Classroom Management: Identifying

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Classroom Management Identifying Teaching
Student Replacement Behaviors Jim
Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org
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Workshop Agenda
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Resources from this workshop can be downloaded
from

• http//www.interventioncentral.org/RCSD.php

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This workshop will build on the material
presented this summer, with the focus on positive
behavioral intervention strategies and the
teaching of replacement behaviors.  Your team
will bring a BIP for one student, along with the
assessment data collected for that BIP.
Source Linda Blankenhorn, Executive Director of
Specialized Services, Rochester City School
District. 12 Nov 2009 Principals Letter
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RTI Listening to the Teachers Voice
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What is the Logic of the Functional Behavior
Assessment (FBA) That Can Help to Solve Student
Problem Behaviors?
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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 childs 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.
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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 childs behavior.
• Second, the definition clarifies exactly what is
  assessedthat is, the childs 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., Moell, G.
(2000). Functional assessments A step-by-step
guide to solving academic and behavior problems.
Longmont, CO Sopris West..pp. 3-4.
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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 students problem
  behavior(s) are accepted in that students
  current social setting.

Source Gresham, F. M. (1992). Conceptualizing
behavior disorders in terms of resistance to
intervention. School Psychology Review, 20, 23-37.
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Big Ideas in Student Behavior Management
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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 students
  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. 147169). Silver Spring, MD
National Association of School Psychologists..
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Common Root Causes or Drivers for Behaviors
Include

• Power/Control
• Protection/Escape/Avoidance
• Attention
• Acceptance/Affiliation
• Expression of Self
• Gratification
• Justice/Revenge

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.
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Showed disrespect towards me when she yelled
inappropriately regarding an instruction sheet.
I then asked her to leave the room. She also
showed disrespect when I called her twice earlier
in the class to see her report card grade.
Teacher Referral Example
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I gave out a test. After a few minutes, he
crunched it and threw it on the floor. If he
were not prepared, he could have talked to me and
I would have allowed him to take it on a
different date, as I usually do.
Teacher Referral Example
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Big Ideas Attend to the Triggers and
Consequences of Problem Behaviors (Martens
Meller, 1990)

• Intervening before a student misbehaves or when
  the misbehavior has not yet escalated increases
  the likelihood of keeping the student on task and
  engaged in learning. Consequences of behaviors
  that are reinforcing to the student will increase
  the occurrence of that behavior.

ABC 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.
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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 students 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. 215245). New
York Appleton-Century-Crofts.
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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 students 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., Moell, G.
(2000). Functional assessments A step-by-step
guide to solving academic and behavior problems.
Longmont, CO Sopris West, p. 13
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Direct Instruction Behaviors
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Applying RTI Logic to Social Behavior Support
(Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino, Lathrop, 2007)

• Tier I (Universal System) for behavioral
  support
• Is implemented schoolwide for all students
• Requires that the school "identify and explicitly
  teach schoolwide expectations
• Includes a system to "acknowledge
  expectation-compliant behavior"
• Defines inappropriate behaviors and applies
  consequences for those behaviors with consistency
• Reviews group progress toward schoolwide goals
  (data collection and feedback)

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.
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Using a Direct Instruction Approach to Teaching
Replacement Behaviors

• Describe to the student the expected replacement
  behavior that the student is to engage in.
• Provide a series of examples of the replacement
  behavior.
• Provide immediate positive feedback to the
  student for appropriate demonstration of the
  replacement behavior.
• Ensure that the instructional environment
  supports and rewards expected behaviors.

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Common Reasons Why Behavior Plans Fail

1. Student problems are defined in vague rather than
   specific terms, making it more difficult to
   select the right intervention(s) to support the
   student.
2. The problem behavior is viewed as residing
   primarily within the student, causing schools to
   overlook the important positive impact that they
   can have on students by changing instruction,
   work (curriculum) demands, and the learning
   environment.
3. The school selects an incorrect hypothesis about
   what is supporting the students problem
   behavior, so the strategies to promote the
   positive, replacement behavior dont work.

