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Models and Classroom Instruction
Steps to Schoolwide Planning and Implementation

1. Identify a Shared Concern & Develop a Common Vision

Collaboration among key stakeholders is critical to successfully initiating the problem-solving process. During this stage, parents and school staff share their concerns about school discipline. Obviously, it is important that the team determine that the problem is due to school level variables and not simply reflective of a problem that one or two teachers or one or two students are experiencing. Consensus is built around critical issues in order to answer questions such as: What are the main discipline problems in our school? Which problems have the greatest impact on student safety and learning outcomes? What characteristics would we like our school to have? What is the mission of our school? Are we willing to make school discipline and student safety a priority?

2. Analyze the Factors that may be Contributing to the Shared Concern

At this stage, a subset of the key stakeholders such as individuals who serve on the school improvement team, including community representatives and parents, should begin to identify the factors that are contributing to anti-social behavior in school. It is important that the team determine how frequently problems occur, when they occur, where they occur, and how they are responded to. In addition, the team should determine what the school is currently doing to prevent the onset of these incidents. Finally, the team should identify the school's strengths, which should include documentation of all the school's and community's resources.

3. Develop and Prioritize Goals and Objectives that Support the Shared Vision

Team members should determine the specific goals and objectives they have for all students in the building. For example, the team should identify the specific prosocial behaviors they expect from every student. The team should use the data collected in the previous stage to develop ideas about how they may accomplish their goals. In addition, they might determine that crisis intervention procedures need to be more clearly defined and developed. In essence, this is the "solution" stage in which the team identifies/develops comprehensive and systemic methods of building their school's capacity to support positive prosocial behavior.

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4. Develop an Implementation Plan

During this stage the team identifies the steps that need to be taken to allow the school to develop/implement the mechanisms to reach its goals. Thus, the team should determine the existing resources and strengths already available. In addition, the team should identify what resources are still necessary. Implementation timelines should also be developed during this stage. If the team intends to hire outside consultants to assist in developing or implementing a school model all necessary arrangements should be made during this stage. Any models that are identified should be congruent with the goals and vision of the school and should be supported by research.

5. Implement the Plan

During this stage the school systematically adopts the various components of the identified intervention. It is likely that this stage will require new training for some school staff. Feedback and support are critical components of this training. In addition, this stage requires patience. As new programs are implemented results are usually not noticed immediately. Remember, both staff and students are attempting to develop new behaviors. In addition, both staff and students may not immediately buy in to the new plan and thus growing pains are expected. The implementation phase will highlight the fact that no "magic wands" are available to impact school reform efforts.

6. Monitor and Evaluate Implementation

During the implementation phase it is important that the plan is monitored and that changes are made as necessary. Implementation and planning should be a flexible process. A built in process that solicits feedback from those involved in implementation will allow the components of the plan to be modified in the most timely and beneficial ways. In addition, it is also important that data are collected over a period of time to determine whether the plan is allowing the school to move towards its intended goals.

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Interventions

The following are examples of school reform models that have been successful in supporting the development of prosocial and positive behavioral outcomes for all students.

• Families and Schools Together (FAST) - Families and Schools Together (FAST) was founded by Dr. Lynn McDonald at the Family Service - Madison in 1988. It is now being implemented in over 450 communities, 30 states, 3 Indian Nations, and 5 countries. FAST is a collaborative prevention and parent involvement program designed to address various problems such as alcohol and drug abuse, violence and delinquency, and school dropout rates. It is a multi-family/social support, research based program which intervenes with school children ages 4-8, to build multiple protective factors. The core of the program involves eight weekly meetings usually held in the school during which positive interactional experiences for families are structured and facilitated by a collaborative leadership team. Families graduate from the program at the end of eight weeks and then participate in monthly follow-up meetings for two years, run by the families, with support from the collaborative team. The two-year program is called FAST WORKS. http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/fast
  
  
• Fast Track Prevention Program— Developed by Karen Barmen and Mark Greenberg. Currently in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington. Designed to prevent developmental patterns of antisocial behavior, juvenile delinquency, and violence. Focus is on early identification and early intervention. School and family based components.
  
  
• PeaceBuilders Project— Developed by Dennis Embry. Currently in Arizona, California, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Ohio. Designed to decrease aggression and increase a sense of safety among students and their teachers. School, family, and community based components.
  
  

• The Effective Schools Project— Developed by Denise Gottfredson. Currently in Maryland. Classroom level interventions for middle school students aimed at improving behavior management and instruction. Utilizes assertive discipline, reality therapy, and cooperative learning techniques.

• High Need Program— Developed by Ron Nelson and Ron Martella. Currently in Washington state. Remedial component (i.e. the Think Time Strategy) for responding to disruptive behavior and preventative components (changing the organization of the school).

• Project ACHIEVE—Developed at the University of South Florida. Project ACHIEVE is an innovative educational reform program targeting academically and socially at-risk and underachieving students, which focuses on helping individual schools strategically plan for and address both immediate and long-term student needs. Particular emphasis is placed on improving and increasing students' academic progress and success, social behavior, social skills and aggression control, and in reducing incidents of school-based violence through organizational and resource development, comprehensive in-service training and follow-up, and parent and community involvement.

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