Everyone is familiar with the phrase “Garbage in, garbage out”. Well, this phrase holds true for school data too. Student behavior incidents and office discipline referral (ODR) data are especially suseptible if multiple people are entering data. When the data going into our system is not consistent, predictable, and equitable, then schools will not be able to use it for data-based decision making. 

Here are a few tips about how to prevent the problem of Dirty Data and ensure your system is capable of quickly and easily sharing a dashboard with the Big 7 graphs you need to see to analyze who, what, when, and where behavior problems are happening on your campus.

4-Part Accountability System

There are four parts to a PBIS accountability or discipline system. For more information see the Accountability System chapter in the PBIS Tier 1 Manual.

1. Defined Behaviors - A list of behaviors that are initially managed by staff before they are sent to the office - minor behaviors. And a list of behaviors that must be sent to the office immediately - major behaviors. 

2. Behavior Flowchart - A flowchart listing major/minor behaviors and the procedures to follow for each to ensure students are treated consistently and equitably. 

3. Forms and Procedures - An Office Discipline Referral (ODR) Form that includes all the items listed below and documentation of where to get the form and where to send it when completed.

4. Database - An electronic database that can collect ODR data, share it in graphs, and filter data to ‘drill-down’ into the information to make decisions. 

It’s critical the items #1-3 are accurate or else the #4 will be inaccurate. 

ODR Form

An ODR Form needs to collect the following information from the teacher or staff person who observed the behavior violation:

• Student Name

• Grade

• Referring staff

• Date of incident

• Time of incident

• Location of incident

• Problem Behavior (Major or Minor, dropdown lists)

• Perceived motivation

• Others involved

• Action taken by administrator

• Seclusion/Restraint? (Required by DOE Office of Civil Rights)

The ODR data collection form (paper or digital) and database fields should be in the same order to ensure efficient data entry.

If a digital ODR form is chosen, ensure that all staff (playground/cafeteria monitor or aids, crossing guards, paraprofessionals, substitutes, etc.) have ready access to report behavior problems immediately, consistently, and equitably.

Also ensure that the administrator can modify the problem behavior and assign consequences based on state/board definitions of behaviors, investigation of incident, and school policies (which staff may not have access to when entering the ODR data) before data enters the database. 

Data Visualization - The BIG 7

Data in the database should be displayed as bar graphs because it’s easier to see patterns and trends in a graph compared to a table of numbers. A current dashboard with the ‘Big 7’ behavior data graphs should be available from your database without the hassle of exporting and creating graphs each and every time new data is entered.

Big 7 Graphs include:

• Average referrals per month  (ODR/month)

• Students

• Grade

• Problem Behavior

• Time of Day

• Day of Week

• Location

The database also requires the capability to display additional graphs which should include, but are not limited to the following:

• Referral Rate (ODR/students/days x100)

• Average referrals per month (multi-year)

• Problem behaviors (multi-year)

• Location (multi-year)

• Perceived Motivation 

• Non-IEL/IEP/504

• Staff referrals

• Action taken by administrator

• Suspension

• Ethnicity

• Triangle graph (0-1 ODR, 2-5 ODR, 6+ ODR)

Free Resources

The PBIS school team requires the ability to ‘Drill Down’ into data by filtering using any categories, including individual students, and then view all categories in graphic form. Date range should be controlled by the user so that data can be viewed by month, year, or a range of up to a year. 

Download this Database Checklist below to share with your school district IT Department to assess if your database is ready for PBIS.

Download the Data Analysis Worksheet to make sure the data dashboard graphs are displayed in the order that teams will use to analyze the data monthly.