Title: A Recipe for Success:
1- A Recipe for Success
- Data, Behavior, and Relationships
- May 29, 2008
- JoAnne M. Malloy, Project Director
- Institute on Disability
- University of New Hampshire
2Dropouts, Data, Behavior and Relationships
- Why should we care?
- Background How PBIS (Positive Behavioral
Interventions and Supports) is changing schools
in New Hampshire - Data-based decision-making
- Behavior- why we need to understand human
behavior - Relationships- The importance of the teacher
3Thanks to My Colleagues!
- Hank Bohanon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of
Special Education, Loyola University of Chicago - Lucille Eber, Ed.D., Director, Illinois EBD/PBIS
Network - Camilla Lehr, Ph.D., Minnesota Department of
Education - Robert Wells, Ph.D., Educational Consultant, New
Hampshire Department of Education - Howard S. Muscott, Ed.D., Director, NH New
Hampshire Center for Effective Behavior
Interventions and Supports
4High school dropouts Why should we care?
- Is there an American Dream?
- There are two worlds in education
- Nearly 50 of all African-American and Hispanic
students do not graduate in 4 years - Children in low-SES households are 3 times more
likely to dropout - Children/youth with emotional handicaps dropout
at rates of 50-60
5Dropout and SES(US Census 2000)
6Dropout and Race/Ethnicity(US Census 2000)
7Dropouts in Delaware
8Why should we care?
- Dropouts earn 9,200 less per year than high
school graduates and about 1 million less over a
lifetime than college graduates - Dropouts were more than three times more likely
than college graduates to be unemployed in 2004
and twice as likely as high school graduates to
slip into poverty - Dropouts are more than eight times as likely to
be in jail or prison as a high school graduate - (Bridgeland and Scheppach, www.silentepidemic.org,
2008)
9NHs Dropout Prevention Initiative APEX
- Summer 2002
- New Hampshire Department of Education awards
contract to create the New Hampshire Center for
Effective Behavioral Interventions and Supports
(NH CEBIS) - NH is awarded APEX dropout prevention grant
(funded by the US Department of Education, Office
of Elementary and Secondary Education) to address
dropout prevention in 2 NH High Schools
10APEX- Model Assumptions
- The quality of a schools organizational and
systems features are related to dropout rates
(school-wide issues) (Gottfredson, Gottfredson
Hybl, 1993 Bryk Thum, 1989 Lee Burkham,
2001 Nelson, 1996 Rumberger, 2001 Rutter,
1979) - Behavioral problems in school are associated with
a likelihood of dropping out indicator of risk - Students with significant emotional or behavioral
challenges require individualized,
community-based transition services in order to
successfully complete high school (Wagner
Davis, 2006)
11APEX 1
12HS 1 Benefits of APEX
and PBIS
56 Reduction in ODRS
13APEX II
- Summer 2005- New Hampshire APEX II partners
submit a second grant to OESE at the US
Department of Education- awarded October 2005 - APEX II works with 10 of NHs lowest performing
high schools to adopt the 3-tiered Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
system
14APEX II Model
- To address school-based systems/climate issues
- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
(PBIS) (Bohanon, et. al., 2004 Sugai Horner,
1999) - Student Leadership Development
- To address issues for students most at-risk
- Rehabilitation for Empowerment, Natural supports,
Education and Work (RENEW) (Eber, Nelson Miles,
1997 Cheney, Malloy Hagner, 1998 Bullis
Cheney, 1999) - 8th to 9th grade transition system and practices
15Student engagement has emerged as the bottom line
in preventing dropout
- Dropping out is a process of disengagement
- Keys to engaging students early on
- Enter school ready to learn/early intervention
- Contextual keys to engaging students
- Providing effective instruction evidence based,
best practice - Creating cultural match/relevance extend to
include strategies that are appropriate to
student background and culture - (Alexander, Entwisle Kabbani, 2001
Christenson, Sinclair, Lehr Hurley, 2000
Cotton Conklin, 2001 Cleary Peacock, 1998
Finn, 1993 Payne, 2005)
16The 1st Ingredient DATA
- Teachers use data every day
- OUTCOME DATA- How did we/you do?
