Project Activities
The researchers will randomly assign PBIS schools to the HELM condition or implementation-as-usual. Educators in both conditions will receive training and coaching to implement PBIS. As part of the project, the researchers will also conduct implementation and cost studies.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The research will take place in 40 elementary schools in Washington state.
Sample
Participants will include 400 elementary school educators (e.g., administrators, teachers, counselors/psychologists, classroom staff, etc.) and their students
HELM is a 9-month, data-driven organizational and leadership implementation strategy comprising eight components: (1) assessment and feedback, (2) leadership development plan; (3) initial training; (4) individual coaching; (5) group coaching; (6) organizational strategy development; (7) professional learning collaboratives; and (8) graduation (review leaders' final feedback and celebrate successes). In this study, the researchers will test whether HELM impacts the outcomes of schools that are implementing PBIS, an evidence-based, multi-tiered, problem-solving, and team-based framework designed to build a continuum of supports to promote all students' socioemotional behavior.
Research design and methods
The researchers will implement a hybrid type 3 effectiveness implementation trial with schools randomized one of two conditions: (1) school-wide training in PBIS + HELM or (2) school-wide training in PBIS only. This type of research design tests the utility of an implementation strategy while also observing and gathering information on the intervention's impact on outcomes of interest. The researchers will evaluate the main effects of HELM on school context factors that support PBIS implementation, implementation outcomes, and student outcomes (such as standardized academic test scores, attendance rates, and disciplinary incidents). They will also answer additional questions about the mediation and moderation of HELM's effects.
Control condition
Schools in the control condition will implement PBIS as usual and without HELM training.
Key measures
Key measures of implementation mechanisms (that is, the processes through which implementation strategies affect implementation outcomes such as fidelity) will include implementation leadership measured using the School Implementation Leadership Scale and implementation climate measured using the School Implementation Climate Scale. Key measures of implementation outcomes will include PBIS fidelity measured via the Tiered Fidelity Inventory and costs using an ingredients approach and open-ended qualitative items. Key measures of student behavioral outcomes will be measured using the Modified Direct Behavior Rating, and student academic outcome measures will come from administrative data.
Data analytic strategy
The researchers will conduct analyses using an intent-to-treat sample, which includes all subjects, once randomized. They will run a series of mixed effects models (time within educator, educator within school) to test within-subject and between-subject interactions for three timepoints and to evaluate the main effects of HELM on organizational mechanisms, implementation outcomes, and student outcomes. They will use mediation and moderation analyses to explore for whom, under what conditions, how equitably, and through which processes HELM works.
Cost analysis strategy
To analyze the costs of PBIS implementation with and without HELM, the researchers will use the CostOut program, which specifies ingredients for each intervention condition, assigns prices (national and user inputted local values), and calculates costs based on the units per ingredient used. They will provide cost breakdown to help administrators understand the budget implications of HELM and will also conduct sensitivity analyses to examine the robustness of the cost estimates. Once the cost analysis is complete, they will use CostOut to calculate the cost-effectiveness PBIS implementation-as-usual versus PBIS supplemented with HELM.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Products: This project will result in evidence of the efficacy of HELM for improving PBIS implementation and student outcomes and cost analyses. The project will also result in a final dataset to be shared, peer-reviewed publications and presentations, and additional dissemination products that reach education stakeholders such as practitioners and policymakers.
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Related projects
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
