Office discipline referrals (ODRs) are widely used by school personnel to evaluate student behavior and the behavioral climate of schools. In this article, the authors report the results of a review of the relevant literature to evaluate the validity of ODR data as indices of school-wide behavioral climate, the effects of school-wide behavioral interventions, and differing behavior support needs across schools. They used Messick's unified approach to validity by focusing on examples of evidence for empirical and ethical foundations of interpretations, uses, and social consequences of ODR measures at the school-wide level. The authors also discuss ongoing issues, study limitations, and related recommendations for interpretations and uses of ODR measures as school-wide indices, based on the existing literature.

Schools throughout the country are now encouraged to implement school-wide positive behavior support (PBS) procedures as a way to improve their behavioral climate, safety, and social culture. Research is needed to determine (a) the extent to which schools already use school-wide PBS, (b) if training and technical assistance efforts result in change in the use of school-wide PBS procedures, and (c) if use of these procedures is related to valued change in safety, social culture, and behavior within schools. To address these questions, researchers need a metric for assessing implementation of school-wide PBS practices. The School-Wide Evaluation Tool (SET; Sugai, Lewis-Palmer, Todd, & Horner, 2001) was created to provide a rigorous measure of primary prevention practices within school-wide behavior support. In this article, the authors describe the SET and document its psychometric characteristics. The results of their study suggest that the SET is a valid, reliable measure that can be used to assess the impact of school-wide training and technical assistance efforts. The SET should also be useful in formal analyses of the relationship between use of school-wide PBS and changes in social and academic outcomes.

In this evaluation we used Messick's construct validity as a conceptual framework for an empirical study assessing the validity of use, utility, and impact of office discipline referral (ODR) measures for data-based decision making about student behavior in schools. The Messick approach provided a rubric for testing the fit of our theory of use of ODR measures with empirical data on reported and actual use. It also facilitated our demonstration of Messick's principle that validation is both a developmental and an ongoing collaborative process among developers of educational and psychological measures, researchers interested in theories underlying such measures, and educators who use these measures in professional practice. We used a single-group, nonexperimental evaluation design to survey users of ODR measures from the standardized School Wide Information System in 22 elementary and 10 middle schools; respondents included school staff involved exclusively with data entry and staff actively involved in data-based decision making. Results were highly consistent across 2 independent data sources—electronic database records of actual access of summaries of ODR measures and self-report survey responses regarding frequencies and types of uses of ODR measures for decision making. Results indicated that ODR measures are regularly used for a variety of types of data-based decision making and are regarded as both efficient and effective for those purposes. We discuss implications of our SWIS ODR validity evaluation results within the context of the Messick framework.

Office discipline referral (ODR) data provide useful information about problem behavior and consequence patterns, socialbehavioral climates, and effects of social-behavioral interventions in schools. The authors report patterns of ODRs and subsequent administrative decisions from 1,510 schools nationwide that used the School-Wide Information System in 2005-2006. Sample demographics differed from key demographics for schools nationwide on school enrollment, socioeconomic status, and race and ethnicity. Descriptive analyses showed over 88% of elementary grade students with zero or one ODR for the academic year, 72% for middle schools, and 67% for high schools. ODRs were most likely to be generated from classrooms and more likely to be related to peer-directed problem behavior in elementary schools, student-adult interactions in middle schools, and tardiness and skipping in high schools. Major consequences were suspensions and detentions for middle and high school students and varied for elementary students. The discussion focuses on the utility of ODR databases and implications of the reported patterns.

We conducted an observational study of parent-child interaction in home activity settings (routines) of families raising young children with developmental disabilities and problem behavior. Our aim was to empirically investigate the construct validity of coercion in typical but unsuccessful family routines. The long-term goal was to develop an expanded ecological unit of analysis that may contribute to sustainable behavioral family intervention. Ten children with autism and/or mental retardation and their families participated. Videotaped observations were conducted in typical but unsuccessful home routines. Parent-child interaction in routines was coded in real time and sequential analyses were conducted to test hypotheses about coercive processes. Following observation, families were interviewed about the social validity of the construct. Results confirmed the presence of statistically significant, attention-driven coercive processes in routines in which parents were occupied with non-child centered tasks. Results partially confirmed the presence of escape-driven coercive processes in routines in which parent demands are common. Additional analysis revealed an alternative pattern with greater magnitude. Family perspectives suggested the social validity of the construct. Results are discussed in terms of preliminary, partial evidence for coercive processes in routines of families of children with developmental disabilities. Implications for behavioral assessment and intervention design are discussed. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptAlthough there have been significant advances in our understanding of child problem behavior and parent-child interaction (Patterson, 1982;Stormshak, Bierman, McMahon, & Lengua, 2000), very little of this knowledge has been developed in the context of families raising children with developmental disabilities. The etiology of problem behavior in the context of parent-child interaction in the home has been studied in non-disabled populations almost exclusively (McMahon, 1994;Reid, Patterson, & Snyder, 2002). Despite significant social costs of problem behaviors for families of children with disabilities (Singer & Irvin, 1991), the scientific literature includes few studies that address processes of parent-child interaction that develop and maintain problem behaviors among these families (Floyd & Phillipe, 1993). Furthermore, there are no studies in the developmental disabilities literature that have examined the way in which typical family contexts may affect the development of child problem behavior. Such research is viewed as necessary if we are to develop behavioral family interventions that are acceptable, effective and sustainable when used by parents in natural family settings (Bristol et al., 1996). Although there is growing empirical evidence for the effectiveness of positive behavioral interventions for children with disabilities and problem behavior (Koegel, Koegel, & Dunlap, 1996), there is only modest evidenc...