- Quantitative data to benchmark progress- How are
we/you doing? - Qualitative Data to understand- Why are we/you
doing this?
17The 1st Ingredient DATA
- The function of data
- OUTCOME DATA
- THE NEWS JOURNAL 10/31/2006
- Of every 10 freshmen entering Delaware high
schools this fall, six likely will earn their
diplomas in 2010.The rest will leave school
quietly, some with less than two years left. They
will quit because school is too boring or too
hard or because they already missed so many days
they couldn't pass if they tried.Others will
leave to get a job, take care of a relative or
become a parent. Some will give up because, in
their teenage minds, two years is a long time,
and they can't see the end in sight
18Outcome Data
- We use outcome data to measure our progress
toward the goal. - DROPOUT RATES- Graduation Rates
- COLLEGE ENTRANCE RATES
- GRADES- REPORT CARDS
- CREDITS EARNED
- TEST SCORES
- What do Delawares dropout data tell us?
19Data-based Decision Making
- Set Goals If you dont know where youre
going, youll end up somewhere else - I D the Problem (scope and context) through the
use of Data (Where we are now?) - Set objectives that you can measure
- Develop a plan to get the work done (who, what,
when where, how) - Monitor and Evaluate progress Use Data to
assess your progress (Did it work?) - (Adapted from Horner, 2002)
20Data-based Decision-making
- Need real time data to improve our practice
- Choose the benchmarks based upon a string of
logic - Who are likely to be our dropouts?
- African American, Hispanic, and poor students
- Skip too many classes, are truant
- Have a high number of behavior problems
- Have stressors outside of school
- Have learning challenges
21If..then Logic
- If a freshman is skipping too many classes.then
he/she will fail. If she fails then she will
fall behind in credits.if she falls behind in
credits then she will likely fall behind
grade-level not be promoted.if she fall
behind.then she will be far more likely to
dropout - Therefore, we need to intervene when she is
skipping classes as a freshman
22Qualitative Data
- Ask/know Why
- Why do our students dropout?
- Individual students
- Why is she skipping classes?
- Which classes does she skip?
- Is she doing drugs?
- Does she understand the work?
- Does she want to avoid peers or the teacher?
- Is there something else more attractive is going
on? - Other theories?
23Ingredient 2 Understand Behavior
- We are always assessing the behavior of others
and taking action based upon what we believe is
going on - Behavior has a purpose
- may be functional
- may be communicative
24Why You Need to Know Why
- So you can prevent the undesired behavior
- So you can teach the desired behavior (reinforce
and support) - Unhelpful
- He skips my English class because.
- He doesnt like to do the work
- Hes lazy, unmotivated
- He likes to socialize
- He doesnt come to school because.
- Hes from a bad family, none of them value school
25Why You Need to Know Why
- Helpful
- He skips my English class because.
- He doesnt have his homework done and he doesnt
want to be embarrassed - He cant read that well and doesnt want be seem
dumb - He is distracted and likes to meet up with his
friends during that block - He doesnt come to school because.
- Hes living in a car and has no way to shower or
clean up - Hes hanging out with his friends who dont come
to school - Hes taking care of his dad who is sick
- Hes so far behind and has no support to do his
homework
26 Understand Behavior
- Have you ever had a bad day at work, and then
yelled at your kids, your spouse, or the dog when
you got home? - Behavior can communicate. Anger, fear,
happiness..
27We can prevent bad and teach desired behavior
- Teach, Re-teach and Pre-teach
- Example If the student cant read out-loud,
dont ask him to read out loud or, tell him
ahead of time so he can practice - Support- offer reinforcement for the desired
behavior
28Ingredient 3 Relationships
- Why young people leave school
- Irrelevance of school to their perceived futures
- No follow along- students easily get lost
- No personal connection to school disengagement
- Lack of challenge
29The Silent Epidemic(Bridgeland, DiIulio,
Morison, 2006)
- Ensure Strong Adult-Student Relationships within
the School - While two-thirds (65 percent) said there was a
staff member or teacher who cared about their
success, only 56 percent said they could go to a
staff person for school problems and just two
fifths (41 percent) had someone in school with
whom to talk about personal problems. More than
three out of five (62 percent) said their school
needed to do more to help students with problems
outside of class. Seven out of ten favored more
parental involvement (p. 13)
30Do We Need Zero Tolerance?
