Precision Teaching Research Articles

The Teacher as Strategic Scientist: A Solution to Our Educational Crisis?

The solution to the educational dilemma ia tied necessarily to the ability of teachers to insure that their students achieve learning objectives that are germane to the survival of the culture and the species. The growing body of scientifically based practices necessary to eliminate the existing educational crisis is briefly outlined. It is argued that these practices can be implemented by teachers who function as strategic scientists. The science used by such teachers include research findings and teaching models incorporating that research (Precision Teaching, Direct Instruction, Programmed Instruction, Personalized System of Instruction). In order to train, support, and motivate the pervasive and sustained application of effective pedagogy by teachers who function as strategic scientists, behavior analysis must be applied to all components of schooling-students, parents, teachers, and supervisors. One model for doing so has developed over the last decade. Research studies and applications in six schools for handicapped children in this country and abroad suggest that this comprehensive application of behavior analysis to schooling (CABAS) is effective, efficient, and viable.

Marketing measurably effective instructional methods

The failure to gain wider acceptance of measurably effective teaching methods by the educational establishment may be due to resistance to behaviorism, in particular, and to a set of contingencies that resist change, in general. The promotion of effective instructional methods is presented in terms of recommended marketing principles, including identifying and solving perceived consumer needs, using plain English, segmenting the marketplace and developing specific solutions, identifying opportunities for greatest impact, creating tangible educational products, seeking new markets, planning marketing strategy and tactics, and writing for non-technical publications. Precision Teaching is presented as a case study in the promotion of effective instructional methods. Although it is a measurably superior instructional methodology, Precision Teaching has not been widely adopted. By applying basic marketing principles and strategic planning, some of its proponents have initiated an ongoing effort of outreach and promotion.

FROM TECHNICAL JARGON TO PLAIN ENGLISH FOR APPLICATION

These examples of translating technical jargon into plain English application words, acronyms, letter codes, and simple tests were necessary as we developed Precision Teaching. I hope our experience is useful to others facing the problems of applying technology in practical settings. At the least, our experience should give you an idea of the work and time involved in making your own translations. Above all, be patient. Accurate plain English translations do not come easily. They cannot be made at your desk. A search often takes years to produce one new accurate plain English translation. Rapid publication pressures, journal editorial policies, and investments in materials, books, and computer programs all combine to hamper these translations. It's possible that you will find some of our plain English equivalents useful in your own applied behavior analysis applications.

Precision teaching's unique legacy from B. F. Skinner

Precision Teaching's unique legacy from B. F. Skinner was the monitoring system of rate of response and the cumulative response recorder. This legacy is unique because the other instructional systems derived from Skinner's work do not use his monitoring method exclusively. Rate of response, cumulative recording and their extension to Precision Teaching's standard celeration charting are briefly described. In addition, Precision Teaching's nature, history, costs, distribution, inductive data-base, and academic base are briefly described. Skinner's legacy to education was a sound behavioral scientific base and his unique legacy to Precision Teaching was self-monitoring for real time decision making by learners and teachers.

The Contribution of Behavioural Approaches to Children's Education and Development

Behavioural approaches to instructional consultation, problem-solving and teaching children have their base in operant psychology. In their modern forms they appear variously under labels such as Applied Behaviour Analysis (Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1986), Direct Instruction (Englemann & Carnine, 1982) and Precision Teaching (Haring, Lovitt, Eaton & Hansen, 1978). They involve the systematic application of scientifically-based processes and procedures which produce learning to a sequence of chosen facts and concepts (‘knowing about’) and behaviours and skills (‘knowing how’). Three illustrative intervention studies which highlight some key characteristics of behavioural approaches to working with children are presented. These permit useful comparisons between a behavioural approach and some current ‘developmental’ and ‘educational’ orientations.

HIGH SCHOOL DRIVER EDUCATION USING PEER TUTORS, DIRECT INSTRUCTION, AND PRECISION TEACHING

The authors investigated the combined effects of direct instruction and precision teaching by peer tutors in a high school driver education curriculum. Learners (N = 4) included students with intellectual and learning disabilities and students without disabilities. Peer tutoring was associated with immediate increases in correct responding and a simultaneous and rapid deceleration of errors. Three learners passed the written tests in the driver education classroom, obtained driver's licenses, and produced similar or better driving records than students who did not require assistance. This program is being continued and expanded by school personnel without assistance from the authors.

