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| Goodbye Trainer: The Role of Rule Governed Behavior in Faculty Training |
| Monday, May 25, 2009 |
| 1:30 PM–2:50 PM |
| North 121 BC |
| Area: EDC/AUT; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Kelly A. Hobbins (Hawthorne Country Day School) |
| CE Instructor: Lisa Britton, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: The higher-order class of behaviors that characterize rule governed behavior play a role in traditional and novel forms of faculty training in schools. Because of the economical nature, and practicality generated by instruction-following, many complex behaviors of school staff are shaped by the verbal community. While many traditional approaches to faculty training involve instruction following, these instructed performances are often insensitive to the consequences experienced in a classroom. The four papers presented in this symposium will provide instructional tactics for ensuring such skilled performance with faculty that allow a combination of both rule governed and contingency shaped experiences through the use of PSI, module systems of training, as well as a teacher performance rate accuracy tool. Further, the papers will examine the contingencies that maintain instruction following, as well as the relationship between verbal formulations and nonverbal contingencies. Results discussed from each of the aforementioned studies will also examine the contingencies that maintain instruction-following with respect to faculty training. |
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| The Economics and Outcomes of PSI in Faculty Training |
| AMY J. DAVIES LACKEY (Hawthorne Country Day School), Virginia S. Wong (Hawthorne Country Day School), Jean Korchma (Hawthorne Country Day School) |
| Abstract: The personalized system of instruction (PSI) developed by Keller and his colleagues has been demonstrated to be effective in collegiate settings. Whether this system can be effective in the workplace (specifically a school setting) may depend on the economics of time and student outcomes as a result of this type of training. Procedures described by Keller (1968) were employed with the training of school staff in a behavior analytic school setting, and compared with a traditional lecture method used in workshops and staff training. A within-subjects design was used in which half of the faculty participants experienced the PSI condition and half experienced the traditional lecture method. Following the training sequence, employees were to demonstrate the skills they acquired by running instructional programs in a discrete trial format. Accuracy and rate, as well as teacher and student performance were measured through the use of a Teacher Performance Rate Accuracy Form, or TPRA (Greer), and functioned as the dependent variable of the study. |
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| Using a Self-Management Script with an Embedded Task Analysis to Prompt Teacher Completion of Performance Goals and Collateral Effects on Student Behavior |
| TINA MARIE COVINGTON (Hawthorne Foundation), Daren Cerrone (Hawthorne Country Day School), Jason Cory Rosenfeld (Hawthorne Country Day School), Amanda W Doll (Manhattanville College), Jean Korchma (Hawthorne Country Day School) |
| Abstract: In three studies we investigated the effects of a self-management script on the cumulative number of performance goals completed by teachers. Teachers were given a set of 5 performance goals related to increasing verbal behavior; contingency shaped behavior, and verbally mediated skills in ABA. Supervisors through quizzes, spot checks and classroom meetings monitored progress. During intervention, teachers were given a self-management script, which listed the behaviors necessary to identify, organize, set up a timeline, and monitor the completion of performance goals. Results showed that the textual script correlated with an increase in the number of performance goals completed weekly by the participants. Positive effects on student behavior were evident and suggested further investigation on the collateral effects of the completion of the performance goals. |
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| The Effects of Supervisor-Delivered Feedback and Video Self-Observation with the Teacher Performance Rate/Accuracy (TPRA) Measurement |
| AMANDA W DOLL (Manhattanville College), Daren Cerrone (Hawthorne Country Day School), Jason Cory Rosenfeld (Hawthorne Country Day School) |
| Abstract: Previous research has demonstrated that teachers in special education settings make superior improvements in their instruction when they are provided with repeated observations and specific, rather than general feedback (Ingham & Greer, 1992) that addresses both their own behavior and their students’ behavior simultaneously, such as with the TPRA (Selinske, Greer, & Lodhi (1991). The present multiple baseline across teachers study used the TPRA measure within a special school environment to provide written and graphic feedback to teachers and teaching assistants during a baseline condition. Those staff identified as requiring support on the basis of their pre-intervention performance were invited to participate. These staff were taught to code videotaped instructional segments until they were calibrated observers to the training tape. Finally, teachers recorded their own teaching and were then taught to perform TPRA observations on themselves and to apply decision rules and goal-setting to their own graphed performances. A functional relationship between video self-observation was demonstrated for several of the teachers. |
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| Teaching machines for teachers - The Legacy of BF Skinner |
| JEREMY H. GREENBERG (Applied Behavioral Consulting Services, LLC) |
| Abstract: There has been an increase in the use of computers and technology over the recent years in the instruction of students. Video modeling has demonstrated positive results for many students. Teachers and supervisors can benefit as well from technological enhanced instruction. Schools for students that use applied behavior analysis have a need for consistent training procedures. Some examples of computer-based training will be discussed as well as potential benefits. |
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