California Department of Education, Special Education Division’s special project, California Services for Technical Assistance and Training (CalSTAT) is funded through a contract with the Napa County Office of Education. CalSTAT is partially funded from federal funds, State Grants #H027A080116A. Additional federal funds are provided from a federal competitively awarded State Personnel Development Grant to California (#H323A070011) provided from the U.S. Department of Education Part D of the Individuals with Disabilities Education act (IDEA). Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the U. S. Department of Education.
In order to monitor implementation and determine outcomes, CalSTAT conducts an ongoing evaluation of the BEST project, with support from BEST sites, using the following evaluation instruments:
BEST sites are compensated for participating in these evaluation activities with a $500 annual stipend ($250 each for full reporting on the SPR/BID and TIC instruments).
Each of these three tools is briefly described below. The tools themselves are being delivered to sites by email, also available electronically from best.support@calstat.org or your coach, and include more detailed descriptions and instructions. Use these documents and spreadsheets to guide you in the data collection process as well as to help you review and assess your own expectations and implementation of the BEST program.
The School Profile Report records Behavior Incidence Data including office discipline referrals, suspensions, and other discipline-related information. BID information should be aggregated for the entire school year and forwarded by mail/fax to your BEST Coach by November 30th. This will be used to guide coaching and will be aggregated with other school BID data in the overall BEST program evaluation.
This year, the SPR/BID form has been modified to include total student population data. Please be sure to use this updated version in your Fall 2007 reporting (and in the future).
Depending on when your site began implementing BEST, you may need to report multiple years of BID statistics.
The TIC is a new BEST form (completed by most sites last spring). This year we have a new TIC Charting Program. This Microsoft Excel file tool allows BEST Site Teams to summarize site implementation of BEST according to explicit criteria. The checklist is now a form within the BEST TIC Charting program which will gather your site team’s responses and convert them into charts displaying implementation overall, by area, and by item in single- and multiple-year formats. Refer to the “Introduction” tab within the program for more details.
The team checklist should be updated twice yearly, both in the fall and spring. Once updated, a copy should be emailed to CalSTAT at best.support@calstat.org and to your BEST Coach.
CalSTAT recommends that all BEST sites complete the EBS Self-Assessment Survey early in the implementation process. This instrument is designed to draw attention to specific elements at your site which will present opportunities and challenges in implementing an effective positive behavior support plan. If your site has not yet completed an EBS survey, we ask that you complete one during Fall 2007 and forward it to your BEST Coach. See the form for further instructions on how to conduct the survey at your site.