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Over the course of last year (from November to April) an enthusiastic group of NHASP members met on a monthly basis to talk about evidence-based interventions, with a particular focus on what members in New Hampshire were implementing in their schools. We chose middle and high school students and non-academic interventions (e.g., social-emotional and executive skills) as the primary emphasis because we felt that interventions for this age group and in these problem areas were less well developed in the literature. We shared resources, exchanged ideas, and problem solved individual cases that group members volunteered to present. When it was all over, many group members expressed a desire to continue the discussions for another year.

This article will serve as an invitation to participate in this study group, and we are extending the invitation to anyone in NHASP or in related professions (e.g., special education directors or teachers, regular education teachers and administrators, guidance counselors, behavior specialists, etc.) who might like to join the group, whether or not they participated last year.

As a reminder, the purpose of the group is to address one of the key strategic goals of NHASP identified in the most recent strategic planning conducted by the Association. It is: NHASP will improve the capacity of school psychologists in New Hampshire to measure the effectiveness of both academic and behavioral interventions in order to support implementation of school-wide RTI/instructional decision making models.

Last year, we followed a somewhat organic process in which the direction of the study group was shaped by topics that arose naturally in the course of each meeting. I think group members came away from this with a better sense of the wide variety of approaches and strategies being implemented in schools around the state to meet the needs of students using a Response to Intervention format. We discussed an eclectic group of measurement strategies and intervention strategies that gave members a rich set of ideas to bring back to their own school districts.

The plan for the coming year is to continue the discussion in a somewhat more systematic format that may result in more explicit skill-building. An outline of topics to be covered include:

I. Overview of a variety of measurement techniques and methodologies. These will include (but will not be limited to) traditional behavior count methodologies (e.g., the use of permanent products, event/time sampling recording, duration recording, latency recording) as well as more recently developed methods such as Goal Attainment Scaling, Direct Behavior Counts, the use of checklists and rubrics as a way to measure progress, and the use of positive FBA’s (an approach that Nate Jones has been working on), as well as other approaches that group members may suggest.
II. A review of the Problem Solving Model, which serves as the framework for RTI, the four steps of which are: problem identification, problem analysis, intervention development, and response to intervention.
III. A case study approach in which group members volunteer to present a case to the group that follows the problem solving process and uses a measurement technique that allows for an evaluation of the intervention’s success.

We anticipate that the study group will include readings that members will complete before some of the meetings to facilitate the discussion and skill-building. We also will be asking some members to volunteer to present cases. Otherwise, we expect the same kind of lively and informative discussions that took place last year. In exchange for this, group members can earn continuing professional development credit (up to 10 hours, depending on attendance). And best of all: IT’S FREE!!

This year, meetings will take place on Wednesdays at 2 Pillsbury Street, Concord (in the offices of Plymouth State University) from 4-6 pm. The tentative meeting schedule is below:

November 9
January 18
February 15
March 21
April 4
May 9

Any and all are welcome to attend. Please fill out the slip below or email Jonas Taub by November 7 if you want to join the Study Group on Designing Measurable Interventions. He can be reached at: jonasjt@comcast.net

Look forward to seeing you there!

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