The Critical Elements of Integrity of Practice

I define integrity of practice in education as the deliberate acts that provide for the individual needs of all students. This takes building consensus, collaborating with colleagues, and using research-based materials and practices. It includes fidelity in the collection, management, and use of data to drive instruction. Teachers, support staff, administrators, and other school professionals need to pool their professional knowledge to make decisions about student needs. Azano, Missett, Callahan, Oh, Brunner, Foster, and Moon (2011) explained that studies have shown evidence of significant correlations between interventions that are implemented with fidelity and their outcomes. For example an observation of whether the unit is delivered as designed could provide evidence of whether the intended outcome would follow. In my present setting fidelity is attained through collaboration within professional learning communities to ensure that there is consensus in the implementation, delivery, and follow-up activities. Collaborating and receiving feedback from colleagues on possible next steps to better assist students within their classroom and discussing student needs based upon specific data strengthens the program’s fidelity. Professional learning communities offer a very powerful way of engaging teachers in reflecting upon and refining their practice. They offer a very powerful way of engaging teachers in reflecting upon and refining their practice (Harris & Jones, 2010). Research-based practices will ensure proper actions are taken to provide the right kind, amount and intensity of support (Bianco, 2010). I believe that providing teachers with the needed support from administrators and coaches is critical to the success of students. This is an example of integrity. It provides consistency and prevents corruption of the implementation. Teachers need to be empowered as they use data to adjust instruction (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). Without the proper support and collaboration with colleagues, the attempts may not be sound or the implementation quality may suffer. Duerden and Witt (2013) suggested that the program foundations, the implementation system, and program monitoring are evaluated through the collection of data and evaluate how the implementation affects the outcome. The evidence I would use to ensure that all critical elements are in place includes classroom observations with follow-up conferences, documented professional development trainings, program checklists to ensure precise implementation and maintenance.  

Azano, A., Missett, T., Callahan, C., Oh, S., Brunner, M., Foster, L., & Moon , T. (2011). Exploring the Relationship Between Fidelity of Implementation and Academic Achievement in a Third-Grade Gifted Curriculum: A Mixed-Methods Study. Journal of Advanced Academics, 22(5), 693 –719. doi:10.1177/1932202X1142487

Davis Bianco, S. (2010). Improving Student Outcomes: Data-driven Instruction and Fidelity of Implementation in a Response to Intervention (RTI) Model. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 6(5) Article 1. Retrieved October 30, 2013 from http://escholarship.bc.edu/education/ tecplus/vol6/iss5/art1.

Duerden, M., & Witt, P. (2012). Assessing Program Implementation: What It Is, Why It'sImportant, and How to Do It. Journal of Extension, 50(1). Retrieved from http://www.joe.org/joe/2012february/a4.php

Harris, A., & Jones, M. (2010). Professional learning communities and system improvement. Improving Schools, 13(172). doi:10.1177/1365480210376487

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Integrity of practice [Video file]. Retrieved October 30, 2013 from https://class.waldenu.edu

Barriers to Collaboration

In order to have an effective Problem-Solving/Response to Intervention (PS/RTI) school-wide system, a willingness by all staff members to claim ownership of the responsibilities is needed. Educators must be flexible and they must embrace the cultural changes that occur with a system change. Each staff member must be willing to change their way of thinking about educating students. The thinking must shift from merely teaching concepts to the whole class to educating each student in the grade level requirements by focusing on the whole student. For this shift to take place successfully, the school leader must build a leadership team, lead them in learning together, guide them in helping the staff to understand why things will be done differently, work with the leadership team and staff to create a plan, foster high expectations and work to gain school-wide consensus (Buffum, Mattos & Weber, 2012). It takes an innovative and progressive leader to change the culture of the school. This transformative leader would facilitate effective school-wide academic and behavior supports for students through proven actions.

The top three barriers to collaboration are helping staff to understand the reasons why a cultural change is needed, consistently communicating with stakeholders, and getting staff members to collaborate and learn together. The difficulty in ensuring that school staff fully understands the logic behind the changes arises from their comfort with the current habits. The feeling is that “well enough” should be left alone. The resistance also stems from the fact that so many efforts for reform have been introduced before, only to be replaced again. Leaders need to provide professional development opportunities that motivate staff members to take action. When a professional learning community (PLC) culture is developed, administrators and teachers can collaborate in the common effort to do what it takes to reach all students. The shift will then take natural shape and consensus may be facilitated. Developing effective procedures for collaborating and disseminating student progress information to families and the community can be difficult if staff consensus is not reached. This is because it takes a collaborative effort to communicate with families. Families need to connect with teachers, counselors, school psychologist, and all staff who are involved in providing services for their children.  Jerald (2010) stated that to achieve and sustain significant improvement in school reform, a school-wide system of support must be developed. Shared school-wide strategies and team efforts are required for school success as stated by the author. When all stakeholders are of like mind, involved, and well informed, schools have a greater likelihood of success in their efforts to develop a successful PS/RTI program and involve the families. The school leader’s practices are the major factors that determine the failure or success of the school reform.

