Is There an App for that? A Model to Help School-based Professionals Identify, Implement, and Evaluate Technology for Problem Behaviors

I t was the first observation of the school year. Walking into Mr. Terry’s classroom, his principal, Dr. McKnight, immediately noticed the large display of monster-like characters projected onto the Smart Board. Each character was linked to the name of a student in Mr. Terry’s class. Many of these students’ characters were attached to green circles containing positive numbers. However, some were attached to red circles containing negative numbers. Dr. McKnight was intrigued. Throughout Mr. Terry’s whole group lesson on fractions, he would periodically stop to enter data into his laptop and a message would pop up on the projection screen. ‘‘Lauren, +1 for raising your hand! ’’ ‘‘Nicole, 21 for talking out of turn. ’’ Dr. McKnight noted Mr. Terry’s public display of both positive and negative behavior on the observation form and circled it as a point for discussion during the postobservation debriefing scheduled for later that day. After leaving Mr. Terry’s classroom, Dr. McKnight reflected on what he had observed. Over the past 3 years Fayettville Elementary School had implemented schoolwide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) as its framework for supporting student behavior. Mr. Terry served on the team spearheading the effort to create a positive environment schoolwide for all students and staff. During the first year of implementation, the team had agreed to publicly recognize students using the ‘‘outstanding owl’’ system (i.e., tickets printed with the school’s mascot, Ollie the Owl, distributed for following schoolwide expectations such as being respectful, honest, and prepared). At the same time, the decision was made to reteach expected behavior when students engaged in inappropriate behavior rather than resorting to traditionally used reactive management practices (e.g., suspension and expulsion). Over the past year, the SWPBS team decided to focus its efforts on the classroom environment. All teachers reviewed and made a plan to individually implement classwide positive behavior supports strategies (e.g., providing behavior specific praise and increased opportunities to respond). Dr. McKnight was pleased that Mr. Terry was positively and publicly reinforcing students for expected behavior. However, at the same time, he was concerned about the negative numbers appearing on the screen for the entire class to see. Publicly posting negative behavior did not seem to align with the school’s focus on positive behavior support. During the post observation debriefing, Dr. McKnight shared his concern about the public posting of negative behavior with Mr. Terry and asked him why he selected to respond to inappropriate behavior in this way. Mr. Terry responded, ‘‘Well, I guess I didn’t really think about it that way. One of the other teachers on my team told me about a really cool, new, free app to track student behavior, so I decided to give it a shot. ’’ Based on their discussion, Dr. McKnight and Mr. Terry decided to bring the application to the SWPBS team for review in order to determine whether this use of technology made sense within their school’s approach to behavior management and support. Dr. McKnight and Mr. Terry face an increasingly common dilemma in classrooms and schools nationwide: the haphazard integration of technology. It has become generally accepted that the integration of technology into all aspects of teaching and learning is not only beneficial but also necessary (Nickerson & Zodhiates, 2014). Yet, little consideration is typically directed at how that technology is selected, implemented, and evaluated (Edyburn, 2013). This haphazard approach can lead to the selection and adoption of technology for the sake of technology rather than identification of relevant technology built on a strong foundation of need. Too often, word of mouth or brief Internet searches are the sole basis for the adoption of devices and systems affecting students and teachers (Kopcha, 2010). By applying what works in a personal context (e.g., a quick Android computer software program or app search for tracking exercise) to the professional context, educators are in danger of selecting technology that is ineffective, misaligned, or incompatible with the desired outcomes and philosophies of learning and behavior management. Teachers are also presented with lists of technology solutions for implementing research-based practices, such as the table of mobile technology in Cumming (2013), but those recommendations may not align with a particular context or problem. Therefore, a systematic problemsolving process for identifying, implementing, and evaluating technology use in schools is warranted. The need for and utility of technology in education is acute, particularly with regard to facilitating PROBLEM SOLVING IN BEHAVIOR SOFTWARE USE