To: Michael Green
From: Asha Riley
Date: March 7, 2024
Re: Teaching and Learning Report
Student Information Program:
As you are aware our technology director Steve Rippl has designed an incredible student information program to provide us with the data and information we need to make informed decisions about how to best serve our students. This program is referred to as the Student Information Program, or SIPs. Recently we sat down and explored the option of incorporating behavior data into this system.
Currently, we purchase and utilize a program referred to as SWIS. SWIS allows us to collect our referral data in a systematic and organized way. The system allows us to enter the student's name and the behavior, as well as the time, location, and duration of the behavior. The charts and graphs we receive based on the data helps our RTI and PBIS teams to determine the time of day most referrals are happening, the location of the behavior, and the cause. For example, our data might indicate that the lunch room has had more referrals in the past month than any other location in the school. We can then drill down to determine what types of behaviors they are (disrespect, physical aggression, verbal aggression ~ among others).
Our teams look at that data and create systems or interventions that will help students and staff work through the behaviors that are happening and help to decrease them. In addition, we are able to compare data day by day, month by month, and year by year. We are able to look at individual student data, repeated student-to-student conflict, and create individualized intervention plans. The data dives happen regularly by our behavior intervention support staff and our PBIS team.
Incredibly, Steve Rippl is building this system within our SIPS (Student Information and Progress System) database. This will allow us to have even more flexibility and accuracy by allowing us to add our own additional behaviors and interventions when they come up. This will also allow more grade levels to benefit from the data - as currently SWIS is only used in K-4.
Incorporating this information into SIPS will also improve our ability to address instances of bullying. Because the SIPS is a K-12 database we’ll be able to recognize patterns of conflict between students over time.
While this is a major undertaking Steve is both able and gladly willing to make it happen. It’s rare to have a technology director who goes to these lengths to improve the learning experience of all students.