Precision Teaching

OVERVIEW OF PRECISION TEACHING

Every child is unique and deserves an individualized curriculum to be able to learn and to succeed in learning and education. Not everyone learns in the same manner, at the same speed and at the same time. Hence, we believe that not only should the curriculum be unique, but the learning and teaching process should also be unique for each child. Behavior Innovations brings an individualized approach and style of learning and teaching called Precision Teaching.  Precision Teaching was born from the field of Behavior Analysis, is data-based and data-driven with plenty of research to prove it’s efficacy. Behavior Innovations aims to bring this unconventional, yet incredibly successful style of teaching to learners. PRECISION TEACHING is like ABA on STEROIDS.

Behavior Innovations takes an individualized approach to learning and teaching to provide high quality tutoring services, based on the science of learning and behavior. We recognize each learner’s unique strengths and challenge their academic capabilities to allow them to achieve their full potential. This approach is used to provide quality, evidenced-based tutoring for children who have fallen behind in academic in traditional education. We are proud to provide academic and learning supports to learners enrolled in public, private or home school environments. Studies have reported that learners make an average of one-year gains in reading, math, language arts per academic year when taught using precision teaching or fluency-based teaching methods.

Research has proved that Precision Teaching Methods improves both Fluency and Accuracy of performance and skills. It can be seen as a structured way to learn and practice skills efficiently and accurately. It effectively and efficiently strengthens FLUENCY for skills by reinforcing high frequency responding. High frequency responding means performing or answering questions quickly. For anyone to be fluent at a skill or activity means that the skill has been mastered. Some examples of everyday fluency are: A race car driver driving a car, a chef chopping vegetables, or swimmer swimming for a competition.

MISSION

Behavior Innovations mission is to provide quality and evidence-based tutoring for children who have fallen behind academically.  We believe that the curriculum and the learning process should be as unique as the children who use it.

PRECISION TEACHING INVOLVES:

  1. Designing a teaching arrangement
  2. Measuring the impact of those teachings, and
  3. Make changes based on these measurements.

STEPS INVOLVED IN PRECISION TEACHING:

  1. Pinpoint – process of defining behavior on objective, measurable terms
  2. Record – select measurement method, which is sensitive to recording performance such as rate of response
  3. Chart – once the learner responds, it is recorded or displayed on a Standard Celeration Chart.
  4. Try Again – we observe behaviors; and chart and amend interventions as frequently as data warrants. If behaviors are not improving, changes are done often to get improvement.

WHY PRECISION TEACHING?

“Measuring a performance for one day tells us how the person completed the task. But when we string those individual performances together across time, we call the change learning.” — Richard M. Kubina Jr., Ph.D, BCBA-D

DOES PRECISION TEACHING HELP CHILDREN WITH ACADEMICS?

Behavior Innovations uses Precision Teaching to break down academic subjects like reading or math into small skills and then builds fluency within those skills. With Precision Teaching, we establish fluency within the fundamental skills first, then gradually advance the child to more advanced skills. Data from initial assessment is used to determine areas for growth and to develop and individualized curriculum for your child.

HOW WILL I KNOW HOW IS MY CHILD DOING?

Throughout the session, we collect tons of data points because data drives our decisions. We track the correct and incorrect answers, speed and accuracy. A Standard Celebration Chart is used to record the data points, to measure progress on each program, and when to introduce new materials.

EVIDENCE FOR PRECISION TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS

Beck and Clement, 1991 conducted the largest Precision Teaching study in the Great Falls Precision Teaching Project in Great Falls, Montana. For 15 years, learners of Great Falls received Precision Teaching trainings. Schools were randomly assigned to either a Precision Teaching group or Control group (where learners were taught using traditional educational methods). Fifteen of the 19 experimental-control group comparisons performed significantly better on post-test examinations. There have been other research studies also which prove that Precision Teaching is an effective way to teach learners new skills and academics.

ORIGINATION OF PRECISION TEACHING

Precision Teaching was developed from Behavior Analysis (ABA), which is a subset of psychology. Ogden Lindsley, a student of B.F. Skinner was the founder of the science of Precision Teaching. He applied the principles learned from Dr. Skinner to education. He developed the Standard Celeration Chart (SCC), which is a sensitive measurement system for precision or fluency-based teaching. He established the key features and methods of Precision Teaching.

BENEFITS OF PRECISION TEACHING

  1. Precision Teaching is always 1:1 between instructor and learner. This allows the teacher to adapt to individual learner’s learning styles.
  2. Precision Teaching is a Science Based Curriculum. The methods and materials are based on the science of learning and behavior. Precision Teaching uses repetition to build fluency skills so learners can quickly and accurately process information and solve problems.
  3. Precision Teaching uses a multi-modal approach that improves visual and auditory processing speed, working memory, executive functioning, confidence, and perseverance
  4. Precision Teaching programs are fun, effective and fast paced, and feel like quick games to the learner where they get to “beat their own high score” from previous trial. All of their scores are plotted on the Standard Celeration Chart for instantaneous determination of progress. Precision Teaching programs thus leads to Quick Growth of skills in children.
  5. Precision Teaching methods allow us to make Data Based Decisions. Data is collected on behaviors, programs, progress and everything else. Data is used to assess learner’s growth, where to start with new learners, and it drives all our decisions, giving us proof that Precision Teaching is effective.
  6. Return on Investment: Precision Teaching relies on scientific data and a proven system of building fluency within the learner’s skills. It is fast paces and effective, allows learners to achieve their goals, discover new ways to learn, and saves learner’s years of time and money.

PRECISION TEACHING PROGRAMS

  1. Initial Assessment: This is for learners who are new to the clinic. Assessment identifies areas for improvement as well as skills present in the learner. After assessment, a meeting will be held with parents to review the assessment results and to suggest areas of improvement and growth in the learner.
  2. Learning Readiness (Beginners only): This program teaches skills that children need to have to be able to progress to basic reading, math and general skills. These skills may include shape identification, letter recognition, numbers recognition, patterning, receptive and expressive identification of objects/people/places, etc.
  3. English Language Arts: This program is for learners who need support in phonetics, reading, writing, reading comprehension, spelling, essay comprehension and other similar skills. Teaching curriculum is based on initial and ongoing assessments specifically created for individual learners.
  4. Mathematics: This program is for learners to learn skills related to numbers and math concepts. It ranges from basic numbers identification to computations depending on learner’s needs.

SUCCEED!

Watch your child SUCCEED and grow both academically and as an individual. Your child will set and surpass goals, with acquisition of a new learning style.