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Common Reasons Why Behavior Plans Fail

1. The students problem behavior continues, even
   after the replacement behavior has been taught--
   because antecedents (triggers) and / or
   consequences that support the problem behavior
   still remain in place.
2. The students problem behavior continues, even
   after the replacement behavior has been taught--
   because the new, desired behavior is not being
   adequately reinforced.
3. Educators working with the student are
   inconsistent in supporting the new replacement
   behaviors.

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Data Collection Defining Terms
Evaluation. the process of using information
collected through assessment to make decisions or
reach conclusions. (Hosp, 2008 p. 364).
Example A student can be evaluated for ability
to comply with teacher requests by collecting
information using various sources (e.g., direct
observation, teacher and student interview,
teacher behavior log, Daily Behavior Report Card,
etc.), comparing those results to peer norms or
developmental expectations and making a decision
about whether the students current performance
is acceptable.
Assessment. the process of collecting
information about the characteristics of persons
or objects by measuring them. (Hosp, 2008 p.
364). Example The construct complying with
teacher requests can be assessed using various
measurements, including direct observation,
teacher and student interview, teacher behavior
log, Daily Behavior Report Card, etc.
Measurement. the process of applying numbers to
the characteristics of objects or people in a
systematic way (Hosp, 2008 p. 364). Example
Frequency counts can be used to measure the rate
of student behaviors that are brief in duration
and have a clear onset and end point.
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RIOT/ICEL Framework Organizing Information to
Better Identify Student Behavioral Academic
Problems
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RIOT/ICEL Framework

• Sources of Information
• Review (of records)
• Interview
• Observation
• Test
• Focus of Assessment
• Instruction
• Curriculum
• Environment
• Learner

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RIOT/ICEL Definition

• The RIOT/ICEL matrix is an assessment guide to
  help schools efficiently to decide what relevant
  information to collect on student academic
  performance and behaviorand also how to organize
  that information to identify probable reasons why
  the student is not experiencing academic or
  behavioral success.  
• The RIOT/ICEL matrix is not itself a data
  collection instrument. Instead, it is an
  organizing framework, or heuristic, that
  increases schools confidence both in the quality
  of the data that they collect and the findings
  that emerge from the data.

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RIOT Sources of Information

• Select Multiple Sources of Information RIOT
  (Review, Interview, Observation, Test). The top
  horizontal row of the RIOT/ICEL table includes
  four potential sources of student information
  Review, Interview, Observation, and Test (RIOT).
  Schools should attempt to collect information
  from a range of sources to control for potential
  bias from any one source.

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• Select Multiple Sources of Information RIOT
  (Review, Interview, Observation, Test)
• Review. This category consists of past or present
  records collected on the student. Obvious
  examples include report cards, office
  disciplinary referral data, state test results,
  and attendance records. Less obvious examples
  include student work samples, physical products
  of teacher interventions (e.g., a sticker chart
  used to reward positive student behaviors), and
  emails sent by a teacher to a parent detailing
  concerns about a students study and
  organizational skills.

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• Select Multiple Sources of Information RIOT
  (Review, Interview, Observation, Test)
• Interview. Interviews can be conducted
  face-to-face, via telephone, or even through
  email correspondence. Interviews can also be
  structured (that is, using a pre-determined
  series of questions) or follow an open-ended
  format, with questions guided by information
  supplied by the respondent. Interview targets can
  include those teachers, paraprofessionals,
  administrators, and support staff in the school
  setting who have worked with or had interactions
  with the student in the present or past.
  Prospective interview candidates can also consist
  of parents and other relatives of the student as
  well as the student himself or herself.

