Are Online Sources for Identifying Evidence-Based Practices Trustworthy? An Evaluation

Test, David W.; Kemp-Inman, Amy; Diegelmann, Karen M.; Hitt, Sara Beth; Bethune, Lauren K.

doi:10.1177/0014402915585477

Cited by 30 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Test, Kemp-Inman, Diegelmann, Hitt, and Bethune (2015) examined 47 educational websites that specifically claimed to provide evidence-based practices (EBPs) for students with and without disabilities. They categorized the websites into three groups: trust, trust with caution, and do not trust.…”

Section: Research On Website Usage and Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Proceed With Caution: Using Web-Based Resources for Instructing Students With and at Risk for EBD

Beahm

Cook

2019

Beyond Behavior

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A new student, Aiden Rayburn, who is eligible for special education services with an emotional disorder, has joined Ms. Nelson's third-grade classroom. Ms. Nelson received information from his previous school that Aiden has a hard time sitting in his seat and frequently engages in behaviors like slamming his fists on the table when he is frustrated. Ms. Nelson wants to make sure that she is adequately prepared to meet his needs, so she begins to search for ideas on ways to help him stay on task and manage his outbursts. She sits down at her computer and accesses the Teachers Pay Teachers website, which many of her colleagues told her they use when they need ideas for teaching. Ms. Nelson types "behavior management strategies" in the search bar. She instantly receives hundreds of pins with ideas for classroom management, many of which look potentially relevant for Aiden. As she begins to click on different links, Ms. Nelson becomes overwhelmed. There are so many choices. "How do I tell which are the most effective?" she asks herself. Eventually, Ms. Nelson chooses a resource called "Smile/Frown Behavior Strips" because it comes with materials and clear guidelines for implementation. She introduces the strategy with Aiden, but is disappointed to discover that it does not seem to be working. Moreover, she believes that implementation is contributing to a straining of the relationship between Ms. Nelson, Aiden, and Aiden's parents. The more she employs the downloaded technique, the more challenging Aiden's behaviors become. General and special education teachers need to understand the unique needs of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and use effective instructional practices and strategies to meet those needs. The story of Ms. Nelson provides a cautionary tale of teachers using websites such as Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) to get ideas and strategies for addressing challenging behaviors in their classrooms, including those of students with and at risk for EBD. Educators commonly use social media to virtually access instructional resources and recommendations. In 2015, for example, Cummings reported that approximately 1.3 million educational resources were pinned on Pinterest every day. Yet resources and recommendations on these websites are not vetted and may contain misleading information, facilitating teachers' selection and implementation of ineffective strategies that fail to improve student behavior and other outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the pros and cons of Pinterest and TpT and consider why they are popular with teachers, explore specific resources on Pinterest and TpT, and provide recommendations for educators on how to appropriately use Internet resources, including Pinterest and TpT, to inform instruction.

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Section: Research On Website Usage and Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Proceed With Caution: Using Web-Based Resources for Instructing Students With and at Risk for EBD

Beahm

Cook

2019

Beyond Behavior

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“…The development and distribution of quality indicator checklists is one way researchers have promoted objective and uniform application of EBP quality indicators. One widely distributed checklist created by NSTTAC (Test et al, 2009) and NTACT (Test et al, 2015) …”

Section: Summary Of Overarching Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As mentioned previously, the use of such practices may be detrimental to the people it serves. For example, an analysis of online resources used to identify EBPs found that only 57% of those resources were considered trustworthy (Test, Kemp-Inman, Diegelmann, Hitt, & Bethune, 2015). Professional and advocacy organizations such as TASH must be responsible for providing accurate and reliable information about the most effective and efficient teaching strategies.…”

Section: Relevance To Advocacy and Intervention Research For Persons mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, the Horner et al (2005) and Gersten et al (2005) quality indicator criteria were used with guidelines as to how to apply these criteria developed by the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC; Test et al, 2009) and the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT; Test et al, 2015). Collective outcomes across these evidence-based investigations suggest that systematic instruction as an overarching instructional package (Snell, 1978(Snell, , 1983) and specific components of that package such as task analysis to teach chained tasks or time delay for discrete tasks were found to be EBPs.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Establishing the State of Affairs for Evidence-Based Practices in Students With Severe Disabilities

