Fidelity refers to how closely prescribed procedures are followed and, in the context of schools, the degree to which educators implement programs, assessments, and implementation plans the way they were intended. When we implement interventions and assessments with fidelity, intervention teams can make more accurate decisions about an individual student’s progress and future intervention needs. In addition, fidelity of implementation to the data-based individualization (DBI) process as a whole and across multiple students in a school, helps to ensure that staff have the necessary resources and processes in place to support strong implementation for individual students. The following tools assess and support fidelity of DBI implementation at the school, interventionist, and student levels.
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DBI Process
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Using multiple data sources, the teacher or team makes a decision to adapt the intervention program to better meet the student’s individual needs. The teacher or team outlines these adaptations in an individual student plan. The plan may include adaptation strategies along several dimensions. These strategies may include quantitative changes, such as providing more opportunities for a student to respond by increasing the length or frequency of the intervention, or decreasing the size of the intervention group.
Research tells us that ongoing coaching is essential for achieving practice change. And without ongoing coaching and practice opportunities, professional development is highly unlikely to lead to increased knowledge and skills to implement a new practice soundly. This rings especially true for complex processes like data-based individualization (DBI). DBI requires that educators commit to engaging in the iterative process of providing intervention, analyzing progress monitoring data, and making data-based decisions to adapt and individualize interventions when needed. To help schools effectively implement DBI, ongoing implementation support in the form of coaching that provides opportunities to learn critical information, apply and receive feedback, and troubleshoot problems when they occur is essential.
This course collection provides a guide to available NCII courses for those who are newer to the DBI process or interested in learning more about how intensive intervention can support students with severe and persistent learning and/or social, emotional, or behavioral needs.
In this video, Dr. Devin Kearns, an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the Department of Education Psychology at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut and NCII Trainer & Coach, discusses the importance of making changes in a systematic way when adapting interventions for students with intensive needs.
The purpose of this module, Behavior Basics: Understanding Principles of Behavior, is to gain foundational knowledge of what behavior is, how behavior is defined, and what environmental factors influence behavior. This foundational knowledge is core to understanding behavior, supporting students with challenging behavior, and later, diagnosing function of behavior and developing effective behavioral interventions.
After initial data-based individualization (DBI) implementation, schools and districts need to own the work and deliver ongoing support, including supports for new teachers within existing budgets and staff time. Planning for sustainability upfront can help district leaders to streamline their implementation efforts. In New York City, Jason Borges and Meghan Duffy from the New York City Department of Education have found several successful strategies for DBI implementation that have helped make DBI self-sustaining. This audio story shares their DBI implementation approach, successes, and lessons learned about sustainability. The recording is broken into three parts.