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• Select Multiple Sources of Information RIOT
  (Review, Interview, Observation, Test)
• Observation. Direct observation of the students
  academic skills, study and organizational
  strategies, degree of attentional focus, and
  general conduct can be a useful channel of
  information. Observations can be more structured
  (e.g., tallying the frequency of call-outs or
  calculating the percentage of on-task intervals
  during a class period) or less structured (e.g.,
  observing a student and writing a running
  narrative of the observed events).

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• Select Multiple Sources of Information RIOT
  (Review, Interview, Observation, Test)
• Test. Testing can be thought of as a structured
  and standardized observation of the student that
  is intended to test certain hypotheses about why
  the student might be struggling and what school
  supports would logically benefit the student
  (Christ, 2008). An example of testing may be a
  student being administered a math computation CBM
  probe or an Early Math Fluency probe.

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Formal Tests Only One Source of Student
Assessment Information

• Tests are often overused and misunderstood in
  and out of the field of school psychology. When
  necessary, analog i.e., test observations can
  be used to test relevant hypotheses within
  controlled conditions. Testing is a highly
  standardized form of observation. .The only
  reason to administer a test is to answer
  well-specified questions and examine
  well-specified hypotheses. It is best practice to
  identify and make explicit the most relevant
  questions before assessment begins. The process
  of assessment should follow these questions. The
  questions should not follow assessment. p.170

Source Christ, T. (2008). Best practices in
problem analysis. In A. Thomas J. Grimes
(Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V
(pp. 159-176). Bethesda, MD National Association
of School Psychologists.
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ICEL Factors Impacting Student Learning

• Investigate Multiple Factors Affecting Student
  Learning ICEL (Instruction, Curriculum,
  Environment, Learner). The leftmost vertical
  column of the RIO/ICEL table includes four key
  domains of learning to be assessed Instruction,
  Curriculum, Environment, and Learner (ICEL). A
  common mistake that schools often make is to
  assume that student learning problems exist
  primarily in the learner and to underestimate the
  degree to which teacher instructional strategies,
  curriculum demands, and environmental influences
  impact the learners academic performance. The
  ICEL elements ensure that a full range of
  relevant explanations for student problems are
  examined.

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• Investigate Multiple Factors Affecting Student
  Learning ICEL (Instruction, Curriculum,
  Environment, Learner)
• Instruction. The purpose of investigating the
  instruction domain is to uncover any
  instructional practices that either help the
  student to learn more effectively or interfere
  with that students learning. More obvious
  instructional questions to investigate would be
  whether specific teaching strategies for
  activating prior knowledge better prepare the
  student to master new information or whether a
  student benefits optimally from the large-group
  lecture format that is often used in a classroom.
  A less obvious example of an instructional
  question would be whether a particular student
  learns better through teacher-delivered or
  self-directed, computer-administered instruction.

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• Investigate Multiple Factors Affecting Student
  Learning ICEL (Instruction, Curriculum,
  Environment, Learner)
• Curriculum. Curriculum represents the full set
  of academic skills that a student is expected to
  have mastered in a specific academic area at a
  given point in time. To adequately evaluate a
  students acquisition of academic skills, of
  course, the educator must (1) know the schools
  curriculum (and related state academic
  performance standards), (2) be able to inventory
  the specific academic skills that the student
  currently possesses, and then (3) identify gaps
  between curriculum expectations and actual
  student skills. (This process of uncovering
  student academic skill gaps is sometimes referred
  to as instructional or analytic assessment.)

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• Investigate Multiple Factors Affecting Student
  Learning ICEL (Instruction, Curriculum,
  Environment, Learner)
• Environment. The environment includes any
  factors in the students school, community, or
  home surroundings that can directly enable their
  academic success or hinder that success. Obvious
  questions about environmental factors that impact
  learning include whether a students educational
  performance is better or worse in the presence of
  certain peers and whether having additional adult
  supervision during a study hall results in higher
  student work productivity. Less obvious questions
  about the learning environment include whether a
  student has a setting at home that is conducive
  to completing homework or whether chaotic hallway
  conditions are delaying that students
  transitioning between classes and therefore
  reducing available learning time.

