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Effective Leaders Do What It Takes! Engineering Schools for Provider and Learner Success |
Saturday, May 25, 2024 |
3:00 PM–4:50 PM |
Marriott Downtown, Level 3, Liberty Ballroom Salon BC |
Area: OBM/EDC; Domain: Service Delivery |
Chair: Guy Bruce (Appealing Solutions, LLC) |
Discussant: Karen Chung (Special Learning, Inc. ) |
CE Instructor: Guy Bruce, Ed.D. |
Abstract: “The engineer approaches nature with a swagger, determined to change it into something it has never been and never would be if left to itself . . . the engineer knows precisely where to go and will use any available methodology to get there” (Tom Gilbert 1978; 2007, page 3). Tom Gilbert, and before him, B.F. Skinner (1959; 1972), described an engineering approach to behavior change. Engineering is pragmatic. It relies on frequent, accurate sensitive measures of behavior change to evaluate learner progress, direct accurate measures to analyze provider performance problems and recommend changes in provider resources, training, and management, and to solve performance problems by designing and implementing those solutions. Engineers make changes in the design and implementation of provider resources when a learner is not making efficient progress towards mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for a successful life. Organizational Performance Engineering changes how providers and parents work together so that every learner will be successful, decreases learner and staff attrition, and allows us to meet our ethical obligations to act in the best interest of every learner. This symposium will provide examples of schools that have been engineered for learner success. |
Instruction Level: Intermediate |
Keyword(s): Analyze Performance, Evaluate Progress, Organizational, Performance Engineering |
Target Audience: The target audience includes directors, program designers, staff trainers, supervisors in organizations whose mission is to ensure that every learner makes efficient progress towards mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for a successful life. Necessary prerequisite skills include participant mastery of the application of behavior analysis to change behavior. |
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation participants will be able to: 1) Distinguish between pragmatic and dogmatic organizations 2) Draw a Provider-Recipient Network diagram for their organizations 3) Describe the sequence of tasks necessary to evaluate learner progress 4) Describe the sequence of task necessary to analyze provider performance problems and recommend changes in provider resources, training, and management 5) Describe the sequence of tasks to solve provider performance problems |
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Organizational Performance Engineering to Change How Providers Work Together So That Every Learner Makes Efficient Progress |
GUY BRUCE (Appealing Solutions, LLC) |
Abstract: Organizations whose mission is to provide learners with knowledge and skills they need for successful lives, must adapt to the needs of students, parents, and their teachers to ensure their success. We designed and implemented an organizational performance engineering process to change how providers at a preschool for children with autism worked together to increase the efficiency of learner progress, reduce learner attrition, and decrease staff turnover. Organizational Performance Engineering is an application of behavior analysis which, like other types of engineering relies on frequent, accurate, sensitive measures of learner progress to: Evaluate when a learner is not making efficient progress towards mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for a successful life; Analyze teacher, program designer, staff trainer, supervisor, and parent performance problems; Recommend changes teacher, program designer, staff trainer, supervisor, and parent resources, training, and management; and Solve provider performance problems by designing and implementing recommended solutions. An Organizational Performance Engineering approach can change how providers work together so that every learner makes efficient progress, decreasing both learner attrition and staff turnover. |
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Engineering a Public Charter School for Student, Family, and Staff Success |
MIA J COFFING (Prospect Academy ) |
Abstract: Prospect Academy is currently in its 2nd year as a free, public charter school in the state of Colorado. The success of our students depends on how connected, prepared, and effective our staff and families are with our students. We use organizational performance engineering to change how staff and families work together so that every student makes efficient progress towards mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for a successful life. If we systematize these processes and procedures then they will not be tied to a person or group of people, but rather become part of the community’s culture.
The cornerstone of the engineering process is frequent, accurate, sensitive measures of student progress and data-based analyses of provider performance problems. Our measures of student progress allow us to identify quickly when any student is struggling, and our analysis of provider performance problems allow us to identify the causes and makes changes in provider resources, training, and management so that every student can be successful. When teachers and parents can be effective in helping students make efficient progress and can see that progress each time they work with students, student, staff, and parent attrition will decrease. |
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Educators as Change Agents |
JOANNE K. ROBBINS (Morningside Academy & PEER International) |
Abstract: Children and youth enter and progress through schooling with a range of repertoires that can affect the rate of development of new repertoires. The leadership team and faculty become the “change agents” (Geis, 1977) who must program for all learners while creating a support system for those engineering this change. Morningside Academy, a nonprofit school founded in 1980, continues to address the growth of both academic and social skills for learners who enter with the need to develop specific skills in a rapid fashion which must become long-lasting. As behavior scientists, we employ the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction in a laboratory school setting. Morningside offers a money-back Learning Guarantee. Regular data collection, a psychology class that provides all with a common problem-solving language, and frequent professional development help to create an environment that enjoys great success. Our setting is open to other professionals who seek training and practice to change and improve their instruction and assessment. The same underpinnings of learner-validated instruction and delivery can be extended to all settings and all ages of learners, whether change is needed in a 1:1 or a group learning environment. |
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The Six D’s of Exponentials: Behavior Analysis, Technology, and System Change |
RICK M. KUBINA (Penn State) |
Abstract: Technological advances and exponential growth rapidly change many aspects of society. Such change presents both opportunities and challenges for the field of behavior analysis. The current presentation introduces a framework of the "6 D's" to characterize different aspects of exponential technological change: Digitalization, Deception, Disruption, Demonetization, Dematerialization, and Democratization. With such multifaceted changes, behavior analysts can help by designing humane systems and evidence-based interventions. Research and applied opportunities include improving behavior change plans, instructional programs spanning early childhood to adult learning, and developing applied cultural engineering. Overall, exponential technological advances require individual, organizational, and societal changes. Behavior analysis offers empirical methods to understand and influence behavior in this rapidly changing digital landscape. Organizations with a mission to educate can apply Skinner’s pragmatic science and engineering to change how providers work together so that every learner makes efficient progress. We can design and implement an organizational performance engineering process that will identify quickly when any student is struggling, the causes of provider performance problems, recommend and design changes in provider resources, training, and management to ensure that every learner makes efficient progress towards mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for a successful life. |
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