• Sense of efficacy for teaching culturally
  different students
• Lack of cultural self-awareness and knowledge of
  other cultures
• Perceived lack of sufficient training in teaching
  strategies for diverse students

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Training Steps

• Through the use of a collegial partnering model
• Evaluation of general and personal self-efficacy
• Self-analysis of personal cultural background,
  values, attitudes, beliefs and related behaviors
• Learning about African-American culture as it
  relates to learning and behavior

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Steps (cont.)

• FBA training (Observation, ABC, ABA, etc)
• Conducting FBAs with technical and/or collegial
  support
• Scaffolding and modeling of culturally-sensitive
  data analysis and hypothesis formation using case
  studies
• Scaffolding and modeling of culturally-responsive
  intervention design and implementation

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REFLECTION TOOLS

• Teacher Efficacy Scale (Gibson Dembo, 1984)
• Diversity Awareness Reflection Questions (adapted
  from Nelson, 1998)
• Diversity Self-Assessment (Montgomery, 2001)
• Practitioner Diversity Awareness Scale (MNCFL,
  1999)
• School Environment Survey (MNCFL, 1999)

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ASSESSMENT TRAINING TOOLS

• Ecological Assessment Model (Ysseldyke
  Christenson (1993) FAAB (2002)
• Functional Behavioral Assessment (multiple
  sources)
• Culturally Responsive Interpretation of
  Behavioral Data Guiding Questions (Dona
  Bardon)

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ASSESSMENT TRAINING TOOLS (cont.)

• Sociocultural Checklist (adapted from MNCFL,
  1999)
• Case Studies of African-American students

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INTERVENTION DESIGN AND EVALUATION TOOLS

• Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive
  Teaching (Ginsberg Wlodkowski, 2000)
• Guiding Questions for Increasing
  Instructional-Cultural Match (Dona Bardon)
• Dimensions of African-American Culture (Boykin,
  1983)

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INTERVENTION DESIGN AND EVALUATION TOOLS (cont.)

• Key Elements of Success for Teaching
  African-American Urban Students (Foster, 1997
  Ladson-Billings, 2001)
• Culturally-Sensitive Instructional Material
  Methods (Montgomery, 2001 Gay, 2000 Diamond
  Moore, 1995 Krater, Zeni Cason, 1994)

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INTERVENTION DESIGN AND EVALUATION TOOLS (cont.)

• Developing Classroom Themes (adapted from Gay,
  1988)
• Assessment Benchmarks for Culturally Responsive
  Pedagogy (Gay, 2000)

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DESIRED OUTCOMES

• Increases (or stability) in referrals of
  African-American students to the prereferral team
  with expectation of obtaining assistance with
  culturally-sensitive, data-based intervention
  design, implementation and evaluation

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DESIRED OUTCOMES

• Inappropriate referrals of African-American
  students for special education evaluation would
  diminish
• Inappropriate placement of African-American
  students would be reduced

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DESIRED OUTCOMES (cont.)

• General education teachers view
  culturally-sensitive FBA model within the domain
  of regular education
• Participating teachers commit to using the tools
  and processes

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DESIRED OUTCOMES (cont.)

• Participating teachers would value the collegial
  process and plan future work with partners
• Participating teachers would plan to use
  culturally-responsive instructional methods and
  curricula in the future

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PREREFERRAL RESULTS

• Suburban Pilot
• The number of students referred to prereferral
  team increased from year 1 to year 2
• The number of African-American students referred
  (prereferral) remained high (68)
• The number of behavioral prereferrals increased

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ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• Suburban Pilot
• Year 1
• Of all students referred to prereferral team, 32
  were evaluated for special education. 23 were
  African-American, 9 were Biracial
• Year 2
• Out of all prereferrals, 31 were evaluated. 16
  were African-American, 13 were Caucasian, 2
  were American Indian

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PLACEMENT RESULTS

• Suburban Pilot
• Year 1
• 34 of prereferrals were placed in special
  education. 19 were African-American, 10
  biracial, 5 Hispanic
• Year 2
• 21 of prereferrals were placed in special
  education. 12 were African-American, 8
  Caucasian, 1 American Indian

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PREREFERRAL RESULTS

• Urban Pilot
• Slight decline in the number of referrals to
  prereferral team
• The number of African-American referrals rose
  from 60 of total prereferrals to 87 in year 2
• The number of behavioral referrals rose from 11
  to 27 in year 2 (100 of these were
  African-American

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ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• Urban Pilot
• Year 1
• Out of 16 prereferrals, 6 were evaluated. 1
  African-American, 2 Caucasian, 2 Asian, 1
  Hispanic
• Year 2
• Out of 11 prereferrals, no African-American
  students were considered appropriate candidates
  for assessment (2 moved)

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PLACEMENT RESULTS

• Urban Pilot
• Year 1
• Out of 11 prereferrals, 1 African-American, 1
  Caucasian and 1 Hispanic student were placed in
  special education
• Year 2
• No special education placements occurred during
  year 2

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Teacher-Related Outcomes

• General Self-Efficacy
• Pre-training Post-training
• Suburban Pilot X15.33 X16.3
• Urban Pilot X18 X17.6
• N8

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Teacher-Related Outcomes

• Personal Self-Efficacy
• Pre-training Post-training
• Suburban Pilot X42 X42
• Urban Pilot X42 X44
• N8

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Results of the Referral by Ethnicity Urban Pilot
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Results of the Referral by EthnicitySuburban
Pilot
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Students Placed in Special Education by
Ethnicity Urban Pilot
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Students Placed in Special Education by
EthnicitySuburban Pilot
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Students Placed in Special Education by
EthnicitySuburban Pilot 2
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Teacher-Related Outcomes

• 99 of teachers indicated that the model was
  feasible for use by general educators
• Majority of teachers indicated that they would
  use the culturally-sensitive CBM tools and
  processes during the 2001-02 school year

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Teacher-Related Outcomes

• 100 of participating teachers valued the
  collegial partner experience and considered it an
  essential component of the model
• All teachers valued the information provided on
  culturally-responsive curricula and instructional
  methods

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Teacher-Related Outcomes

• 99 of teachers indicated that the model was
  feasible for use by general educators
• Majority of teachers indicated that they would
  use the culturally-sensitive FBA tools and
  processes during the 2001-02 school year

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Teacher-Related Outcomes

• 100 of participating teachers valued the
  collegial partner experience and considered it an
  essential component of the model
• All teachers valued the information provided on
  culturally-responsive curricula and instructional
  methods

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Teacher-Related Outcomes

• Based on Trainer evaluations
• Scaffolding and modeling of culturally-sensitive
  problem analysis and hypothesis development were
  essential elements of case-based training

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Implications for Model Implementation

• Building-level self-evaluation
• Prereferral team training followed by
  building-level training in CBM and
  culturally-responsive intervention design
• Internal and external sources of support for
  teachers to develop culturally-sensitive modes of
  problem analysis and culturally-responsive
  instruction
• Time to collaborate with other teachers
• Has to be addressed at school and district
  levels.
• General education teacher ownership
• School-wide Progress Monitoring Model