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• Investigate Multiple Factors Affecting Student
  Learning ICEL (Instruction, Curriculum,
  Environment, Learner)
• Learner. While the student is at the center of
  any questions of instruction, curriculum, and
  learning environment, the learner domain
  includes those qualities of the student that
  represent their unique capacities and traits.
  More obvious examples of questions that relate to
  the learner include investigating whether a
  student has stable and high rates of inattention
  across different classrooms or evaluating the
  efficiency of a students study habits and
  test-taking skills. A less obvious example of a
  question that relates to the learner is whether a
  student harbors a low sense of self-efficacy in
  mathematics that is interfering with that
  learners willingness to put appropriate effort
  into math courses.

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• The teacher collects several student math
  computation worksheet samples to document work
  completion and accuracy.

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• The students parent tells the teacher that her
  sons reading grades and attitude toward reading
  dropped suddenly in Gr 4.

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• An observer monitors the students attention on
  an independent writing assignmentand later
  analyzes the works quality and completeness.

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• A student is given a timed math worksheet to
  complete. She is then given another timed
  worksheet offered a reward if she improves.

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• Comments from several past report cards describe
  the student as preferring to socialize rather
  than work during small-group activities.

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• The teacher tallies the number of redirects for
  an off-task student during discussion. She
  designs a high-interest lesson, still tracks
  off-task behavior.

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Activity Use the RIOT/ICEL Framework

• Review the RIOT/ICEL matrix. Take the student
  data that you brought to the workshop and
  organize it using the matrix.
• Identify any areas in the matrix that have only
  limited information and should be investigated
  more fully.

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Defining Student Problem Behaviors A Key to
Identifying Effective Interventions Jim
Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org
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Defining Problem Student Behaviors

• Define the problem behavior in clear, observable,
  measurable terms (Batsche et al., 2008 Upah,
  2008). Write a clear description of the problem
  behavior. Avoid vague problem identification
  statements such as The student is disruptive.
• A well-written problem definition should include
  three parts
• Conditions. The condition(s) under which the
  problem is likely to occur
• Problem Description. A specific description of
  the problem behavior
• Contextual information. Information about the
  frequency, intensity, duration, or other
  dimension(s) of the behavior that provide a
  context for estimating the degree to which the
  behavior presents a problem in the setting(s) in
  which it occurs.

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Defining Student Problem Behaviors Team Activity

• As a team
• Using the data brought on your student
• Step 1 Define the problem behavior in clear,
  observable, measurable terms.

• Five Steps in Understanding Addressing Problem
  Behaviors
• Define the problem behavior in clear, observable,
  measurable terms.
• Develop examples and non-examples of the problem
  behavior.
• Write a behavior hypothesis statement.
• Select a replacement behavior.
• Write a prediction statement.

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Defining Problem Student Behaviors

1. Develop examples and non-examples of the problem
   behavior (Upah, 2008). Writing both examples and
   non-examples of the problem behavior helps to
   resolve uncertainty about when the students
   conduct should be classified as a problem
   behavior. Examples should include the most
   frequent or typical instances of the student
   problem behavior. Non-examples should include any
   behaviors that are acceptable conduct but might
   possibly be confused with the problem behavior.

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Defining Student Problem Behaviors Team Activity

• As a team
• Using the data brought on your student
• Step 2 Develop examples and non-examples of the
  problem behavior.

• Five Steps in Understanding Addressing Problem
  Behaviors
• Define the problem behavior in clear, observable,
  measurable terms.
• Develop examples and non-examples of the problem
  behavior.
• Write a behavior hypothesis statement.
• Select a replacement behavior.
• Write a prediction statement.

