Training a General Educator to Use Function-Based Support for Students at Risk for Behavior Disorders
Christensen, Lynette; Renshaw, Tyler L.; Caldarella, Paul; Young, James R. (2012). Education, v133 n2 p313-335. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ991982
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examining2Students, grade4
Functional Behavioral Assessment-based Interventions Intervention Report
Review Details
Reviewed: December 2016
- Single Case Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Functional Behavioral Assessment-based Interventions.
Findings
To view more detailed information about the study findings from this review, please see Functional Behavioral Assessment-based Interventions Intervention Report (977 KB)
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Suburban
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Utah
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Race White 100%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in a Title I elementary school in a suburban area of Utah. Approximately 74% of the students in the school were Caucasian, 22% were Hispanic, and 4% identified as other ethnic groups. Both participants were taught in a general education classroom in by a fourth-grade teacher who had a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
Study sample
The study includes three students who were identified by their teacher as being at risk for behavioral disorders. Amy was a fourth-grade Caucasian female student who performed above grade level in reading and mathematics. José was a fourth-grade Puerto-Rican/Caucasian male student who performed at grade level in reading and mathematics. Both students were at risk for future academic difficulties because of frequent disengagement from academic tasks. The single-case design experiment for an additional student, Cameron, does not meet WWC pilot single-case design standards because data are only presented for two phases; therefore, there is not an attempt to demonstrate the effect of the intervention three times. As a result, this experiment is not described in this report or included in the ratings of effectiveness.
Intervention
Following training provided by the research staff, the teacher carried out a functional behavioral assessment (FBA), which included direct observations of the students. The teacher then developed FBA-based interventions for both students. Amy’s intervention involved self-management training, extra teacher attention, and the use of tokens she could exchange for extra reading time, if she stayed seated and worked on assigned material. José’s intervention involved giving him tokens that he could exchange for extra recess time, if he demonstrated on-task behavior while completing assigned material; the teacher reviewed expectations with José and explained that she would give him tokens if his self-management improved.
Comparison
The study used a reversal-withdrawal design for both students. During the baseline/withdrawal condition for each student, teachers taught their classes as usual.
Support for implementation
The teacher received FBA training which involved group instruction, independent readings, applied activities, and individual consultation. The group instruction was the main component of training and consisted of four 1-hour training sessions conducted after school. The teacher, upon completing initial training, served as the primary interventionist with continued support.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
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Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).