Directed Consultation

1. Directed Consultation Supporting the use of evidence-based practices in real world settings

2. Teaching: Personal Biases Much of good teaching means being the unnoticed adult in the back of the room who is conducting the symphony To do this, it is necessary to: • Establish structures, routines, and boundaries early in the year • Help students find their own roles, identities, and ways of functioning effectively with each other in the instructional process • Know the strengths & needs of each student and how they “harmonize” with every other classmate • Be cognizant that these are dynamic relationships/processes

3. Training teachers: Personal biases Teachers need to understand: • The application of key theories of learning and development • A broad range of experiences and knowledge • How to continually assess the needs of individual students and the class as a whole • How to make momentary changes to be responsive to the dynamic needs of students

4. Where does evidence-based practice fit? • Teachers need to be responsive to the dynamic needs of students and the general functioning of the classroom • Less about “how to” and more about what is being accomplished in terms of student behaviors/development • Fit within the broader ecology of the classroom/school • Fit with teachers’ ongoing practice • Fit with the learning needs of students

5. The Ecology of Classroom Intervention Teacher Characteristics and Instructional/Management Skills Administration, Peer Teacher, andSupport Personnel Characteristics, Beliefs, and Functioning Parent, Family, and Community Characteristics and Involvement with Students and School School Culture, Discipline Policies and Practices, and Organizational Capacity/ Supports; Societal Beliefs State/National Educational Policies Microsystem Microsystem • Mesosystem • Exosystem and Macrosystem

6. Directed Consultation: Conceptual Foundations Develop/Ecological Systems Ecological Intervention Focus is on the transactions between individuals and ecology Goal is to align features and resources of the ecology with the characteristics and needs of the student The liaison teacher-counselor as ecological systems interventionist • Individuals embedded within nested contexts • Functioning and adaptation involves alignment and transactions of multiple systems both within and external to the individual • Behavior as a “leading edge” and window into developmental adaptation

7. The Directed Consultation Approach • Directed Consultation means that a standardized intervention is presented in the context of its application to the school’s specific ecology and characteristics • The focus of training is on ensuring that the context affords students with needed supports, opportunities, and experiences rather than on requiring that a particular strategy is followed in a prescribed and lock-step fashion • Training is directed by an intervention specialist with expertise in ecological intervention who serves as the primary training facilitator for a school across the course of all training activities

8. Directed Consultation Components • Preintervention assessment • Traditional workshops • Online training modules • Directed consultation team & individual meetings

9. Preintervention Assessment • To identify strengths & needs pertaining to supports available to students in the academic, behavioral, and social domains • To gain an understanding of the organizational structure and functioning of the school • To develop an effective consultation relationship with teachers and administrators • Determine how to help the school operate effectively in terms of accomplishing aims & outcomes of the intervention program

10. Traditional Workshops • Overview of the aims and goals of the various training activities that will occur across the year • The theoretical foundations and empirical findings regarding the use of the intervention & components • Detailed training activities in the goals and use of each intervention component • Detailed description and demonstration of the application of specific strategies in the classroom including video-clips and natural leaders • Small group-guided practice, structured feedback, and whole group discussion of issues in the use of specific strategies and approaches

11. Online Training Modules • Online training modules are ordered based on pre-intervention observations, feedback from schools, and perceived relevance/timing • Teacher feedback helps to guide the agenda and content of the training • Training modules build upon and elaborate content covered in workshops • For each module, teachers complete a feedback form that documented their efforts to use the strategies in the classroom, their view about effectiveness, and any specific concerns or issues regarding the use of the strategy. • Building from this feedback, the intervention specialist establishes email or videoconferencing contact to work in an ongoing process with the teacher • As part of online training, teachers keep a weekly online record of key constructs

12. Directed Consultation Meetings • Directed consultation approach and meeting activities corresponded with the training modules • Activities flow directly from the responses and feedback that were received from teachers from online modules • In the first few meetings, the intervention specialist takes the lead and directs the agenda • “Troubleshooting” format where an example problem is addressed from the online training • “Building from our successes” format where teachers talk about instances where a strategy has been useful • Goal is for teachers to take on a consultation role with each other

13. Summary • Directed consultation is designed to be effective for context and process oriented interventions • Is less likely to be applicable for interventions that require strict adherence to a specific scope and sequence • Shifts focus from what is done (i.e., how to implement a specific strategy) to what is accomplished (i.e., how to affect desired features of context & student capacities) • Requires adapting the intervention to be responsive to ecological demands and resources as well as what is currently working for the teacher

14. Discussion and Conclusions Should the focus of evidence-based research be at: • The strategy level (i.e., does the intervention work?) • The professional development level (i.e., does the training work?) • The student outcome level (i.e., what produces desired results?) Do we jeopardize complex interventions programs for strategies that are more readily evaluated or proven with current research methods? Does a process oriented training strategy (directed consultation) strike a balance between evidence-based practices/intervention programs and efforts to be responsive to ecologies, students needs, and teachers’ characteristics?