An Overview of Behavioural Approaches to Teaching Children with Learning Difficulties and the National Curriculum

Abstract Recent criticisms of behavioural applications to children's learning may lead teachers to reject their use at a time when, in response to the 1991 Education Act, they are being urged to adopt similar principles to those which underpin a behavioural approach. This article looks at the background to behavioural applications to children's learning and provides a brief description of three approaches (task analysis, direct instruction and precision teaching) which have influenced the practice of many teachers and educational psychologists. The assumptions on which the three approaches are based are discussed, their similarities examined and their interrelationship within a process of continuous assessment considered. The article concludes by discussing the role of a behavioural approach in the light of the National Curriculum.

All Charting of Student Performance is Not Precision Teaching: A Response to Koorland and Nelson

All Charting of Student Performance Not Precision Teaching: A Response to Koorland and Nelson We think that Koorlant and Nelson protest too much! Marston (1988) did not suggest that educators discard the Standard Behavior Chart (SBC). It unfortunate if Koorland and Nelson read this into the article. We believe there are many times and places where the SBC might well be used to display student growth and that the SBC an important technological development in education. Setting that issue aside, Koorland and Nelson raise several interesting issues that warrant comment. The primary issue they raise the of the predictive function, or whether the purpose of a slope line to predict student performance. To Koorland and Nelson, assertion that SBC proponents maintain that a significant characteristic of the chart if its better prediction of student performance an overstatement; and the authors go on to argue that the SBC was developed to meet several other needs. While we concede that the SBC can be used for a variety of purposes, we also think proponents of the SBC believe its predictive qualities are important for educational decision making. For example, in a chapter entitled Projecting Celerations, Pennypacker, Koenig, and Lindsley (1972) state: Because of the linearity of the celebration process displayed on the SBC, we can extend an observed celeration line to project future behavior frequencies. This enables us to: 1. Predict, within limits, when established behavioral goals will be reached, assuming relative constancy. 2. Evaluate in procedures against projections of outcomes had the procedures remained unchanged. (p. 78) It clear that active proponents of the SBC are interested in using it to predict student performance. Though it possible to make a variety of arguments about why any chart should be used to display student performance, we would argue that the essential value of charting repeated measurement data to enable slope estimations--a metric unavailabe in traditional educational measurement. Slope estimations are then used to evaluate the future effects of current instruction and to decide whether to continue or change instruction on the basis of that prediction. We find it curious that Koorland and Nelson challenge Marston as overstating the importance of predicting from the trend line, yet report that the real reason for this line is to provide a basis for program change What are timely program changes if they are not predictions that the child will be better at some point in the future if we make a change at this time? Koorland and Nelson's second point related to monitoring progress on individual educational plans (IEPs). They state, Predicting a frequency weeks away, using many weeks of previously gathered data, in not a practice in which teachers typically engage. This statement reveals that Koorland and Nelson are evaluating Marston's paper from the perspective of precision teaching. Indeed, what they have to say about what teachers do consistent with how teachers are trained to use data and charts in precision teaching. Ww understand that. For them to generalize that teachers do not gather data for several weeks, draw trend lines through the data, and make projections toward annual IEP goals incorrect. In fact, many teachers in Minnesota and elsewhere currently do just that. The problem not that we do not understand what precision teachers do, the problem that Koorlant and Nelson do not understand that other approaches also involve repeated measurement and graphic data display to monitor pupil performance, predict future states, and make intervention decisions. One alternative approach using repeated measurement and graphic data display emphasizes gathering data on long-range IEP goals. …

Using Precision Teaching to Teach Minimum Competency Test Skills

Using Precision Teaching to Teach Minimum Competency Test Skills

Improving Reading Fluency with Precision Teaching

Are you bothered by the repetitions, hesitations, word miscalls, laborious attempts to decode words, and the painfully slow reading rate of many of your students? Not surprisingly, most remedial reading instructors and teachers of students with mild handicaps answer yes and report that the same students who have reading fluency problems also have problems comprehending what they struggle to read. But where should teachers begin? Should they attempt to improve students' ability to read fluently (i.e., to decode words rapidly), or should the focus be on improving their ability to understand what is being read? Where is precious instructional time best spent, and how can teachers be sure their instructional strategies and materials are having an impact on students' reading fluency and understanding? This article describes a set of procedures that has provided some answers to these difficult questions.