Buffum, A. G., Mattos, M., & Weber, C. (2012). Simplifying response to intervention: Four essential guiding principles. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Jerald, C. (2010). Helping schools engage in collaborative, strategic problem solving. The Center for Comprehensive School Reform. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Helping_Schools_Problem _Solving/

Specialized and Differentiated Instruction

Although specialized instruction is an element of differentiated instruction, each of these instructional processes has unique characteristics. Differentiated instruction maximizes student growth and individual success by providing multiple avenues for the acquisition of content to demonstrate what they have learned (Demirsky & Goddard). Differentiated instruction involves structuring the learning environment for flexible grouping and individualized instruction. Student abilities and achievement levels, interests, or learning styles are taken into consideration for planning instruction and grouping considerations, as stated by the authors. Specialized instruction involves adapting the content, methodology, or delivery method to the student (Autrey & DeMuth).  It aims to address the unique needs of individual students to ensure access to the general education curriculum. The specific needs of students are assessed, and actions are taken to accommodate them. For example, an individual student may need to use a highlighter during reading comprehension instruction or he may need to use graphic organizers to successfully complete writing assignments. Both types of instructional approaches focus on opening avenues for students to access the curriculum. Within the differentiated classroom, specific students may require more specialized instruction to meet their needs and assist them in performing to acquire the content.

All students in my setting are supported by differentiated instructional approaches within the general education classroom. Students are provided flexible grouping supports for various lessons. Students who have similar needs or perform at similar levels are given instruction in small group settings. Individual students who require more focused considerations receive one-on-one specialized instruction within the classroom or in the resource room to meet their unique instructional need for specific content.

Demirsky, S., & Goddard, Y. (2010). Differentiated instruction and RTI: A natural fit.Educational Leader, 68(2), 1-3. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct10/vol68/num02/Differentiated-Instruction-and-RTI@-A-Natural-Fit.aspx

Autrey, S. (2012). Processing deficits, specialized instruction and accommodations. Retrieved from Fayette County ECS website: http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Special-Education-Services/Documents/IDEAS_processing_deficits_ppt.pdf

The Role of Assessment in Understanding Behavior

As a member of the problem-solving team at any school, when dealing with the need to find the underlying causes of behavior, I would recommend that the team administer a Functional Assessment of Behavior (FBA) to analyze the antecedents, specific behavior and the maintaining consequences for the purpose of developing a hypothesis as stated by Filter and Horner (2009). Observations, interviews, and data collection must be used to target the causes of her behavior. After developing a hypothesis, the next step would be to determine the best intervention and reinforcement to eliminate the specific behavior. An experiment using an ABAB design would be the best method for evaluating the student's behavior and to determine if the intervention would effectively diminish her negative behavior. Baseline data would show the student's frequency in aggressive behavior without interventions and the implementation of the interventions with additional data collection would help to determine if it is effective. An additional set of baseline data, then intervention data would solidify the effects of the intervention (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012). For the student's specific behavior problems, an intervention that includes a daily “check-in” and a discussion session with her counselor at least once weekly to receive frustration tolerance instruction would help to reduce her negative behavior. Continuous monitoring and data tracking should be a part of her support to inform her long term needs and to provide information about whether the school-wide problem-solving system works (Buffum, Mattos, & Weber, 2012).

Since the student's academic progress is also a concern, the teacher collaborative team should review her present levels of academic progress from data collected by her classroom teachers. Tier II interventions should then be administered to provide more intensive supports with progress monitoring data collection to determine how best to continuously meet her needs. The behavior interventions and academic interventions should be provided simultaneously and with equal intensity to prevent any negative effect that one may have on the other. Algozzine, Wang, and Violette (2010) stated that acceptable behaviors should be taught as persistently as academic content to ensure progress.

