Co-Principal Investigators: Crossland, Kimberly; Cividini-Motta, Catia

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to develop and evaluate the potential efficacy of a virtual Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) coaching model, ePTR Coach, to improve behavioral outcomes for students in grades K–5 who need intensive behavior interventions. Persistent problem behavior displayed by students with or at risk for disabilities is repeatedly identified as a major concern for parents, educators, and other stakeholders. Because persistent behavioral challenges result in personal, social, academic, and legal consequences that hinder success in school, it is critical that this behavior be addressed in a student's early school years. This project will train school-based personnel to become coaches to guide the team-based PTR process—a standardized process for performing functional behavior assessment (FBA) and developing a behavior intervention plan (BIP)—and provide coaching support to teachers.

Project Activities: This project involves an iterative process to develop and refine ePTR Coach. During phase 1, the research team will work with stakeholder focus groups and expert reviewers to develop and refine the ePTR Coach process and materials. In phase 2, the research team will conduct a feasibility study using a single case, multiple baseline design across coach-teacher-student triads. In phase 3, ePTR Coach will be pilot tested using a cluster randomized controlled trial to examine promise of ePTR Coach for improving educator implementation and student behavioral outcomes.

Products: The products of this project include a fully developed ePTR Coach intervention and manual and published reports on the feasibility and potential efficacy of the ePTR Coach intervention for improving behavioral outcomes for students with or at risk for disabilities who need intensive individualized behavior interventions. The project will provide a final dataset to be shared, peer-reviewed publications and presentations, and additional dissemination products that reach education stakeholders such as practitioners and policymakers.

Structured Abstract

Setting: The research will take place in public elementary school settings with diverse demographics in Florida.

Sample: Nine groups with six to eight participants in each will participate in the phase 1 focus groups. Focus group participants will consist of classroom teachers of children with or at risk for disabilities in need of intensive behavior interventions, school-based personnel responsible for leading the FBA/BIP process, and supervisory level school personnel who oversee service delivery for students with disabilities. Five coach-teacher-student triads will participate in the phase 2 field test examining the feasibility of the ePTR Coach model and 30 triads will participate in the phase 3 pilot study examining its potential efficacy. These triads will include students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or students at risk for disabilities in grades K-5 who have been identified based on teacher referrals for individualized behavior intervention for problem behavior. The coaches will be school-based personnel who lead the development of FBA/BIP for students requiring individualized behavior interventions. The teachers will be general or special education teachers.

Intervention: The ePTR Coach is a modified version of the manualized, school-based PTR model, which has existing evidence of potential efficacy. The manualized ePTR Coach will be designed to provide efficient and effective collaborative virtual tools for use by individualized behavior support teams guided by school-based coaches responsible for developing FBA/BIP for students with behavioral challenges. Similar to the original PTR process, ePTR Coach is designed to be a collaborative model that is feasible and easily used with fidelity by educators in typical school settings to address persistent problem behavior of students needing intensive individualized behavior interventions. The manualized ePTR Coach will provide a multi-step FBA/BIP process and tools to support remote virtual collaboration and coaching as well as teacher resource materials.

Research Design and Methods: During phase 1, the research team will conduct focus groups of stakeholders to develop and refine the ePTR Coach process and materials. During phase 2, the team will conduct a feasibility study using a single case, multiple baseline design with five coach-teacher-student triads. The team will use feedback from school-based coaches and teachers and outcome data on teachers and students to inform revisions to the model. In phase 3, the research team will conduct a pilot study to examine the potential efficacy of ePTR Coach with 30 triads using a cluster randomized controlled trial. In this final phase, the team will evaluate the promise of ePTR Coach for improving teacher practice and for improving behavioral outcomes for students with or at risk for disabilities in need of intensive behavioral interventions due to persistent problem behavior.

Control Condition: The coach-teacher-student triads in the control group will participate in the school's usual FBA/BIP process.

Key Measures: Student level of externalizing behavior for study eligibility will be measured by the Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory-Revised. Key student outcome measures include teacher reports of disruptive behavior and academic engagement with the Individualized Behavior Rating Scale Tool, school reports of office discipline referrals and out-of-school suspensions, and direct observations of disruptive behavior and academic engagement time using the Academic Engaged Time. Teacher outcome measures include teacher self-efficacy and knowledge, competence, and use of FBA-based interventions with the Focus on Function: Knowledge, Confidence, and Use Survey and teacher perceived control with The Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale. Additional measures include coaching fidelity and teacher implementation fidelity, each measured with checklists, social validity with the Usage Rating Profile, coach-teacher alliance with the Measure of Coach and Teacher Alliance-Teacher Report, and coaching dosage through self-report.

Data Analytic Strategy: The project will use multilevel models and Tau-U to estimate the effect size of ePTR Coach during the phase 2 single-case design feasibility study. A series of data analytic techniques including descriptive analyses and analysis of covariance will be used in the phase 3 pilot study to estimate the effects of ePTR Coach on student and teacher outcomes.

Cost Analysis: The project will assess the marginal costs, relative to the control condition, of the intervention by estimating the time, materials and equipment, and other components directed to the intervention for the entire program population. Average costs will be calculated at the school, coach, teacher, and student levels.

Related IES Projects: Evidence-Based Interventions for Severe Behavior Problems: The Prevent-Teach-Reinforce Model (H324P040003)