Course Name: DATA-BASED INDIVIDUALIZATION IN ACADEMICS AND BEHAVIOR

Course Developers: Lisa Didion, Veronica Mellado De La Cruz, Brittany Pennington, Samantha Walte

Course Description: This Masters-level course begins with an introduction of comorbidity of academic/behavior problems, including data on comorbidity and different paths proposed in the literature (e.g., students with behavior problems miss instructional time, which leads to academic deficits). Throughout the semester, we will follow a framework practitioners can use to determine how to assess and intervene when students have both academic and behavioral difficulties. The course ends with detailed descriptions of populations that often have both academic and behavior needs and effective research based practices are reviewed.

Learning Objectives: 

Completion of this course will provide you with knowledge to:

1.    Understand the rationale for intensive intervention

2.    Describe the progression of the DBI process

3.    Provide examples of quantitative and qualitative intervention changes

4.    Understand the advantages and disadvantages of using general outcome measures versus mastery measures for progress monitoring

5.    Use progress monitoring data to describe present levels of performance, set individualized goals, and decide when instructional changes are needed

6.    Select and define meaningful target behaviors for progress monitoring

7.    Plan and carry out data collection to monitor a target behavior

8.    Select, administer and score appropriate measures for progress monitoring

9.    Define Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA)

10.  Develop a deep understanding of core concepts of behavior

11.  Understand the processes and procedures of FBA

12.  Identify students at risk for academic and behavior problems in Tier I and Tier II instruction

13.  Identify considerations for assessment and instruction for a) English language learners in Tier I and II in a variety of language learning programs; (b) during intervention with English language learners with academic/behavioral problems.

14.  Identify students with learning and behavior needs who may benefit from motivation training or self-determined learning opportunities and use data to evaluate its effects

15. Identify the unique challenges of implemented intensive intervention for students with Autism spectrum disorder, low incidence disabilities, and extreme behavior problems

Developed course materials include the following:

• • Syllabus for 16 weeks of instruction
  • Class PowerPoints
  • Required texts and readings as well as supplemental readings
  • Detailed assignment instructions and related rubrics
  • In-class materials/exit tickets
  • Grading criteria

**For access to a complete set of materials for a particular course, please email a request to nclii@vanderbilt.edu.

Course citation: Didion, L., Mellado De La Cruz, V., Pennington, B., Walte, S., & Martinez-Lincoln, A. (2019). Scholar-designed Course: Data-Based Individualization in Academics and Behavior. National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention; Grant H325H140001. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. Available at http://nclii.org/scholar-designed-courses/data-based-individualization/.