This project will test the effectiveness of the Inclusive Skill-building Learning Approach (ISLA) in reducing the use of exclusionary discipline, improving teacher practice and student outcomes, and decreasing substance misuse using a randomized controlled trial in 60 middle schools across six states.
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students who cannot comprehend written or spoken English or written or spoken Spanish, or
students who are eligible for alternate assessment for statewide achievement testing.
Parallel
Instructional Skill-Building Learning Approach (ISLA)
BehavioralThe Inclusive Skill-building Learning Approach (ISLA) is a school-wide, multi-component, instructional and restorative alternative to exclusionary discipline that begins with universal prevention grounded in positive, preventative classroom strategies for all students, and layers on additional supports for students in need.
Frequency and Duration of Use of Office Discipline Referrals, In-School Suspension, and Out-of-School Suspension
We will collect data on the use of office discipline referrals (ODRs), in-school (ISS), and out-of-school suspensions (OSS). As part of the National TA Center on PBIS, all schools that will be recruited for this project use the School-Wide Information Systems (SWIS; May et al., 2013), a web-based behavior tracking platform, to enter and review behavior incidents and actions taken by school personnel including office discipline referrals (ODRs), in-school (ISS), and out-of-school suspensions (OSS).
Engagement vs. Disaffection with Learning Student-report
The Engagement vs. Disaffection with Learning Student-report assesses engagement as a key component of motivated action leading to student learning and achievement. The assessment measures engagement versus disaffection in the classroom ranging from enthusiastic, effortful, emotionally positive interactions with learning activities to apathetic withdrawal and frustrated alienation, with both positive manifestations of behavioral and emotional participation in classroom and withdrawal of behavioral and emotional participation and alienation from learning. All items have five response options: (1) Not at all True; (2) A little True; (3) Mostly True; (4) Very True; (5) Prefer not to answer.
Inclusive Teaching Practices
The WOW+ (Welcome at the door, Own your environment, Wrap up with intention +) Self-Report measures inclusive teaching practices, both general and specific teaching strategies that are part of the ISLA intervention. All school personnel in all treatment schools will receive training on the ISLA strategy for universal relationship building, known as the WOW strategy, which consists of three concrete skills rooted in behavioral science that educators can apply every day to create positive classroom environments: welcome students, own your classroom environment, and wrap up class with the intention. The WOW+ Self-Report is an adaption of the WOW Classroom Observation Tool which is a five-item measure with individual item scores ranging from 0 to 2, where each item is an operationally defined behavior based on the elements of the WOW strategy training.
School Climate Survey- Student
The School Climate Survey: Secondary (SCS-S) is a 36-item, computerized school climate rating scale (Center on PBIS, 2022). The purpose of the SCS-S is to obtain middle and high school student perception ratings of school climate. Respondents use a 4-point Likert scale: 1=Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Agree, and 4 = Strongly Agree. To compute the overall school climate score, item responses are summed and then divided by the total number of items. Higher overall scores reflect a positive sense of the school environment with respect to (a) interpersonal relations among and between peers and adults, (b) learning environment, and (c) feelings of belonging and acceptance.
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University of Oregon
Lead sponsor
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Collaborator
