Leadership Is
Essential for Schoolwide Behavior and Learning Initiative
Behavior and Learning Support
Initiative Gets Underway
by Steven D. Goodman, Ph.D. Teacher Consultant,
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, and Co-Director, Michigan's
Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative
A new state initiative sponsored by the Michigan
Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Early
Intervention Services focuses on increasing student reading
performance, reducing problem behaviors, and helping school staff
use student performance information to develop and evaluate behavior
and reading interventions. In Spring 2003, Macomb
Intermediate School District (ISD), Ottawa
Area ISD, and Kalamazoo
Regional Educational Service Agency (ESA) were awarded this
grant for schoolwide behavior and learning programs. Michigan’s
Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MiBLSi, pronounced
as mi-blis-e) is a Mandated Activities Project under the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
School leaders want to know how their leadership is guiding the
school climate. The MiBLSi project will help school administrators
lead their districts toward building the capacity to sustain effective
schoolwide behavior and learning programs. The project will provide
information, coaching, resources, and incentives for focused planning
and intervention. Schools will be trained and supported in this
data-driven, problem-solving model at the individual, grade, and
schoolwide levels. The first group of participants in the project
will be selected and in place by February 2004. Additional participating
schools will be added to the project each year over a four-year
period.
Schools are complex systems that benefit from direction, valid
information, proven practices, and appropriate resources to be
effective. Building support for new initiatives takes time. That
is why the MiBLSi project will strongly encourage participating
schools to make a three-year commitment to the project.
Past efforts at implementing schoolwide behavior and reading
models indicate that principals play a key role in successful
schoolwide initiatives. In the MiBLSi project, the building principal
will develop building-based teams for schoolwide behavior and
reading support. With support from the district’s central
office and guidance from the school principal, the building team
will develop an action plan, implement schoolwide strategies,
and evaluate schoolwide efforts. The principal will provide focus
to staff and students through feedback and acknowledgement of
project accomplishments. The principal also will communicate the
importance of the project and allocate the resources necessary
to carry out the action plan.
References
Colvin, G., & Sprick, R. (1999). Providing
administrative leadership for effective behavior support: Ten
strategies for principals. Effective School Practices, 17, 65-71.
Scott, T. M., & Hunter, J. (2001). Initiating
school wide support systems: An administrator’s guide to
the process. Beyond Behavior, 11, 13-15.
For more information, contact: Steve Goodman,
Ph.D., Ottawa Area ISD, 13565 Port Sheldon Rd., Holland, MI 49424,
(877) 702-8600 #4027, fax (616) 738-8946, sgoodman@oaisd.org;
Kathryn Schallmo, Macomb Intermediate School District, 44001 Garfield
Rd., Clinton Township, MI 48038-1100, (586) 228-3330, fax (586)
263-6240, kschallmo@misd.net;
or Margaret McGlinchey, Ph.D., Kalamazoo RESA, 1819 E. Milham
Rd., Kalamazoo, MI 49002-3035, (269) 385-1581, fax (269) 381-3523,
mmcglinc@kresanet.org.
A Principal Answers Questions
about Using the Behavior and Learning Support Initiative
Strategies
Editor’s Note: Michigan’s Integrated Behavior
and Learning Support Initiative (MiBLSi) comes on the heels
of a 2001, four-year, federally funded grant project awarded
to investigate the association between behavior and reading
difficulties on a schoolwide level. (See “Schools
Address Correlation between Behavior and Reading Difficulties,”
Newsline, September/October 2001, pg. 14.) Jean Sharp
retired as principal of Lake Hills Elementary (third grade
through fifth grade) and Ferrysburg Elementary (kindergarten
through second grade) in Spring Lake, Michigan last spring.
She responded to questions about her involvement with the
federal initiative, which aligns with the proposed MiBLSi
model and strategies. The federal project will continue
for the next year and a half.
Q: Why is it in the interest of your
staff to adopt MiBLSi strategies?
A: The idea of combining behavioral and learning support
made sense to the staffs of Lake Hills and Ferrysburg. We
believe that we are most successful as educators when we
look at the whole child. By monitoring the child’s
reading and behavioral data on a regular basis, we can intervene
to change behavioral expectations and the instructional
delivery methods for behavior and reading.
Q: How is your staff responding to
the MiBLSi approach?
A: The staffs at Lake Hills and Ferrysburg voted 100 percent
to support the MiBLSi model. As the model has evolved in
our schools, the staffs have been committed to viewing data
and changing the way they have been teaching students. They
teach behavior expectations and are open to trying reading
interventions to effect change in student progress.
Q: What do you do to engage parents
in the MiBLSi model?
A: Parents are part of the decision-making process when
they serve on the Schoolwide Management System Inspiring
Learning Excellence (SMILE) team. Parents also work as playground
supervisors to help monitor and intervene for those who
need behavioral modifications on the playground, where behavior
referrals tend to be the highest.
Q: How are parents in your school
responding to the MiBLSi model?
A: Parents are informed how we make decisions for reading
and behavior based on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early
Literacy Skills (DIBELS) testing and number of office referrals
data. At school orientation, parents see a Power Point presentation
of our MiBLSi model plans. MiBLSi model plans are updated
monthly in our news-letter. The students talk about and
follow the rules: “Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be
Safe.” Parents hear this common language and follow
through with the rules at home.
Q: How is the MiBLSi approach affecting
referrals to the office, suspensions, time-on-task in the
classroom, attendance?
A: It has been interesting to see almost a bell-shaped
curve in our reporting. In the beginning, staffs reported
only the most serious offenses but then began to report
all things that were deemed inappropriate. The number of
referrals increased even though they were not as serious.
Now the number of referrals, for both major and minor offenses,
is declining.
Q: How has the adoption of the MiBLSi
approach changed your school environment?
A: Adopting the approach has changed our school environment
in several ways:
- We have higher expectations for reading and behavior.
- We have a focused, consistent reading plan.
- We have a consistent plan for evaluating reading three
times per year.
- We have a consistent schoolwide plan for behavior.
- Students feel safer.
- We have parents working with us for school improvement.
Q: Would you like to share any other
comments or information?
A: The MiBLSi model has given our schools a common framework
for reading and behavior. The MiBLSi model has become our
school improvement focus, and I think it has given us a
vision as to where we need to go to improve school learning
and create a safer and more caring school environment.
For more information, contact: Jean Sharp,
(616) 846-1926 or Susan
Mueller, Lake Hills/Ferrysburg Principal, 18181 Dogwood,
Spring Lake, MI 49456, (616) 850-5400. |
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