Running head: BEHAVIOR MANANAGEMENT PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION

Behavior Data collection and Analysis in The K-12 Classroom Diana Zrate Nevada State College Dr. Berman October 6, 2011

BEHAVIOR MANANGEMENT PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION ABSTRACT Teachers have numerous things to do in the classroom; from taking roll, making lesson plans, instructing curricula, classroom management, meetings with parents, faculty meetings, report

cards, field trip preparation, and life outside of the classroom. One of the responsibilities that are often overlooked by new teachers is effective ways to observe students and track behaviors. In Education it is imperative that teachers know how to effectively monitor behavior without disturbing the lesson or other students. Students should be given logical consequences for their behaviors rather than punishment in order for students to achieve ownership of their own behavior and optimistically, self-regulate themselves. There are many times when students will be suspected of needing special assistance and referred to the Special Education Department. In this case teachers become responsible for observing and reporting behaviors to the multidisciplinary team. In this paper I will go over data collection systems such as Frequency, Duration, and Intensity and effective ways to track and monitor student behavior while keeping the students dignity intact.

BEHAVIOR MANANGEMENT PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION Behavior Data collection and Analysis in The K-12 Classroom There are many ways to collect data on student behavior. Parents should be notified and

consent should be granted before any observations are made. Data is collected to; look at trends, to determine possible antecedents, to record duration, frequency, and intensity, to identify how the behavior may be impacting academics and social success, to develop new IEP goals and benchmark, and to develop a behavior plan or IEP (Cahill, Ewy, Hermes, 2009). The best known data collection systems are Frequency, Duration, and intensity. Frequency data collection should be used if the purpose of the assessment is to record how often a behavior occurs in a specific time frame (Kerr, Nelson, 2010, p.145). Duration data collection should be used if the purpose of the assessment is to document how long the behavior lasts (Kerr, Nelson, 2010, p.145). Finally Intensity data collection should be used if the purpose of the assessment is to know how destructive the behavior is and how long it lasts (Kerr, Nelson, 2010, p.145). Antecedents are things that trigger a behavior. It is very hard to pinpoint what is affecting a student. There may be many factors such as illness, family conflict, and abuse, to simple things such as an inadequate diet or lack of sleep. The multidisciplinary team should be attentive to what happens before the behavior occurs. Is the lesson not in the zone of proximal development and thus agitate the student and possibly cause the behavior? Does the behavior only happen on certain days? Does the behavior only happen when the student is with a certain group of friends? If so, peer pressure may be the antecedent. Or if the behavior happens early in the morning maybe the student is sleepy or hungry? Many factors can come into play and a competent observant should report any suspected antecedents to the multidisciplinary team for further analysis.

BEHAVIOR MANANGEMENT PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION There are many other collection systems all with a different purpose and formats. In a classroom there will be occasions were a student needs to be observed. This may be due to a referral to special education or for the implementation of a Behavior Intervention Plan. Usually when observing a student there are one to three target behaviors. Target behaviors are those behaviors which are to be observed and with the aid of intervention hoped to be eliminated. Example of target behaviors are; non-compliance, physical aggression, leaving the classroom, work avoidance, and self-injury (exp. bang head on desk). Teachers are integral members of the multidisciplinary team, their observations and input is highly valued and expected. Students should always be treated with respect and dignity, and the observations made on the student should be kept confidential.

If I am observing a student who has tantrums in class I would use the intensity collection system because this behavior occurs episodically and can be very destructive. The format of the intensity collection simple form would be simple; it would include the date, a brief description of the behavior, and the intensity (damage it produced) (Cahill et al., 2009). For example I could write: July 12 2015: Tantrum: Student screams and throws books and chairs for 8 minutes. It is imperative to have the form in which the observations are to be recorded on, readily accessible at all times in the classroom. That way as soon as the student displays the target behavior the teacher can jot down notes. Frequency collection system is best used when the behavior occurs very often in the classroom. A target behavior suitable for this data collection system is physical aggression. The format of this form would be: name, date, behavior to be observed, and each day have numbers corresponding to the frequency of the behavior. For example I would write: student name, July