Spooner

McKissick

Knight

2017

Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities

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The use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) was mandated with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), and continues with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Accordingly, all children, including those with severe disabilities, must be taught both daily living and academic skills using EBPs. In this article, we synthesize, report, and establish the state of affairs for teaching EBPs to students with severe disabilities; examine established practices and considerations for the future of EBPs; and describe the relevance of the EBP movement to advocacy and intervention research for this population. Leading organizations dedicated to improving the lives of people with severe disabilities must continue to place emphasis on practices and research that have provided empirical demonstrations of effect and standards of proof.Keywords evidence-based practices, severe disabilities, instructional strategies, academic skills, daily living skills Special education began to address evidence-based practice (EBP) with the mandate of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB;, and an emphasis on EBP continues with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA;. The dedication to systematic instruction and behavioral principles has been part of TASH from its inception (Haring & Brown, 1976) and continues as exemplified by volumes like Meyer, Peck, and Brown (1991), and recent text books Brown, McDonnell, & Snell, 2016;Westling, Fox, & Carter, 2015). Current practice and understanding insist that all children, including those with severe disabilities, are taught academic skills, and EBPs are to be used to teach those skills. The field took its lead on EBPs from the discipline of medicine. Sackett, Rosenberg, Gray, Haynes, and Richardson (1996) defined evidence-based medicine as the integration of individual clinical expertise and external clinical evidence from systematic research. Following the lead from medicine, lawmakers integrated statements about EBPs in an effort to produce desired learning outcomes and improve the lives of children with disabilities and their families.National Research Council (2002) suggested that much of the research done in the larger field of education including special education was substandard, and that the inferior nature of this research and its translation into practice was, in part, responsible for the poor educational outcomes of children. Several guiding research-article2017Spooner et al. 9principles were recommended to improve the quality of research and, in turn, affect the current poor state of affairs for education research: (a) pose significant questions that can be answered empirically; (b) link research to relevant theory; (c) use methods that permit direct intervention of the question; (d) provide coherent, explicit chain of reasoning; (e) replicate and generalize across studies; and (f) disclose research to encourage professional scrutiny and critique. Primary emphasis was given to group experimental designs, comprised of control and treatment groups, in which par...

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“…The Internet gives students the opportunity to explore places without having to travel (e.g., virtual tours of apartments, businesses, museums). The Internet contains valuable, high-quality sources of information; however, it also contains unreliable, subjective sources of misinformation (Test, Kemp-Inman, Diegelmann, Hitt, & Bethune, 2015). The inconsistency with the web increases the burden placed on students and teachers to evaluate the quality of a website regardless of its intended use (Zhang & Duke, 2011).…”

Section: Step 1: Evaluate Web-based Resources To Explore Topics In Sementioning

confidence: 99%

Helping Students Make Informed Decisions About Transition Via Web-Based Resources

Rowe

McNaught

Yoho

et al. 2017

Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals

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Transition can be difficult for students with and without disabilities as they move to independent living after high school. Although there are many transitions that occur in a young person's life, transition from high school to adulthood is one of the most significant. One of the primary goals of special education is to improve post-school outcomes for students with disabilities; however, post-school outcomes for students with disabilities remain a critical area in need of improvement. Taking into account these poor outcomes, it becomes imperative for teachers to be able to guide their students in making informed decisions as they begin the transition process. This article provides teachers with reputable web-based resources to help youth build autonomy and gain information to support the transition from high school into post-school life.

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Are Online Sources for Identifying Evidence-Based Practices Trustworthy? An Evaluation

Cited by 30 publications

References 21 publications

Proceed With Caution: Using Web-Based Resources for Instructing Students With and at Risk for EBD

Proceed With Caution: Using Web-Based Resources for Instructing Students With and at Risk for EBD

Establishing the State of Affairs for Evidence-Based Practices in Students With Severe Disabilities

Helping Students Make Informed Decisions About Transition Via Web-Based Resources

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