Joseph Trance

Aides´ Data 2 ( continued from Aides Data)

     Kenston took the computer tablet from its case, turned it on and stared at Davidson as it warmed up.  

"Do you know what I love most about this data?"   Davidson shook his head and shifted in his seat.  

"No. Why don't you tell me?"   " It focuses corporate to reevaluate where time, effort and energy should go.  Profit becomes less of a priority than the importance of training the essential people who do the job. "

Davidson nodded in agreement.

"That's why we spend so much time on training the EBP's.   We have allocated more  funding and resources towards training our program specialists, supervisors and administrators in those practices then ever before. 

No argument there, Tim,  that needs to be the priority.  Profit will come as they get better at  their jobs and we can show that kids are really making progress."

"And the aides, sir?  What about their training? " ​​​​​​

"That's the supervisors' job.  They should be  teaching , and modeling the evidence - based practices for aides all the time.    They should be instructing the aides daily by their example.  And as far as data collection..you of all people should know how important it is as the head of data analysis.  That's why I cannot..can Not understand you telling me there isn't data...but there is. "

Tim leaned forward and smiled as Davidson sat back in his seat, loosened his tie and waited.  The deep lines in his forehead showed his frustration.  

"Look at this,"  Tim said as he pushed the tablet towards Davidson. .      Davidson looked at the screen and watched as a discrete trial secession played before him;  A boy about eight years old sat at a desk across from a female aide.  The task was a color identification. Three small piles of paper squares red, blue and green were placed in front of the child. The aide the asked question,  and

"What color?" as she held up  colored squares one at a time. The child said the name of each color, and for every one he got correct she gave him a penny which he placed on a board of cutout circles.  The task lasted  for ten trials.  The student answered correctly seven times. ​​​​After the task was over the side asked:

"What would you like to earn? " The student answered, "Leggos."

  The aide took a small box of Leggos from underneath the desk and placed it on the desk.

She asked, ​​​​​​ ​​"How many?"  The child  touched each penny and ​counted.

 "Seven,"   he said.   He gave the aide each penny one at a time, and she gave him a leggo for each one.

"Good job, she said.   She then reached into the Leggo box and took out an egg timer.  

"Five minutes, " she said as she set the timer.   She moved away from the desk and  child played with the Leggos. The screen faded to black.   Davidson shook his head and pushed the tablet back to Kenston.  

"That's pretty typical,"  Kenston said. 

"It goes like that every single day, task after task, across all domains.   From brushing teeth during activities of daily living, to making cash purchases in the school store.  Every day.  I've seen it in every classroom, in every life skill setting.  For many aides data collection is boring and unnecessary.   They can tell you what the kids know and don't know.  It's mundane and many don't see the value in it.  So more often than not data is lost.  No written record of correct or incorrect responses or prompting levels, no record of the reinforcement schedules or type of rewards, no data on how many choices in the sample.   All that work being done..."

"All without data."   Davidson  said and pushed his seat away from the table. 

" Damn it.. " he whispered. Kenston looked at him and said,

 "There is some typical data:  our best rooms give us...3 data points per task per day.  Our worst...maybe... two times per task per week.   Which brings me to the App.  The Aides' Data App.  Basically we found a way to extract their data from their memories.  Each teaching secession like all memories are recorded somewhere in the brain.   The sights, sounds, smells...all of it are stored inside the brain of each aide.   And tech  has found a way through virtual reality and memory enhancement to...extract the information...on every secession...every training, ever done, by every aide.  We can extract it, put it on discs, analyze it and bring it to meetings.   All of it."

Davidson's eyes were glassy.   He moved his chair slowly towards the table.   

 "So...you're saying there is ...data.."  

" Yes.  But there is a cost. " Kenston added. Davidson nodded..

"Yes..I'm sure it's quite expensive..the technology.. "  

"Yes...that.  But there are some residual side effects."  

"Such as?"

​​​​​​"The extraction causes some...memory loss.  In our initial trials..we found that some volunteers forget their names, family members...where they live...etc.  little tnings like that. ​​​​​But because of those losses...there aren't too many law suits...cause they can't remember...even their family members who want to sue us. Economically it's cheaper than the law suits by advocates who sue us for lack of data. "

Davidson was silent for a few minutes and then asked,

 "How do we get them the aides......to buy into it, considering the risks of extraction?"

Kenston thought for a minute and answered.  

"That's where the training comes in.  We stress how important their positions are: that they are the first line when it comes to kids making progress .  Teachers plan out programs, but it's the aides that carry out the instructions.  They are the hands on every day instructors. ​​​​​​That are truly essential to the progress that kids make.  Without them, all the planning goes nowhere. We  ​​​​bombard them with the importance of data collection.  We repeat basics like, 'If there is no data it didn't happen,'  we go over the visual graphs from the data they collected that show  the progress kids make.  And finally, we tell them they have a choice.  People love to have choices.  Data collection is part of the job.  It is what they are supposed to do.  They can either record on data sheets or they don't have to take any data at all.   We can just extract it.   All they have to concentrate on is the teaching...we'll take care of the rest.  Either way, We get aides' data."

Davidson nodded. "Write me up a proposal for the Board.  Get me extensive numbers on how many choose extractions vs. hard copy collection.  Make sure you include the economics and cost analysis of all past Impartial hearings  that we lost because of the lack of data, Iand the potential cost of law suits from extractions.   Whatever happens we will definitely increase the amount of aides' data." ​​​​​ ​​​​​​ ​​   ​​​​   ​​​​​​ ​​​​​          

All rights belong to its author. It was published on e-Stories.org by demand of Joseph Trance.
Published on e-Stories.org on 18.10.2020.

 
 

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