BEHAVIOR MANANGEMENT PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION

26, 2015, physical aggression, Monday, 29. This data can be easily read and does not take much of the teachers time. Duration collection system, as I mentioned earlier, records how long the target behavior lasts. An example of a target behavior that lends itself to this system would be a student who rocks himself back and forth, which can be a sign of Autism. After referral many observations and assessments would have to be made on the student. A simple format for data collecting for this student can be: student name, date, behavior, start time, end time, total time (Cahill et al., 2009). As a teacher I would stay attentive to the student and when he/she displays the behavior quickly record it for example: student name, October 12, 2011, rocking back and forth, 10:00am, 10:45am, and total time:45 minutes. When observing it is important that there is a baseline, this is observation of the student when intervention has not been implemented yet. Baseline can be five days to a week. The data collected in baseline informs the multidisciplinary team what the behavior is, and its pattern/ trend it occurs in. From the baseline data intervention and goals can be made. For example if in the baseline period the team identifies that a student is; non-compliant 30 times a day for 5 days consecutively. Then the team can make a goal of diminishing this behavior to maybe; noncompliant behavior 5 times a day by day 65. It is important that teachers and observers be inconspicuous when recording data during baseline. The more the student feels that he/she is not being recorded the more genuine the observations will be. If a student knows that he/she is being watched he/she may change his or her behaviors for the time being which can null data collected. Intervention can be an IEP, BIP, accommodations or modifications. For the student that was rocking himself back and forth. He may have been referred to a doctor and diagnosed to be

BEHAVIOR MANANGEMENT PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION autistic. Hypothetically lets pretend that the doctor prescribed medicine for the student, and a

special education teacher has been instructed to meet with him 3 times a week. The medicine and special education teacher are the intervention. Observations after baseline, when intervention has been implemented, would hopefully show a decrease of the rocking back and forth behaviors. Over time data collected can be gathered and put in a chart.
45 40

Fre que ncy of Roc king Bac k and Fort h

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Baseline Intervention

Time: each segment represents a day in this chart we have twenty consecutive school days starting at baseline.

Evidently the intervention is helping decrease the target behavior. The observations demonstrate that the multidisciplinary team is on the right track and that goals are being met. Making a chart once data is collected gives the multidisciplinary team a quick visual of progress of the intervention applied to the student. Teachers need not be scared of data collection it is simple and can be done in anytime without disrupting instruction or the other students.

BEHAVIOR MANANGEMENT PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION Teachers should also be careful not to blame the student or get frustrated with the student for

their undesired behaviors. The purpose of data collection systems and data intervention is to help those students that need special assistance or curricula, and hence make classroom management an easier task. The student may even need to be pulled out of a general education classroom and required to be in an all-inclusive special education setting where curricula and instruction could be tailored to the students special needs and the target behaviors not disrupt other students, this of course happens only in rare occasions due to federal regulations on Least Restrictive Environment. Students are all unique and come in an array of personalities and abilities. Some students need special assistance in some area of their education, be it psychological, social, or behavioral. It is our duty as teachers to instruct the whole child and care for their well-being. Students suspected of having a disability or needing special assistance should be referred for special education or observation. As teachers we are who most spend time with the students, sometimes they go home to an empty home were both parents works odd hours. The only warm smile they receive all day can be from us teachers. Teachers can be the only ones who notice something is wrong with the student and have the power to fix it. I encourage all teachers to take time to observe students informally on a daily basis. Instead of getting upset at students for their behaviors and punishing them we should observe the behavior and conclude if it has a pattern or trend. In conclusion these students are our children for the year and hopefully in one way or another we can help them become better than they were when they first walked in the classroom the first day of class.

BEHAVIOR MANANGEMENT PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION References

Cahill, K., Ewy, K., & Hermes, K. (2009). Collecting and Charting Data PDF. Retrieved October 7, 2011

Kerr, M. M., & Nelson, C. M. (2010). Strategies for Addressing Behavior Problems in the Classroom (6th ed., pp. 75-224). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Icorporated.

Manning, M. L., & Bucher, K. (2007). Classroom Management (2nd ed., pp. 1-286). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Incorporated.