Practice With Feedback Makes Permanent: eCoaching Through Online Bug-in-Ear During Clinical Experiences

Federal mandates (e.g., Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], 2015) require special educators to use evidence-based practices (EBP) when working with K-12 students. However, for this expectation to become a reality, teacher educators must make changes in educator preparation program (EPP) curriculum, policy, coursework, and clinical experiences (Kolb et al., 2018). The need for changesin EPP clinical experiences has been underscored by the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC’s) shift from knowledge to practice-based standards for special educators (CEC, 2020). Real-time performance feedback (PF) delivered via online bug-in-ear (BIE) technology is an EBP (Sinclair, 2020) for coaching and supervising during early, mid, and late clinical experiences. In this article,we offer a rationale for making widespread, digital-age changes to coaching and supervising, through online BIE; provide an overview of relevant research; and offer guidance and recommendations for successful online BIE integration during EPP clinical experiences

Effects of E-Coaching During Mursion™ Simulations On the Occurrence and Variety of Behavior Specific Praise

We used a concurrent multiple-baseline research design replicated across participants to evaluate the effects of eCoaching on increasing the delivery and maintenance of behavior specific praise (BSP) in a mixed-reality Mursion™ classroom simulation. Participants consisted of four master’s students in a special education program. Results showed noteworthy increases in the rate and percent participants gave BSP during the intervention condition. Additionally, praise variety increased in all participants, and high rates of BSP were observed as the intervention was faded and removed all together. Our study extends the extant literature on an emerging evidencebased practice (i.e., BSP) and helps validate eCoaching and an effective method for providing immediate feedback during Mursion™ classroom simulations

The Effects of Teacher-Delivered E-Coaching on Paraeducators and Students

Paraeducators play a vital role in providing special education services to students with disabilities, yet they often enter the classroom with inadequate training. Using a multiplebaseline across participants research design, we evaluated the effects of job-embedded bug-in-ear (BIE) coaching delivered to paraeducators on their use of behavior specific praise (BSP) while working 1:1 with transition-age students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Results showed all paraeducators used optimal rates of BSP during the intervention condition while receiving immediate feedback from the special education teacher (i.e., eCoach). High rates of BSP were sustained over time, and changes in expressive social and communicative behaviors in students were observed in relation to the intervention. Our findings extend the literature on BSP and have merit to help establish BIE coaching as an evidence-based practice (EBP) for paraeducators

Meeting the needs of students with disabilities experiencing homelessness: Federal, community, and educator roles

Homelessness is a complex and multifaceted condition that affects 2.5 million, or one in every 30, children annually. Based on these numbers, it is likely that at least one student has experienced or is experiencing homelessness in most public school classrooms. Sixteen percent of students experiencing homelessness also received services under IDEA in 2014. Authors describe how homelessness impacts the outcomes of students-particularly those with disabilities, what federal policies and protections exist, and how communities lend support. One hallmark of special education, and an essential strategy for serving students experiencing homelessness, is a team approach. Thus, the authors conclude with five practical, team-based tips for school personnel, based on the acronym HOMES, to help ensure they are providing the supports and services these students need

Virtual Coaching for Novice Teachers

Virtual bug-in-the-ear technology presents one tool that allows practitioners and university educators can use to attract, prepare, and retain high-quality teachers. The experience of Project TEEACH based at the University of Alabama suggests that simple technology tools could be used effectively to support teachers through their most challenging instructional situations. Such coaching provides the kind of at-the-elbow support that can be most beneficial to young teachers

Promote Student Success During Independent Seatwork

Students with learning and behavioral disorders often lack the requisite academic skills and behavioral self-control to remain engaged during passive seatwork activities. Because independent seatwork composes a large portion of the instructional time in general education classrooms and teachers expect students to demonstrate self-control in these environments, it is important to identify effective procedures to manage student behavior and increase academic involvement during such tasks. The purpose of this article is to present 20 approaches special educators can implement with general educators to do this

ENGAGE: a blueprint for incorporating social skills training into daily academic instruction.(Examine the Demands of Curriculum and Instruction, Note Essential Social Skills, Go Forward and Teach, Actively Monitor, Gauge Progress, Exchange Reflections)(Report).

Student success in school depends, in part, on adequate social-interpersonal skills. Yet, in a time when all students are expected to reach specified academic goals, school personnel are hard-pressed to find ways to address the social-interpersonal behavior needs of their students. In this article, the authors discuss practical ways for teachers to infuse social skills into academic instruction. The authors begin with a vignette to establish a rationale for merging academic and social skills instruction. Next, the authors briefly review the social skills research, highlight several studies, encapsulate the common overlapping assumptions, and describe the steps required to deliver quality social skills instruction. The authors describe the ENGAGE blueprint as a practical way to incorporate social skills into daily academic instruction. Last, the authors revisit the vignette to illustrate classroom application of the ENGAGE blueprint

Use of Strategic Self -Monitoring to Enhance Academic Engagement, Productivity, and Accuracy of Students With and Without Exceptionalities

This study investigated the effects of a strategic self-monitoring intervention (i.e., The University of Alabama ACT-REACT) on the academic engagement, nontargeted problem behavior, productivity, and accuracy of students with and without disabilities. Seven boys and two girls of elementary age who received their educational services in two different inclusive classrooms participated in this investigation. The students were taught to use the ACT-REACT strategy during independent math/reading seatwork. ACT-REACT is a combined self-monitoring of attention and self-monitoring of performance intervention designed to help chronically disengaged students take control of their learning. A multiple-baseline-across-subjects design with an embedded reversal indicates that ACT-REACT was an effective strategy for fostering self-management and enhancing the academic performance of students with differing needs in inclusive classrooms

REACH: a framework for differentiating classroom instruction

Today, teachers are responsible not only for meeting the diverse needs of all students but also for ensuring improved educational outcomes. Accordingly, school personnel are seeking proven ways to strengthen traditional classroom practices. Beginning with the plight of two teachers--one general and one special education--the authors offer a rationale for differentiating instruction. Then they review the literature on differentiated instruction, highlighting the myths, models, and evidence to support it. The authors draw on the accumulated research to provide a framework for differentiating instruction. Using REACH as a mnemonic, the framework they developed includes a comprehensive inventory and several practical strategies for using it. They revisit the case vignette to illustrate the application of the REACH framework

Strategic Solutions to Promoting Incremental Change

Being strategic at facilitating change in the quality of accommodations employed on behalf of students with learning disabilities means focusing on aspects that can be changed (teacher-specific variables) rather than those that cannot or are more difficult to change (social reality variables). This article provides a critical analysis of these variables and focuses on principles, theory, and supporting research for a triadic, synergistic model focusing on strategic approaches for making professional knowledge accessible, development of quality accommodations, benchmarks and related assessment systems, and strategies for implementing incremental change, and how these serve as the basis for the development of Makes Sense Accommodations software, the Quality Accommodations Inventory software, and the Step–Wise Incremental Change Strategy