Enhancing Data-based Decisions
Funded by Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education

This Goal 2A Project has four aims: (a) The first is to develop a conceptual model for enhancing data-based decision making in schools; (b) The second is to develop, field-test, and validate an instrument for assessing the quality of decision-making in schools; (c) The third aim is to conduct a quasi-experimental study assessing the impact of providing teams with timely data and decision-making tools on both decision-making about behavior support in schools, and measures of student social behavior (i.e., office discipline referrals, suspensions, expulsions, and academic achievement (i.e., 3 rd grade reading scores); and (d) the fourth aim is use single subject methods to experimentally assess the impact of one approach to data-based decision making (the School-wide Information System) on decision-making in schools.

Two themes are shaping the advancement of behavior support practices in schools: (a) “whole school” applications of evidence-based practices, and (b) practical use of educational and behavioral data for on-going decision-making. One practical example of these themes is the School-wide Information System (SWIS), now used in nearly 3,000 schools across the country. SWIS includes a web-based computer application that allows school personnel to monitor the patterns of disciplinary actions (office discipline referrals, in-school suspensions, detentions, out-of-school suspensions, and expulsions), and use this information for active decision making. The emergence of SWIS, and similar information systems, provides an opportunity to better understand the process by which decisions are made by school teams, the role that accurate, timely data may play in influencing those decisions, and the impact of high-quality decision-making on student outcomes.

We propose to use current models of decision theory to first build and validate a direct observation instrument (the Decision Observation Recording and Analysis tool: DORA) for assessing the decision-making skills of school teams. This instrument will be developed with collaboration from behavior support teams in 10 elementary schools currently implementing SWIS. We will then use this instrument within two research analyses. The first analysis will involve a post-test only quasi-experimental design with 30 elementary schools (15 using SWIS, and 15 not using SWIS). Data will be collected both on the decision-making by school teams, and the impact of decisions on student outcomes (office discipline referrals, out of school suspensions, 3 rd grade reading scores). Data analysis will be completed via t tests comparing the differences between the independent mean scores of the two groups on DORA’s decision-making measures, the measures of student social behavior, and the measure of student academic achievement, with the research hypothesis predicting statistically significant differences favoring outcomes produced by the SWIS Teams.

The second study will employ single-subject, multiple baseline methods with 4-5 elementary schools to provide an experimental analysis of the functional relationship between introduction of the SWIS data-based decision-making procedures and the decision-making by school behavior support teams. This project will set the stage for subsequent larger projects (Goal 3 and Goal 4) designed to develop and implement interventions to improve decision-making by school personnel.