ERIC Number: ED545388
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 38
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
DORA-II Technical Adequacy Brief: Measuring the Process and Outcomes of Team Problem Solving
Algozzine, Bob; Horner, Robert H.; Todd, Anne W.; Newton, J. Stephen; Algozzine, Kate; Cusumano, Dale
Grantee Submission
School teams regularly meet to review academic and social problems of individual students, groups of students, or their school in general. While the need for problem solving and recommendations for how to do it are widely documented, there is very limited evidence reflecting the extent to which teams effectively engage in a systematic or effective process at these meetings or the extent to which engaging in recommended processes results in positive outcomes. One reason there has not been more progress on understanding team-based problem solving is the absence of research tools for studying the process and its outcomes. In previous research, we developed the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA), documented its technical adequacy for assessing the behavior of teams during their team meetings, and demonstrated its usefulness in both single-case and randomized controlled trial studies examining problem solving in schools. In this research, we expanded DORA to provide documentation that the solutions that teams develop have been implemented with fidelity and are associated with problem improvement. We found that the revised instrument was a valid and reliable tool for assessing team behavior and that it provided technically adequate information on the extent to which teams were assessing if they had implemented a solution and if the solution made a difference for students. We believe the revised DORA is a measure worthy of use in studying team-based problem solving, and we discuss our findings as a base for a well-reasoned research agenda for moving the process forward as evidence-based practice. An appendix provides: DORA (Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis) II.
Descriptors: Problem Solving, Teamwork, Program Validation, Evaluation Methods, Test Construction, Meetings, Group Dynamics, Behavior Problems, Student Behavior, Data, Conflict Resolution, Positive Reinforcement, Fidelity, Program Implementation, Observation, Test Validity, Test Reliability, Replication (Evaluation), Elementary Schools
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R324A070226