Welcome
“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”
--Henry Ford
Educational Problem Solving is simply a way to systematically think about educational issues and their solutions. Think of the process like a wheel rolling toward its destination. As the educational problem solving process moves forward, the steps identification, analysis, intervention, and evaluation repeatedly present themselves in an on-going cycle.
It is a process that can be applied to all levels of a school system from the student up to the district level. Educational problem solving can be applied to the behavior domains as well as the academic domains. It is a process that can be applied across different educational settings and disciplines.
4 Steps for Educational Problem Solving
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Identify a problem.
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Analyze the problem through the use use of data.
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Intervene to address the problem.
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Evaluate the intervention’s effectiveness.
The Big Picture
Here are three examples of new school practices that incorporate the problem solving into their process.
Data Driven Decision Making
One of the popular ideas to come out of the school No Child Left Behind Act reform movement is a collaborative decision making process called data driven decision making (D3M) where data is used to improve student achievement. This process is designed to help school leaders to make more informed decisions regarding school reform and student achievement at the district and building levels.
Response to Intervention
The response to intervention model (RtI) is the practice of providing high-quality instruction/intervention matched to student needs and using learning rate over time and level of performance to make important educational decisions. RtI uses the same problem solving process can be implemented successfully in the classroom and at the student level.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBS) was created to establish and maintain effective school environments that maximize academic achievement and behavioral competence of all learners. Their goals are to identify and enhance knowledge about, and practical demonstration of, school-wide PBS practices, systems and outcomes along the three-tiered continuum (primary, secondary, tertiary); and Develop, conduct and evaluate technical assistance and dissemination efforts that allow evidence-based practices to be implemented on a large scale with high durability and effectiveness. PBS model uses a School-Wide Information System (SWIS) to collect and analyze data in order to assist school teams in problem solving for their building.
These are just three examples of educational problem solving which focus on intervention matched to assessment.
