Effective School Interventions – Chapter 1

History of Educational Law

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965

• No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001

• Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015

• ESEA authorized state-run programs for eligible schools and districts to raise the academic achievement of struggling learners and address the complex challenges that arise for students who live with disabilities, mobility problems, learning difficulties, poverty, or transience, or who need to learn English. This legislation evolved over time into NCLB act and currently the ESSA act. With each legislative update, additional educational accountability measures and expectations have been included. Both NCLB and ESSA mandate schools to use EVIDENCE-BASED interventions. Additionally, ESSA requires the development of school accountability plans and aims to identify low performing schools in need of additional state- or federal-level supports

 Evidence-Based Interventions

• Strategies, practices, and programs with available research that documents their effectiveness

• Data should suggest (proveI that these interventions improve student outcomes (i.e., academic, social-emotional, behavioral, etc.)

• Interventions should be targeted to address student deficits

• ESSA (2015) categorizes interventions into four tiers, based on the amount of available research that supports the effectiveness of the interventions

 Every Student Succeeds Act: ESSA Tiers of Evidence 

• Tier 1 – Strong Evidence: supported by one or more well-designed and well-implemented randomized control experimental studies

• Tier 2 – Moderate Evidence: supported by one or more well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental studies

• Tier 3 – Promising Evidence: supported by one or more well-designed and well-implemented correlational studies (with statistical controls for selection bias)

• Tier 4 – Demonstrates a Rationale: practices that have a well-defined logic model or theory of action, are supported by research, and have some effort underway by a state/local agency, or outside research organization to determine effectiveness

Every Student Succeeds Act(ESSA):  Tiers of Evidence 

• Video developed by the California Department of Education that breaks down of the four tiers of

research-based interventions.

Intervention Assistant Teams (IAT)

• Team-based consultation approach to selecting and implementing student interventions

• Responsible for progress monitoring the effectiveness of interventions

• Should include parents as well

• Specific title may vary across school sites and districts (i.e., Student Study Team (SST), etc.)

• Book page. 5

  • Many schools have implemented consultation based approaches to identifying evidence based interventions through an intervention assistant team

  • Federal special education guidelines require interventions before students could be referred for an evaluation to identify a disability, thus many schools implement IAT’s

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)

• Tier 1 – universal interventions (all students)

• Tier 2 – targeted interventions (targeted groups of students)

• Tier 3 – intensive interventions (individual student)

 Response to Intervention (RtI)

• Proactive approach to identifying students with academic or social-emotional-behavioral challenges

• Often embedded within an MTSS systems (Tiers 2-3)

• Aims to deliver evidence-based interventions to identified students

• Student performance is frequently monitored to determine progress and/or additional needs

What Makes a Good Intervention?

• Is there documented evidence that supports effectiveness?

• Does the intervention align with the identified problem(s)?

• Is the intervention easy to train through a consultant format?

• Is the intervention able to be effectively and consistently monitored?

• Does the intervention focus on both the child and their environment?

• Does the intervention have a clear understanding of the setting it is designed to be implemented in?

Ethical Considerations

• School psychologists often act as consultants for intervention development, selection, and/or implementation – imperative to be aware of possible ethical issues

• Interventions that are selected must meet several criteria, to include:

  • Federal and state guidelines, district requirements, and ethical principles of practice

• NASP outlines several important ethical considerations related to interventions, these include:

Intervention targets, intervention effectiveness, possible undesirable side effects and outcomes, parent involvement, student involvement, documentation, evaluation, consultant competence, and provisions for referral for additional services (if interventions are not effective)

• Intervention targets

  • Interventions should focus on enhancing skills, not reducing unwanted behaviors or deficits

  • Consider the target environment in which the intervention will be implemented – whole class, group, or individual setting

  • Target “keystone behaviors” – behaviors with the greatest impact on the desired outcome or success of the student

• Intervention effectiveness

  • Interventions that are recommended for use need to have a foundation in research (ESSA Tiers)

  • Interventions need to be monitored for effectiveness

• Possible undesired side effects and outcomes

  • Procedures should always maintain and protect the dignity of students

  • Always aim to minimize the risk of adverse side effects

  • Especially true with interdependent group contingencies – need to involve adequate teacher training as well

• Partnering with parents

  • Involving parents in the intervention process is essential

  • Parents should be involved in conversations regarding interventions

• Student involvement

  • Students should be involved in the intervention process to an appropriate degree

  • Degree of involvement depends on many factors – nature of the problem, capacity to participate, parent’s views of the child’s performance, etc.

• Evaluating intervention effectiveness

  • Data-based decision making is required to determine if interventions should be continued or terminated

  • Frequent and consistent progress monitoring should occur

• Consultant competence

  • All consultants must be aware of their limitations and ensure to practice within those boundaries

  • Consultants should be well-informed about the intervention(s) they recommend

• Provisions for referrals

  • The problem-solving process should not abrogate parent’s rights under IDEIA

  • Interventions and data must be documented

  • Include parents as collaborators from the beginning

Important Cautions Related to School-Based Interventions

• Not all interventions are created equal

• Not all interventions will be successful with all students

• Intervention selected should always be a collaborative process

• Parent involvement is critical

• Data-based decision making can only occur if accurate and meaningful data are collected throughout the course of the intervention

• Do not focus on one sole intervention, consider alternative options

The Role of the School Psychologist

• According to NASP, school psychologists can: (a) develop and provide system-wide prevention activities delivered within an MTSS; (b) interpret data for program planning; (c) develop and monitor program services; (d) provide system-wide, classroom, and individual case consultation; (e) develop crisis prevention and response protocols; and (f) assist in the important coordination of these potentially overlapping services.

• In addition, school psychologists are uniquely trained in assessment and data-based decision making. Therefore, school psychologists can support decision making at the individual, group, classroom, grade, school, and district levels to improve instructional and behavioral health services provided in schools aligned with MTSS.

• According to CASP, “a school psychologist is a credentialed professional whose primary objective is the application of scientific principles of learning and behavior to ameliorate school-related problems and to facilitate the learning and development of children in the public schools of California”

• This is done through effective consultation and collaboration, intervention design/implementation, as well as data collection and data-based decision-making