Ongoing assessment and monitoring

Deliberate and thoughtful assessment guides the development, decision making and evaluation of a positive behaviour support initiative. Schools need reliable evidence that the new actions they are taking are truly making a positive difference and are resulting in measurable positive outcomes.

Schools can gather data about:

• types of behaviour
• the settings and location of behaviour
• the time of behaviour.

Schools can also gather data on the types of interventions used as part of the positive behaviour support approach. This data provides information about how effective the interventions are generally, and helps to identify which ones are most successful.

If schools gather and report data regularly, action plans can be adjusted to provide optimal support for interventions. Some schools designate 10–15 minutes during each staff meeting to discuss the school-wide behaviour system.

Streamline the collection process

To make the collection of data a meaningful and manageable task:

• focus on a few key outcomes. Limit the number of measures and collect accurate data on the behaviours that really matter. Do a few things well; specific, measurable targets work best
• design data-collection methods that are simple and easy to use
• summarize the data and report it to the school community. Document, post and celebrate goals achieved. Consider using bar graphs to demonstrate progress and communicate this progress by posting it in the staff room, on bulletin boards in the hallways and/or in the school newsletter.

Develop a collection plan

Developing a data-collection plan ensures that data will be accurate and provide a clear picture of the kinds of behaviour being reported. As much as possible, make the data collection system part of current school practices. For example, many schools are already collecting data about lateness and absenteeism, and can expand that system to include office discipline referrals, incidents of vandalism and/or the results of school satisfaction surveys.

Following is an example of an assessment plan designed to gather and analyze data for future planning for positive behaviour supports.

Goal of evaluation	Evaluation strategy	Time line
Identify positive behaviour goals.	Baseline assessment. Survey all students, staff and parents about strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for addressing positive behaviour in the school.	Sept. 30 Issue baseline survey Oct. 1 Calculate survey results Oct. 15 Report results
Assess current implementation plans and activities.	Process evaluation. Design a checklist of programming components that are observable school-wide. Then assess current implementation activities through interviews and observation.	Nov. 1   Design checklist Nov. 7–21 Observe hallways, classrooms and/or interview teachers Dec. 1    Report results
Evaluate the effectiveness of the plan and activities.	Outcome evaluation. Prioritize goals and designate appropriate assessment measurements. For example: Use a school climate survey to assess students’ perceptions of the school’s strengths and needs. Collect discipline records to track incidents of negative behaviour. Review attendance records to estimate correlation between school climate and attendance.	Feb. 15 Decide on assessment measures in relation to goals March 1  Issue school climate survey to students, staff and parents March 15 Calculate survey results April 1  Collect discipline and attendance records April 21 Report results
Use evaluation results to improve planning and implementation for the next school year.	Action research. Propose planning and implementation improvements based on the results of the needs assessment, process evaluation and outcome evaluation.	May 1 Report findings and propose program adjustments to the school community

Keep the cycle going

Monitoring and evaluating are ongoing processes. Continuously:

• ask, “How are we doing?”
• compare early measures of behaviour data to current measures
• modify or eliminate what is not working
• celebrate and communicate successes.