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Defining Problem Student Behaviors

1. Write a behavior hypothesis statement (Batsche et
   al., 2008 Upah, 2008). The next step in
   problem-solving is to develop a hypothesis about
   why the student is engaging in an undesirable
   behavior or not engaging in a desired behavior.
   Teachers can gain information to develop a
   hypothesis through direct observation, student
   interview, review of student work products, and
   other sources. The behavior hypothesis statement
   is important because (a) it can be tested, and
   (b) it provides guidance on the type(s) of
   interventions that might benefit the student.

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Defining Student Problem Behaviors Team Activity

• As a team
• Using the data brought on your student
• Step 3 Write a behavior hypothesis statement.

• Five Steps in Understanding Addressing Problem
  Behaviors
• Define the problem behavior in clear, observable,
  measurable terms.
• Develop examples and non-examples of the problem
  behavior.
• Write a behavior hypothesis statement.
• Select a replacement behavior.
• Write a prediction statement.

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Defining Problem Student Behaviors

1. Select a replacement behavior (Batsche et al.,
   2008). Behavioral interventions should be focused
   on increasing student skills and capacities, not
   simply on suppressing problem behaviors. By
   selecting a positive behavioral goal that is an
   appropriate replacement for the students
   original problem behavior, the teacher reframes
   the student concern in a manner that allows for
   more effective intervention planning.

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Defining Student Problem Behaviors Team Activity

• As a team
• Using the data brought on your student
• Step 4 Select a replacement behavior.

• Five Steps in Understanding Addressing Problem
  Behaviors
• Define the problem behavior in clear, observable,
  measurable terms.
• Develop examples and non-examples of the problem
  behavior.
• Write a behavior hypothesis statement.
• Select a replacement behavior.
• Write a prediction statement.

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Defining Problem Student Behaviors

1. Write a prediction statement (Batsche et al.,
   2008 Upah, 2008). The prediction statement
   proposes a strategy (intervention) that is
   predicted to improve the problem behavior. The
   importance of the prediction statement is that it
   spells out specifically the expected outcome if
   the strategy is successful. The formula for
   writing a prediction statement is to state that
   if the proposed strategy (Specific Action) is
   adopted, then the rate of problem behavior is
   expected to decrease or increase in the desired
   direction.

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Defining Student Problem Behaviors Team Activity

• As a team
• Using the data brought on your student
• Step 5 Write a prediction statement.

• Five Steps in Understanding Addressing Problem
  Behaviors
• Define the problem behavior in clear, observable,
  measurable terms.
• Develop examples and non-examples of the problem
  behavior.
• Write a behavior hypothesis statement.
• Select a replacement behavior.
• Write a prediction statement.

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Using a Direct Instruction Approach to Teaching
Replacement Behaviors

• Describe to the student the expected replacement
  behavior that the student is to engage in.
• Provide examples of the replacement behavior.
• Provide immediate positive feedback to the
  student for appropriate demonstration of the
  replacement behavior.
• Ensure that the instructional environment
  supports and rewards expected behaviors.

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Defining Academic Problems Get It Right and
Interventions Are More Likely to Be
EffectiveJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org
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Defining Academic Problems Recommended Steps

1. Be knowledgeable of the school academic
   curriculum and key student academic skills that
   are taught. The teacher should have a good
   survey-level knowledge of the key academic skills
   outlined in the schools curriculumfor the grade
   level of their classroom as well as earlier grade
   levels. If the curriculum alone is not adequate
   for describing a students academic deficit, the
   instructor can make use of research-based
   definitions or complete a task analysis to
   further define the academic problem area. Here
   are guidelines for consulting curriculum and
   research-based definitions and for conducting a
   task analysis for more global skills.

