Summary of Classroom Assessment and Plan Development

Brown Elementary is a located in a suburban district with about 450 students enrolled across K-5th grade. During the 1996-97 school year one of the third grade teachers approached the team and asked for assistance with classroom management. The teacher was a veteran teacher with 17 years of experience and was having “the worst year of her teaching career.” Her 28 students had high rates of problem behavior, frequently had after school detention and office discipline referrals. Parents were complaining because of the number of times the students were been held after school and the teacher had talked to the administrator about early retirement.

The school-wide PBS team decided that they would work together with the classroom teacher to come up with a plan to support her and her students.

Objectives

-Provide support to teachers and classrooms as part of an overall team based systems approach to discipline.

-Create a process for teachers to request assistance from the team for classroom specific social behavioral needs.

-Incorporate strategies to assess specific classroom needs and develop and implement support plans to address those needs.

Prerequisites

1. Team based systems approach to discipline

-Proactive

-School-wide

-Top three priority in school

2. Teacher and students provided confidentiality

-Focus on process

-Focus on strengths and needs

3. Collaboration with teacher and selected members at all phases

-assessment

-data collection

-plan development

-implementation

-evaluation

Procedures

  1. Request by teacher to have team support
  2. Respond to teacher with information and timeline of process
  3. Develop plan to assess (who, what, when, & how)
  4. Complete and summarize assessment
  5. Develop implementation approach and plan
  6. Implement
  7. Evaluate effectiveness and make any necessary modifications

Assessment Summary

Schedule and Activities

The assessment focused on five students from the classroom who served as representatives for the students with behavior challenges. Students were assessed for high and low risk times across daily routines (e.g., getting organized, sharpening pencil) and scheduled activities (e.g., math, library). Information from all students was used to identify common low and high risk times.

Low Risk Activities: (a) Homework distribution and discussion,

(b) Star of Week/Super Scientist recognition,

(c) Story, and

(d) Computer

High Risk Activities: (a) Morning routine,

(b) Recess,

(c) Library, and

(d) Clean-up/Dismissal

Low Risk Routines: (a) Getting organized to go home

High Risk Routines:(a) Group work,

(b) Listening,

(c) Following directions,

(d) Respect-adults and peers,

(e) Working independently,

(f) taking of personal needs, and

(g) Getting organized for the day

Sample Assessment for Daily Routines (repeated for Daily Activities)

Daily Routines / Target Students
Jarod / Liza / Bryan / Chris / Marly
Getting Help /  /  / 
Working Independently /  /  /  / 
Transitioning from Activity to Activity /  /  / 
Working in Groups /  /  /  /  / 
Taking Care of Personal Needs /  /  /  / 
Getting Organized
for the Day /  /  /  / 
Getting Organized
to go Home /  / 
Listening to Instructions /  /  /  /  / 
Following Directions /  /  /  /  / 
Respecting Others /  /  /  /  / 

Discipline Referrals

Discipline referrals for the students in the class were summarized. Between September 2 and February 23, the classroom had 31 discipline referrals. This represents one-third of discipline referrals for the entire school.

Of the 28 students in the classroom, 10 received at least one discipline referral. Further information from discipline referrals is provided the attached graphs.

In general, one-third of the referrals were from the classroom. The remaining two-thirds predominately occurred during lunch and recess.

Fighting and other aggression accounted for almost half of the referrals (42%).

Although 54% of discipline referrals involved student to student interaction, 42% involved student to adult interactions, and 4% student alone (1 discipline referral for vandalism).

Proposed Teaching Plan

Social Skills Lessons

After low and high risk times were identified for both routines and activities, high risk times were combined. By comparing high risk routines with activities several areas/skills of focus were identified. These areas of focus were then used to generate examples and non-examples for future teaching. Three lessons, one for each of the school-wide expectation have been developed for review by the teacher and the team.

Specific Routines

During interview/discussion at the end of the classroom assessment it was decided to focus on two routines and teach those directly. First, interviews revealed that the majority of problem behaviors occurred at the beginning of activities (first 5-10 minutes). Second, organization skills were mentioned as a concern for several of students. Therefore, two specific routines (beginning activities, and end of the day organization) will be defined and taught to the students.

Expectation Name
Be Responsible
Teaching Examples
  1. The class is working in groups of four to create a poster about animals. You show you are responsible by helping get work done and sharing materials.
  2. At the end of the day you talk to your friend instead of cleaning-up. When it’s time to leave you toss your things on top of your chair. How can you responsible during clean-up?
  3. You checked out a ball for lunch recess but played tetherball instead. At the end of recess you leave the ball on the yard instead of turning it back in. What can you do to be responsible during recess?
  4. When you go to return your library book no one is at the desk. You show you are responsible by neatly stacking the books on the desk.
  5. In the morning you are responsible by finding the work you need to do and getting started without being reminded by the teacher.
  6. You need to use the restroom and there is a pass available. You go straight to the bathroom and return to class as soon as you are finished.

Student Activity
  1. Ask 2-3 students to give and example of a situation in which the expectation is used.
  2. Ask students to indicate or show how they would use the expectation (e.g., role play).
  3. Encourage and support appropriate discussion/responses. Minimize attention for inappropriate responses.

After the Lesson
  1. Just before the students enter the context in which the expectation is required, ask them to tell you how they use the expectation (precorrection).
  2. When you see students in contexts where they are not displaying the expectation, ask them to use the expectation (reminder).
  3. Whenever students display the expectation, provide specific praise and other acknowledgements.