One proactive approach to increasing student engagement in schools is implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) strategies. PBIS focuses on prevention and concentrates on quality-of-life issues that include improved academic
achievement, enhanced social competence, and safe learning and teaching environments. This study is a replication of a study that investigated the combination of active supervision, precorrection, and explicit timing. The purpose of the study was to decrease student problem behavior, reduce transition time, and support maintenance of the intervention in the setting. Results show that active supervision, precorrection, and explicit timing decreased student problem behavior, decreased the duration of transitions in two instructional periods, and the intervention was maintained in the setting. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.
Keywords: active supervision, explicit timing, Positive Behavior Intervention and Support, precorrection, urban education
A sage expression, you make the road by walking, captures the nature of accompaniment in partnership development. The purpose of this action research project was to examine the partnership of a city school and an urban university as one that engaged mutual generation of knowledge from all participants. Action research, where participants are co-equals in decision-making, enhances the co-construction of knowledge and applied practice when stakeholders work to achieve more practical goals. Two high school co-instructors and a university faculty member examined what initially brought them together – a classroom instructional need. While designing and implementing an investigation of the use of class instructional time, they simultaneously conducted a self-study action research project about the dynamics of their partnership and how to improve it. Critical interviews revealed challenges to integrating research findings into practice as well as convergent benefits of partnership development that may be relevant to partnerships of all kinds.
Key Terms: Action research, collaboration, collaborative organizations, mode 2 knowledge creation, partnership development, research-practice gap