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Defining Academic Problems Recommended Steps

• Curriculum. The teacher can review the schools
  curriculum and related documents (e.g.,
  score-and-sequence charts curriculum maps) to
  select specific academic skill or performance
  goals. First, determine the approximate grade or
  level in the curriculum that matches the
  students skills. Then, review the curriculum at
  that alternate grade level to find appropriate
  descriptions of the students relevant academic
  deficit. For example, a second-grade student
  had limited phonemic awareness. The student was
  not able accurately to deconstruct a spoken word
  into its component sound-units, or phonemes. In
  the schools curriculum, children were expected
  to attain proficiency in phonemic awareness by
  the close of grade 1. The teacher went off
  level to review the grade 1 curriculum and found
  a specific description of phonemic awareness that
  she could use as a starting point in defining the
  students skill deficit.

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Defining Academic Problems Recommended Steps

• Research-Based Skill Definitions. Even when a
  schools curriculum identifies key skills,
  schools may find it useful to corroborate or
  elaborate those skill definitions by reviewing
  alternative definitions published in research
  journals or other trusted sources. For example,
  a student had delays in solving quadratic
  equations. The math instructor found that the
  schools math curriculum did not provide a
  detailed description of the skills required to
  successfully complete quadratic equations. So the
  teacher reviewed the National Mathematics
  Advisory Panel report (Fennell et al., 2008) and
  found a detailed description of component skills
  for solving quadratic equations. By combining the
  skill definitions from the school curriculum with
  the more detailed descriptions taken from the
  research-based document, the teacher could better
  pinpoint the students academic deficit in
  specific terms.

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Defining Academic Problems Recommended Steps

• Task Analysis. Students may possess deficits in
  more global academic enabling skills that are
  essential for academic success. Teachers can
  complete an task analysis of the relevant skill
  by breaking it down into a checklist of
  constituent subskills. An instructor can use the
  resulting checklist to verify that the student
  can or cannot perform each of the subskills that
  make up the global academic enabling
  skill.For example, teachers at a middle school
  noted that many of their students seemed to have
  poor organization skills. Those instructors
  conducted a task analysis and determined that--in
  their classrooms--the essential subskills of
  student organization included (a) arriving to
  class on time (b) bringing work materials to
  class (c) following teacher directions in a
  timely manner (d) knowing how to request teacher
  assistance when needed and (e) having an
  uncluttered desk with only essential work
  materials.

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Defining Academic Problems Recommended Steps

• Describe the academic problem in specific,
  skill-based terms (Batsche et al., 2008 Upah,
  2008). Write a clear, brief description of the
  academic skill or performance deficit that
  focuses on a specific skill or performance area.
  Here are sample problem-identification
  statements
• John reads aloud from grade-appropriate text much
  more slowly than his classmates.
• Ann lacks proficiency with multiplication math
  problems (double-digit times double-digit with no
  regrouping).
• Tye does not turn in homework assignments.
• Angela produces limited text on in-class writing
  assignments.

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Defining Academic Problems Recommended Steps

• Develop a fuller description of the academic
  problem to provide a meaningful instructional
  context. When the teacher has described the
  students academic problem, the next step is to
  expand the problem definition to put it into a
  meaningful context. This expanded definition
  includes information about the conditions under
  which the academic problem is observed and
  typical or expected level of performance.
• Conditions. Describe the environmental conditions
  or task demands in place when the academic
  problem is observed.
• Problem Description. Describe the actual
  observable academic behavior in which the student
  is engaged. Include rate, accuracy, or other
  quantitative information of student performance.
• Typical or Expected Level of Performance. Provide
  a typical or expected performance criterion for
  this skill or behavior. Typical or expected
  academic performance can be calculated using a
  variety of sources,

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Defining Academic Problems Recommended Steps

1. Develop a hypothesis statement to explain the
   academic skill or performance problem. The
   hypothesis states the assumed reason(s) or
   cause(s) for the students academic problems.
   Once it has been developed, the hypothesis
   statement acts as a compass needle, pointing
   toward interventions that most logically address
   the student academic problems.