- Students are suspended for disrespect and
disruption far more than for serious behaviors - Pre-school children are being expelled for
behavior problems - Disproportionate rates of African-American and
disabled students are suspended and expelled - (Skiba Petersen, 1999)
- Does it work? Does it change behavior?
31Is Relationship-building Part of the Teachers
Job?
- Today many young people not only fail to develop
the capacity to care, but also seem not to know
what it means to be cared for.Kids seem to be
able to survive material poverty, and many can
ignore much of the violence in the mediaif they
have continuing relationships with adults who
obviously care for them s - (Noddings, 2002, p. 25 26)
32Discipline
- What comes to mind when I say this word -
discipline? - From Disciplina - to teach
33Teaching or Coercion?
- Am I
- .exerting my will over the child or teaching
and caring for that child? - enforcing the rules because I have to or
because it will help the child learn? - providing and example or exerting my power over
the child to ensure she does what I think is
right?
34Punishment
- Punishment stops a behavior
- But punishment by itself has some major side
effects - Increases escape/avoidance
- Encourages sneaky behaviors
- Generates desire for revenge
- Makes behavior harder to change
- Does not teach
- You cant find a big enough hammer
- It works both ways
- It makes us filter (e.g., Hes always mean to
me!)
35The Teachers Role
- Knower-teacher
- Disciplinarian
- Mentor
- Role-model
- Care-taker
36The Power of Relationships
- It is becoming increasingly apparent that
socially supportive relationships can have
powerful and lasting effects on the lives of
children and youth (Cassidy Shaver, 1999
Richman, Rosenfeld, Bowen, 1998). - (Murray, 2002)
37Everyone is Different
- To build relationships with your students, you
dont have to - Try to be nice to someone you really dislike
- Give out tokens or rewards when you really dont
believe in it - Share personal information or try to be friends
with students
38Everyone is Different
- To build relationships with your students, you
should - Try to behave in a respectful way, even when
students arent displaying respect for you or
others - Share personal stories when you want to and when
it will help youth to learn about themselves and
about life - Know a little bit something about all of your
students - Show that you care when you really DO care
39Creating Opportunities to Cultivate A Caring
EnvironmentCheck Connect(Sinclair,
Christensen, Lehr, 2004)
- Role of the Mentor
- Teach the behavior that is expected
- Demystify education
- Set clear goals and identify ways to succeed
- Use of role playing, tutoring, model positive
skills - Identify ways to connect student to the life of
the school academic, behavior, cognitive
40Role of the Mentor
- Neutral person responsible for helping students
stay connected to school - Cross between a mentor, advocate and case manager
- Primary goal is to keep education a salient issue
for the students, family members, and their
teachers - (Check and Connect, 2006)
41Additional Interventions for Relationship-Building
- Advisories- Not for counseling, but to orient
students to school expectations and norms,
provide support for students, allow for
individual connections between students and
adults - Academic and vocational support programs- allow
for students to receive extra help
42Example of Implementation of an Advisory A 56
Reduction in ODRs
43- Resiliency does not come from some rare or
special qualities, but from everyday magic of
ordinary human resources in children, in
their families and relationships, and in their
communities. (Masten, 2001, p. 235)
44Self-determination
- Theory, research, and practice have suggested
that to keep youth in school, educators must
encourage students perceived competence and
self-determination (Eisenman, 2007, p. 3). - Self-determination skills include goal-setting,
problem solving, help-seeking.
45Data, Behavior Relationships
- Work together
- Make caring a priority
- Understand the reasons why students and parents
behave the way they do - Look at and use the data unique to your school
and communityoften - Work smarter!
- Have fun!
46Contact Information
- Dr. Robert Wells,
- Consultant, NH Department of Education and
- Director, APEX II
- rwells_at_ed.state.nh.us
-
- Kathleen Abate, Program Director
- Alliance for Community Supports
- gsffcmh_at_aol.com
- JoAnne M. Malloy, MSW
- Project Director
- Institute on Disability, UCED
- University of New Hampshire
- jmmalloy_at_aol.com
- UNH Institute on Disability
- http//iod.unh.edu