Algozzine, B., Wand, C., & Violette, A. (2010). Reexamining the relationship between academic achievement and social behavior. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 13(3). doi:10.1177/1098300709359084

 Buffum, A. G., Mattos, M., & Weber, C. (2012). Simplifying response to intervention: Four essential guiding principles. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Filter, K., & Horner, R. (2009). Function-based academic interventions for problem behavior. Education and Treatment of Children, 32(1). Retrieved from http://http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezp. waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?sid=14990fc5-f77d-43db-b47e-6ce64471eab3%40 sessionmgr114&vid=1&hid=105&bdata=JnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d#db= a9h&AN=36632573

                                                                                        

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012). Student behavior in a multi-tiered system of support. Baltimore, MD: Author.

The Impact of Leadership on Fostering Problem Solving

Conflict plays important roles in the problem-solving team process. Team members bring differences in background, expertise, views, habits, preferences, and personalities, therefore conflict is inevitable. Since it can be anticipated, effective planning can ensure that conflict adds to the productivity of the process. If left to chance, on the other hand, it can be destructive to the process. Leaders must make it a priority to teach team members the skills needed to resolve conflict among themselves (Townsley, n.d.). If originated from personality conflict differences, disagreements are more likely to prove destructive to the task performance. On the other hand, if originated from task conflict, disagreements could induce productivity through the development of innovative insight (De Dreu, 2001). School leaders will benefit the team problem-solving process by providing professional development to teach specific conflict management strategies and the use of positive debate strategies to reach desirable conclusions. Burns, Peters and Noell (2008), stated that providing performance feedback consistently to the problem-solving team will increase task fidelity in the problem-solving process.

Burns, M. K., Peters, R., & Noell, G. H. (2008). Using performance feedback to enhance implementation fidelity of the problem-solving team process. Journal of School Psychology, 46, 540. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2008.04.001

De Dreu, C. (2006). When too little or too much hurts: Evidence for a curvilinear relationship between task conflict and innovation in teams. Journal of Management,32(1), 84. doi:10.1177/0149206305277795

Townsley, C. A. (n.d.). CSWT Reports-Townsley. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from http://gram.eng.uci.edu /~ghubbard/mae189/Townsley.html Townsley, C. A. (n.d.). CSWT Reports-Townsley. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from http://gram.eng.uci.edu/~ghubbard/mae189/Townsley.html

What Makes a Problem Solving Culture?

The role of school climate as a part of the problem-solving culture is to enable successful collaborative team communication and activity. A positive school climate fosters sensitivity toward individual differences and helps the collaborative team members to feel comfortable enough to contribute within their roles. Howell, Patton, and Deiotte (2008) stated that members of the team should be respected and approachable by staff. Mutual respect not only facilitates collaboration, it supports the school-wide behavioral expectations. A positive school climate should begin with the collaborative problem-solving team and through deliberate actions, become a part of the school culture. The importance of a supportive climate is evident in the positive student behavioral outcomes and in the professional productivity throughout a school setting. A positive climate is also important in professional settings across the community, as reported by three interviewees.

Three professionals who work in different industries were interviewed to gather information on their views on organizational culture. The questionnaire used to gather information contained the following questions. 1. What is organizational culture? 2. What setting attributes constitute a climate that is conducive to problem solving?  3. What problem-solving actions take place at your organization on a daily or weekly basis? 4. What do you do to ensure the problem-solving process is successful? 5. How do you ensure that everyone contributes to the positive climate? The answers provided by a restaurant owner were as follows. 1. Organizational culture refers to the way that individuals within an organization interact with one another. 2.  My employees are always using problem-solving strategies to produce quality products and customer service. They must be able to communicate in a positive manner, show respect for one another, and stay calm in a stressful situation. 3.  Our customers need to be satisfied and if they are not, steps are taken to resolve any issue. There are also planning and structural decisions to be made, which requires collaborative problem-solving strategies. 4.  I meet with my employees weekly to discuss any issues and to lay a plan of action for each day of the week. It takes mutual respect and patience to get through the meetings without offending, undermining, or disrespecting anyone. 5. I review the ground rules before each meeting, I include discussions about the professional relationships and how to maintain them, and I mentor each of my employees as they work each day to have positive, productive exchanges throughout each day. The chiropractic doctor that was interviewed provided the following answers. 1. Organizational culture is the method in which a group views and treats one another. 2. Our customers have different needs and desires. The environment needs to be calm, inviting one that enables customers to communicate freely and have trust in the abilities of the professionals. 3. The problem-solving within my office is done to determine the needs of our patients and to provide them with the appropriate chiropractic and orthopedic treatment. 4. To ensure that our problem-solving process is successful, I foster an environment of friendliness and acceptance. This helps because when it is time to have a detailed conversation regarding a patient, not other issues impede the flow of ideas. 5. During weekly meetings, we discuss issues of the previous week and try to develop a plan to ensure productive exchanges. The Accountant interviewed responded as follows. 1. Organizational culture refers to the way that colleagues get along and manage their office relationships. 2. There are many document management and accounting detail problem-solving tasks to perform.  Joint efforts are required to solve each problem. 3. Our clients require tax services and general accounting services. Problem solving takes place in the form of finding if there are discrepancies and fixing them. There are also problem-solving actions to ensure organized, effective work completion. 4. Meetings take place on a monthly basis in our office. We discuss progress in our customers’ accounts and any hindrances to progress within the office. 5. To ensure that the positive climate is supported by everyone, we have semi-annual employee evaluation meetings and weekly office meetings to discuss concerns in addition to accounting business.