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Breaking Down Complex Academic Goals into Simpler
Sub-Tasks Discrete Categorization
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Identifying and Measuring Complex Academic
Problems

• Students can present with a range of concerns
  that interfere with academic success.
• Often, teachers realize that the replacement
  behavior that a student needs to be taught
  actually is a complex strategy that must be
  broken down into several steps or elements before
  it can be taught.
• One frequent challenge for these students is the
  need to reduce complex global academic goals into
  discrete sub-skills that can be individually
  measured and tracked over time.

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Discrete Categorization A Strategy for Assessing
Complex, Multi-Step Student Academic Tasks

• Definition of Discrete Categorization Listing
  a number of behaviors and checking off whether
  they were performed. (Kazdin, 1989, p. 59).
• Approach allows educators to define a larger
  behavioral goal for a student and to break that
  goal down into sub-tasks. (Each sub-task should
  be defined in such a way that it can be scored as
  successfully accomplished or not
  accomplished.)
• The constituent behaviors that make up the larger
  behavioral goal need not be directly related to
  each other. For example, completed homework may
  include as sub-tasks wrote down homework
  assignment correctly and created a work plan
  before starting homework

Source Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior
modification in applied settings (4th ed.).
Pacific Gove, CA Brooks/Cole..
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Discrete Categorization Example Math Study Skills

• General Academic Goal Improve Tinas Math Study
  Skills
• Tina was non-compliant and uncooperative in her
  math course. Based on a RIOT/ICEL analysis, the
  teaching team hypothesized that Tina misbehaved
  as a means to escape academic demands. The
  teaching team predicted that if Tinas math study
  skills improved, she could better understand
  course content, would find math to be less
  aversive, and would more fully cooperate with
  adult requests. The teaching team defined math
  study skills as the student
• Checking math notes daily for completeness.
• Reviewing math notes daily.
• Starting math homework in a structured school
  setting.
• Using a highlighter and margin notes to mark
  questions or areas of confusion in notes or on
  the daily assignment.
• Spending sufficient seat time at home each day
  completing homework.
• Regularly asking math questions of the teacher.

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Discrete Categorization Example Math Study Skills

• General Academic Goal Improve Tinas Math Study
  Skills
• The teaching teamwith student inputcreated the
  following intervention plan. The student Tina
  will
• Approach the teacher at the end of class for a
  copy of class notes.
• Check her daily math notes for completeness
  against a set of teacher notes in 5th period
  study hall.
• Review her math notes in 5th period study hall.
• Start her math homework in 5th period study hall.
• Use a highlighter and margin notes to mark
  questions or areas of confusion in her notes or
  on the daily assignment.
• Enter into her homework log the amount of time
  spent that evening doing homework and noted any
  questions or areas of confusion.
• Stop by the math teachers classroom during help
  periods (T Th only) to ask highlighted
  questions (or to verify that Tina understood that
  weeks instructional content) and to review the
  homework log.

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Discrete Categorization Example Math Study Skills

• Academic Goal Improve Tinas Math Study Skills
• General measures of the success of this
  intervention include (1) rate of homework
  completion and (2) quiz test grades.
• To measure treatment fidelity (Tinas
  follow-through with sub-tasks of the checklist),
  the following strategies are used
• Approached the teacher for copy of class notes.
  Teacher observation.
• Checked her daily math notes for completeness
  reviewed math notes, started math homework in 5th
  period study hall. Student work products random
  spot check by study hall supervisor.
• Used a highlighter and margin notes to mark
  questions or areas of confusion in her notes or
  on the daily assignment. Review of notes by
  teacher during T/Th drop-in period.
• Entered into her homework log the amount of
  time spent that evening doing homework and noted
  any questions or areas of confusion. Log reviewed
  by teacher during T/Th drop-in period.
• Stopped by the math teachers classroom during
  help periods (T Th only) to ask highlighted
  questions (or to verify that Tina understood that
  weeks instructional content). Teacher
  observation student sign-in.