Project Activities
Approximately 250 teachers in Oregon will participate in the study over three years. The program will be developed and a comprehensive feasibility evaluation of the entire program will be conducted. Data will be analyzed to determine teachers' use and acceptability of the program. Additional analyses will be conducted to determine whether the use of the program changes teacher attitudes and knowledge and student social skills and to investigate the relationships among teachers' satisfaction with the program, program usage, and change in knowledge.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The research will take place in Oregon.
Sample
Approximately 250 elementary school teachers will participate in the study over three years. Teachers will be recruited from schools that represent diverse populations in terms of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and location.
Intervention
The Student Social Competence Program is an Internet-based, interactive program. It will consist of three modules. The first module will contain an overview of an RtI instructional framework for teaching behavior. It will focus on teaching appropriate behavior, the links between behavior and academic success, and the teacher's role in developing social skills. Through the second module, teachers will learn how to implement a preventive classwide behavior program with the goal of enhancing academic performance. Teachers will learn a set of methods for teaching core social skills to support teacher-student and peer-peer relationships. The third module will focus on the establishment of intensive group interventions for students who do not respond to a classwide behavior program. Video sequences and vignettes will be used to present and describe concepts related to each module. Participants will have opportunities to rehearse newly learned skills through interactive practice activities. The technology also provides teachers with interactive self-assessments, instant feedback for content review, and printable resource materials.
Research design and methods
Over three years, each of the three modules will be developed and a comprehensive feasibility evaluation of the entire program will be conducted. Initial versions of the modules will be produced and usability tests of the materials will be conducted. Feasibility evaluations of each module will be conducted using a single-condition pretest-posttest design. Based on the results of the evaluations, the modules will be refined. During the last year, a feasibility study using all three modules combined will be conducted to determine whether teachers were satisfied with the program and their knowledge improved.
Control condition
A control or comparison condition will not be used.
Key measures
Data on teacher's knowledge and attitudes will be collected. In addition, researchers will collect data on teachers' satisfaction, engagement, acceptability, and interest in the materials. Time spent on the site, components visited, materials viewed will also be assessed. Finally, researchers will collect demographic information from participating teachers.
Data analytic strategy
Data will be analyzed to determine teachers' use and acceptability of the program. In addition, analyses will be conducted to determine whether the program changed teacher attitudes and knowledge. Finally, data will be analyzed to determine the relationships among satisfaction with the program, program usage, and change in knowledge.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: The products of this project include a fully developed interactive professional development program based on a Response to Intervention model, published reports, and presentations.
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Book chapter
Marquez, B., and Vincent, C.G. (2015). Screening and Monitoring Skills and Behaviors Essential for Academic Success. In Scarlett, G. (Ed.), Encyclopedia for Classroom Management, Vol. 2 (pp. 715-716). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Marquez, B., Yeaton, P., and Vincent, C. (2014). Behavioral Universal Screening and Progress Monitoring With Web-Based Technology. In H.M. Walker, and F. Gresham (Eds.), Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Applications in Schools (pp. 192-210). New York: Guilford Publishing.
Journal article, monograph, or newsletter
Marquez, B., Marquez, J., Vincent, C.G., Pennefather, J., Sprague, J.R., Smolkowski, K., and Yeaton, P. (2014). The Iterative Development and Initial Evaluation of "We Have Skills!", An Innovative Approach to Teaching Social Skills to Elementary Students. Education and Treatment of Children, 37(1): 137-161. Full text
Pennefather, J., and Smolkowski, K. (2014). Validation of the Elementary Social Behavior Assessment: A Measure of Student Prosocial School Behaviors. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 40(3): 143-154. doi:10.1177/1534508414557562
Walker, H.M., Marquez, B., Yeaton, P., Pennefather, J., Forness, S., and Vincent, C.G. (2015). Teacher Judgment in Assessing Students' Social Behavior within a Response-to-Intervention Framework: Using What Teachers Know. Education and Treatment of Children, 38(3): 363-382.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