As I walked into each place of business, the evidence of a positive culture was clear. In the example of the restaurant manager’s setting, I experienced the manner in which they work together to carry out the duties. The communication was polite and friendly, respectful tones and gestures were noted, and helpful actions were seen during the entire visit. When a problem arose, it was quickly resolved because of the ease of communication and collaborative action. A customer required special preparation of her meal. The waiter was not sure if it could be done. He was dealing with another customer’s complaint as well so he asked a team member to find the answer for him and explain to the customer what will be done. Because of the quick actions of both employees, both customers were pleased with their experiences. The manager mentioned in his response to the questionnaire that his employees had positive interactions. This was evident in my observation.

It takes deliberate actions to ensure a culture that is conducive to the problem-solving process. Leaders need to take a proactive position and equip all personnel with the information available about supporting the problem-solving culture within the organization. There is a clear correlation between the professional views of what constitutes a problem-solving culture and the literature on the subject. Each professional interviewed included meetings to discuss plans of action and maintenance of a positive culture. Buffum, Mattos, and Weber (2012) stated the leadership’s ability to determine the location, structure, and timing of the meeting conversation is a great leverage point that will help in creating staff consensus. The strategic planning of problem-solving meetings is essential. The clear expectations of respectful, professional exchanges are an essential part of having successful meetings as stated by the authors. The problem-solving culture clearly began with the organization leader in the planning and monitoring of expected actions by their employees.

Howell, R., Patton, S., & Deiotte, M. (2008). Understanding response to intervention: A practical guide to systemic implementation. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Buffum, A. G., Mattos, M., & Weber, C. (2012). Simplifying response to intervention: Four essential guiding principles. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Leadership for Fostering Family-School Partnerships

One competency that I believe to be highly effective in sustaining positive family-school partnerships is the ability to establish and sustain trusting relationships. This begins with communication that is inviting, supportive, and positive.  School leaders should ensure that parents are engaged in conversation regarding student strengths and challenges, create a welcoming atmosphere, and support teachers in providing specific home-based strategies to support students (Howell, Patton, & Deiotte, 2008). Parents may be more open to partnering with the school on behalf of their children when given a positive, supportive atmosphere and the opportunity to strengthen their ability to more effectively act as home educators. When school leaders coordinate the learning opportunities that integrate home, school, and community, parents may be more likely to contribute to the collaborative effort.

Coordinating learning opportunities beyond the classroom is another leadership competency that supports the positive partnership between family and school. Parents should be informed and given the opportunity to become involved in the joint development of school-wide programs and initiatives as stated by the Colorado Department of Education (2009). The school must also respond to parent or student requests to receive support in working at home and coordinating classroom and home learning as stated by the author. When schools provide full support for student learning and family involvement, the effects include a greater chance for trusting relationships and positive student outcomes.

Establishing, and sustaining trusting relationships is important throughout the school year and within each tier. Coordinating learning opportunities beyond the classroom should also take place as a part of each tier, but should be intensified within tier II and tier III. Parents are to be continuously informed of the progress and needs of their children and offered assistance in providing additional support at home. They should also be encouraged to inform the school of any need they may have for additional resources and support as they work to provide supplemental academic and behavioral instruction at home.

Howell, R., Patton, S., & Deiotte, M. (2008). Understanding response to intervention: A practical guide to systemic implementation. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Colorado Department of Education (2009). Family and community parenting: “On the team and at the table” toolkit. Retrieved April 21, 2013 from http://www.cde.state.co.us/rti/familycommunity toolkit.htm