What's the Hurry? Fluency in the Classroom

In Precision Teaching, frequent measurements taken with curriculum-based instruments are summarized to illustrate trends in student learning. One of the basic elements of Precision Teaching is the use of rate data (number of responses per minute) to illustrate the fluency of a student's work. (Fluency may also be indicated by latency, the time between task presentation and the beginning of work; and duration, the time required to finish the task.) The use of rate data offers certain advantages and disadvantages that must be understood if teachers are to make good use of the technique.

Precision Teaching: By Teachers for Children

Precision Teaching: By Teachers for Children

Increasing Endurance by Building Fluency: Precision Teaching Attention Span

Increasing Endurance by Building Fluency: Precision Teaching Attention Span

Self-Recording for Students with Severe and Multiple Handicaps

Precision Teaching involves collecting frequency data to make decisions about instruction and intervention. Because frequency data have point-to-point correspondence with the behaviors they represent, there is a need for devices and procedures to collect these data. Both regular class students and those with mild handicaps collect data on their own performance, and teachers work with them to make decisions. Usually, students use paper and pencil to record their performance, but mechanical and electronic devices such as calculators also can be used. Students with severe and multiple handicaps can also learn to collect the data needed for decision making, using adapted mechanical counting devices to record their own behavior and skills.

More Questions on Precision Teaching

In their second article on precision teaching E.C. Raybould, senior educational psychologist, Walsall Education Department, and J.E. Solity, lecturer in psychology and special educational needs, Warwick University, answer questions on the technical and procedural issues (b) and on implementation (c) which follow on from the principles and rationale (a) discussed in the March issue.

August Dvorak (1894–1975): Early Expressions of Applied Behavior Analysis and Precision Teaching

August Dvorak is best known for his development of the Dvorak keyboard. However, Dvorak also adapted and applied many behavioral and scientific management techniques to the field of education. Taken collectively, these techniques are representative of many of the procedures currently used in applied behavior analysis, in general, and especially in precision teaching. The failure to consider Dvorak's instructional methods may explain some of the discrepant findings in studies which compare the efficiency of the Dvorak to the standard keyboard. This article presents a brief background on the development of the standard (QWERTY) and Dvorak keyboards, describes parallels between Dvorak's teaching procedures and those used in precision teaching, reviews some of the comparative research on the Dvorak keyboard, and suggests some implications for further research in applying the principles of behavior analysis.

Parental Involvement in Precision Teaching of Reading

Parental Involvement in Precision Teaching of Reading

Precision Teaching … and all that!

Doubts and questions about precision teaching continue to haunt teachers. Two exponents of the approach, E.C. Raybould, senior educational psychologist, Walsall Education Department, and Jonathan Solity, lecturer in psychology and special educational needs, Warwick University, offer their answers to questions about the principles and rationale in the first of two articles.

Effects of Proficiency Rates on Later Performance of a Recall and Writing Behavior

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of two proficiency rates on the retention of materials using the Precision Teaching Method. Data were obtained during 3 days of treatment and over four monthly posttests using 120 fourth-grade subjects who were categorized by prior achievement as above average, average, and below average. Both treatments were conducted by teachers in classroom settings. Analyses included ANCOVA, t-test of retention ratio means, and t-test of percentage of correct response means. While the results were mixed, a significant interaction effect indicated that subjects in the average and below-average categories performed significantly better after 3 months when the higher proficiency rate was required. Subjects in the below-average category were found to perform with significantly greater accuracy in the higher proficiency rate treatment.

Curriculum-Based Assessment for the Young Exceptional Child

Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) is rapidly becoming the preeminent diagnostic approach in applied settings. CBA is grounded in the tradition of programmed instruction and precision teaching. Within early childhood special education, CBA reflects a practical developmental orientation—a direct congruence between testing, teaching, and progress evaluation. This article summarizes a typology of selected curriculum-based methods that are available to early childhood specialists serving handicapped children.