3.6: Implement Procedures with Fidelity

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Samuel Sennott, Sheldon Loman, Kristy Lee Park, Luis F. Pérez, Michael J. Kennedy, John Romig, & Wendy J. Rodgers
Portland State University via Portland State University Library

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Effectiveness is the degree of learning, or the amount of change in student performance, in other words, the change of behavior (either increase or decrease) from baseline to after the intervention is implemented. Effectiveness looks at student performance data to modify what is taught (i.e., programs or curricula) as well as how it is taught. Data, especially data graphed visually, help teachers make decisions to keep going, revise, or stop an intervention. When student performance is not being made, contingencies surrounding the learning environment are examined and these include monitoring and modifying staff behavior.

Reliability measures and inter-observer agreement data collection provides an objective look at the consistency of how staff are recording behavior and also how staff are implementing the programs. A major component of staff performance is technological, a term that describes the clarity and precision of written procedures so that others can replicate the teaching. The success of interventions is largely dependent on the extent to which they are implemented as designed with accuracy and consistency (i.e., treatment integrity; Gresham, 1989). To help with consistency, procedures are operationalized into step-by-step actions with visual prompts that prompt accurate staff behaviors (Noell et al., 2002). Performance feedback is another valuable tool for helping staff improve performance in the implementation of intervention plans (Codding, Livanis, Pace, & Vaca, 2008). In fact, research shows that when staff implement procedures with high fidelity, rates of problematic behavior are low, and the inverse is also shown—when there is low treatment fidelity, there is an increase in problematic behavior (Fryling, Wallace, & Yassine, 2012; St. Peter Pipkin, Vollmer, & Sloman, 2010).