Improving Disciplinary Practices Within An Urban School : Solving The Problem Of Practice Essay

(b) The data for this study came from a sample of 6,988 children enrolled at 21 elementary schools that participated in a randomized trial of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS). This trial specifically included data on instances of

Currently, I have very little knowledge or experience with special education. Throughout my elementary and middle school education, I was placed in advanced learning types of classes so I didn’t spend any time around children who had learning disabilities. As I advanced into high school, I attended a magnet school in which only one person with a physical disability attended the school.

Some discipline issues that teachers and administrators face are; do we set the same rules for all students, and should the students with special needs have the same consequences as general education students. Students with emotional disabilities often have difficulties with behavior in the following areas: work refusal, outburst (real or perceived persecution). I believe each situation needs to evaluated to determine the consequence of each student. Discipline decisions and actions can vary, such as, if a special needs student is out of class due to discipline issues then the teacher should make sure it is documented for the time they are removed from the classroom, if they are out for more than ten days an ARD meeting needs to be scheduled to look at changes that need to be made and a plan of action needs to take place to help the student be more successful. Some techniques that can be used are, involve all of the students in the

In special education classroom, positive reinforcement is applicable when students transit from activities through following instructions as provided and avoiding any form of distraction as well as maintaining a reasonable level of noise in whichever circumstance. Observation all these guarantee students a ticket. A minimum of 30 tickets a week guarantees them candy from their teacher. This is seen a motivation to the students hence they strive to receive the ticket.

McKevitt, B. C., & Braaksma, A. D. (2008). Best practices in developing a positive behavior support system at the school level. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology (5th ed., pp. 735–747). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

By implementing this idea in Area Two schools to support special education students, we will create a more data driven approach to increasing student achievement. By following this idea the team will also do a better job of implementing professional development and mentorships that greatly increase teacher effectiveness. The idea will also increase understanding of the diversity of the schools and promote community involvement by establishing more open communication with the parents and the community to support their students’ needs. The leadership teams will work together to set goals and objectives to support achievement in all grade levels. They will develop a framework for good communication between teachers and leaders so there is

“One of the essential roles of special education teachers is coteaching and working with other professionals, as well as communicating with family members and between special education teachers and other school-related professionals(Vaughn & Bos, 2015, p. 114)”. With the importance of a least restrictive environment special education and general education teachers are working together in a classroom with varying levels and abilities of learners. It is vitally important to have an effective relationship between the two teachers while developing and implementing lesson plans for learners with special needs. The physical space and dynamics of the classroom should fit the needs of the students and the established procedures should ensure a highly functional environment. Importantly, educators need to communicate to families “encouragement about what they can do at home and about an effective plan for providing instructional supports for their child(Vaughn & Bos, 2015, p. 114)”.

Farenga, Ed.Stephen J, Ness, Daniel (2005). Positive behavior supports. Encyclopedia of Education and Human Development, (3), 809-814.

Verney Road State School has effectively established the SWPBS and continues to develop and improve strategies in place to ensure a school wide culture that promotes positive behavior. The PBS Implemenation Team at Verney Road State School is responsible for the implementation and monitoring of school wide behavior. As a school wide approach, it is essential that students have a clear and consistent understanding of school wide expectations. Teachers throughout the school should receive guidelines and action plans on how to facilitate these expectations. The school would be responsible for ensuring all staff are supported and have the resources and professional development to effectively implement the PBS practices in a classroom and across the school

Harsher disciplinary practices were adopted in the 1980’s and 90’s due mostly to the war on drugs and the rise of gun violence in schools (Triplett, 2014). These came in the form of zero-tolerance policies and employment of School Resource Officers (SROs). SROs are sworn law enforcement officers assigned full-time to patrol schools. This means that discipline problems traditionally handled by school principals and teachers are now handled by a police officer

EBIs to reduce disruptive behavior and increase academic achievement can include trainings and implementation support at the school, class-wide, and individual student-level, and are often either academic or behavioral in nature. Overall, implementation of both universal (i.e. class-wide) and targeted (i.e. student-level) interventions have demonstrated positive impacts on decreasing disruptive behaviors and increasing student academic achievement (Flower, McKenna, Bunuan, Muething, & Vega, 2014; Vannest, Davis, Davis, Mason, & Burke, 2010).Ross, Romer, and Horner (2012) also found that teachers in schools implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports with high fidelity

The School-Wide Positive Behavior Support or SW-PBIS program is designed to teach behavior expectations in the same manner as any core curriculum subject. The main idea for the SW-PBIS program is for the school to focus on three to five positive behavior expectations rather than telling the students what not to do in the school atmosphere. The expectations and routines are enforced school-wide in each classroom and in non-classroom areas with the matrices posted throughout the school. These expectations and routines are taught through lesson plans at the beginning of the year in setting specific locations, such as lining up properly in the hallway using a hula hoop to demonstrate proper body space distance. The program also emphasizes positive behaviors through a recognition system of praise. Instead of always concentrating on misbehavior staff rewards appropriate behaviors with some kind of incentive. The Carl Junction School district uses this program by implementing the bark bonus program when staff notices appropriate behaviors at specials, in hallways, in the lunchroom, etc. A staff member gives a student or the whole a class bark bonus, eventually when each class receives a specified amount that classroom is rewarded. As a whole, the classroom votes on which reward they want, such as a movie, bring stuffed animal/blanket, wear pajamas, or play electronics during class.

As a teacher, I would enhance the learning of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills of individuals with exceptional learning needs, and increase their self-awareness, self-management, self-control, self-reliance, and self-esteem. Moreover, special educators emphasize the development, maintenance, and generalization of knowledge and skills across environments, settings, and the lifespan. Special educators possess a repertoire of evidence-based instructional strategies to individualize instruction for individuals with exceptional learning needs. Special educators select, adapt, and use these instructional strategies to promote positive learning results in general and special curricula2 and to appropriately modify learning environments for individuals with exceptional learning needs. They enhance the learning of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills of individuals with exceptional learning needs, and increase their self-awareness, self-management, self-control, self-reliance, and self-esteem. Moreover, special educators emphasize the development, maintenance, and generalization of knowledge and skills across environments, settings, and the lifespan.

In 2008 the author of this article, Ronen Sebag implemented the SABM model that’s outlined above, with teenaged students at an urban Title 1 high school. The students in this study did have special needs. The model proved successful for 61 % percent of students in the fall semester, and 50 % of students in the spring semester. However, success rates were a lot higher for students who attended class regularly. These students behavior improved by 94 percent, because they followed the model on a continuous basis.

Is video modeling an effective procedure for teaching a variety of skills to individuals with developmental disabilities between the ages of 8 and 10? It is hypothesized that if given the opportunity to experience video modeling to complete a new task, the individual will be able to imitate the task at mastery level once the model has been reviewed a few times. In addition to the clear demonstration that VBI promotes generalization, other benefits include the practitioner's ability to simulate generalization settings (Mechling & Ortega-Hundon, 2007), cost-effectiveness (Charlop-Christy et al., 2000, Haring et al., 1987 and Mechling and Gast, 2003), time efficiency (Charlop-Christy et al., 2000) and ability to provide multiple exemplars (Marzullo-Kerth