Increased Completion Rate is the Successful Marriage of Positive Behavior Supports and Self- Determination

Texas Transition ConferenceFebruary 2011

Presented: Don Rolfe

Objectives

1. Examine the impact of Positive Behavior Support on the Completion Rate.2. Examine the impact of Self- Determination on the Completion Rate.3. Examine the strategies for Improving the Completion Rate.4. Look at merging more Self-determination components into the PBIS model.5. Look at the concept of Quality of Life for students.6. Review the resourcefulness of re-design and linkage as it relates to PBIS.

What is Positive Behavior Support?

Positive behavior support (PBS) is a broad range of systematic and individualized strategies for achieving important social and learning outcomes while preventing problem behavior.PBS’s key attributes include proactivity, data-based decision making, and a problem-solving orientation (Horner,2000; Lewis and Sugai 1999)

What is Positive Behavior Support?

A key focus of PBS is building responsive environments that “stack the deck” in favor of appropriate student behavior and preferred quality of life outcomes. (Carr et al., 1999;Turnbull and Turnbull, 1999)Research on PBS is in the process of evolving toward a focus on schoolwide and systemwidemodels. The OSEP National Technical Assistance Center for Positive Behavioral Supports and Interventions characterizes schoolwide PBS as having 3 components including

What is Positive Behavior Support?

(a) universal support(b) group supportand (c) individual support (Lewis & Sugai, 1999, Sugai et al. 2000)

What is Self-Determination?

Wehmeyer defined self-determination as students being: autonomous (e.g.,free from undue influence), self-regulated (e.g., the ability to act and evaluate their behavior), psychologically empowered (e.g., belief in one’s own ability to act and self-realize (e.g., accurate knowledge of self).

What is self-determination?

Wehmeyer’s team (2004) further states that self-determined living includes: the capacity of the person to act in a self-determined manner and the degree to which the environment in which the person lives, learned, works and plays provides opportunities for him or her to make choices and exert control over his life. It’s about increasing the quality of life for one’s self.

What is a Completion Rate?

The desired goal of school completion interventions is to have students graduate with academic and social competence and to be academically resilient and consistent learners (Finn and Rock, 1997) rather than to have accumulated the required amount of seat time.

What do we know about Positive Behavior Support?

1. Improves educational and quality of life outcomes for students, teachers and families (Turnbull et al., 2002)2. Discipline referrals are reduced.3. Improved capacity of schools to prioritize and plan for needed supports (Bohanon).4. Improves completion rate (Bohanon et al 2009).

What do we know about Positive Behavior Support?

5. Teacher expectations are clarified.6. The expectations are taught to the student body.7. Students who meet the expectations are reinforced (Horner & Sugai, 2000).8. Student engagement is increased.9. Primary and secondary supports increase the efficacy of individualized interventions (Sugai et al, 1999).

What do we know about Self-Determination?

1. Self-determined students are more likelyto achieve more positive adult outcomes, including being employed at a higher rate and earning more per hour than peers who are not self-determined (Wehmeyer, 1997).2. Self-determination is critical to transition planning for students with disabilities

What do we know about Self-Determination?

3. Important for enhanced quality of life (Gagne, 1994; Kennedy, 1996).4. Self-determination is the foundational for more student involvement in educational planning and decision making (Van Reusen & Bos, 1994; Wehmeyer & Ward, 1995).5. Teachers believe that there is a lack of student benefit from instruction in self-determination.

What do we know about self-determination?

6. Teachers believe that they have insufficient training or information on promoting self-determination (Wehmeyer, 2003).7. Teachers believe they do not have the authority to provide instruction in this area (Wehmeyer, 2003).8. Teachers believe they lack the knowledge of curricular/assessment materials and strategies.

What do we know about the Completion Rate?

1. The most frequently used strategies used to increase completion rate were described as academic engagement, psychosocial skills development, mentoring and parent/teacher behavior management training ( Test et al,2009).2. We must teach students to identify difficult situations, think the situation through and show appropriate responses as strategies to reduce the dropout rate (Kashani, 1999; Whitaker, 1993).

What do we know about the completion rate?

3. Repetto et al, 1997 demonstrated that instruction across a variety of self-determination components was critical to student school completion(Test et al, 2009).4. Students indicated that the presence of a “helpful class” or a “helpful person” and perceived preparation for adult life were predictors of school completion(Test et al, 2009).5. Strategies for increasing Quality of Life positively impacts student school completion.

So is it a challenge to see how these two are compatible?

1. Positive Behavior Support systems have been linked to Self-determination. SWPBS at the Tier 2 and Tier 3 have utilized many Self-determination strategies.2. We have seen that there are critical benefits to both Positive Behavior Support and Self-determination which impact the Completion Rate.3. Have we seen the two so mechanically that we have missed the impact on Completion Rate from the student perspective?

Quality of Life: The Commonality

1. We have seen that Positive Behavior Support increases the Quality of Life for students.2. We have seen that Self-determination component work increases the Quality of Life for students.3. We must ask the question, “Does the framework of SWPBS as it is now lend itself to the best delivery of strategies to increase Quality of Life for students?” Are there ways to enhance Quality of Life, thus increasing the School Completion Rate?

Deeper looks at Positive Behavior Support and Self-Determination

Positive Behavior Support is about concern for quality of life (QOL), making systems changes and linking to other sciences.“ Our job is to give people the skills, the coping strategies, and the desire to deal with the frustration that is an inevitable part of life, particularly the lives of people with disabilities.” (Carr, 2007)

How can we increase the QOL of students, teachers and families?

We know if we increase QOL, we positively impact the Completion Rate.We must move from seeing Positive Behavior Support and Self-Determination as mechanical ways of meeting the needs of our students.We must capture the vision of creating a means for a higher QOL for the student, where the efforts are actually student focused. (Carr, 2007)

Re-design : A resource of Positive Behavior Support

In an effort to improve the QOL for students, we must explore a re-design or a different delivery system for Self-determination components imbedded in the 3 Tier system.Since Self-determination instruction is so critical to completion, should more substantial instruction be introduced at the universal tier?Should creating a system of RtI based on Self-determination be considered?. This would provide a stronger linkage to the findings regarding the impact of self-determination.

Re-design: A resource of Positive Behavior Support

Should Student Learning Teams now become a critical part of universal interventions? This would provide a firmer platform for providing imbedded self-determination instruction. (Robert Slavin, 1994)Imbedded instruction in the Positive Behavior Support model helps to address the lack of time available for additional instruction.

Re-design: A resource of Positive Behavior Support

All Tiers of Intervention should imbed comprehensive and effective self-determination instruction.Age appropriate self-determination instruction should be started at the elementary levels.Research points out that self-determination curriculum and assessment instruction needs to be provided teachers and staff. Parents would also benefit from such training.

A Thought

Increasing the Quality of Life for students enhances the probability of richer adult

results.

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` Repetto, J. Pankaskie, S., Hakins, A. & Schwartz, S. (1997) Promising practices in dropout prevention and transition for students with mild disabilities. Journal of Risk Issues, 4(1), 19-29.Sugai, G., Horner, R. & Todd, A. (2000) Effective behavior support: Self-assessment Survey. Eugene Oregon: University of Oregon: Positive Behavioral Interventional and Supports Technical Assistance Center.Slavin, R., (1994) The Johns Hopkins Team Learning Project, Center for Social Organization of Schools, The Johns Hopkins University, Using Student Team Learning, Fourth Edition

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Acknowledgements

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Acknowledgements

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