Supporting paraeducators' adherence to behavior support plans through implementation planning

Abstract

Paraeducators are tasked with providing behavior support to students with complex needs but have limited preparation to do so. Emerging research suggests paraeducators require different levels of implementation support, yet few implementation strategies have been evaluated with paraeducators and most are resource intensive, limiting their feasibility. Implementation planning is a feasible, low-resource, proactive, or as-needed, fidelity support with evidence for its effectiveness with classroom teachers and parents. The present study employed a multiple baseline across participants single case experimental design to investigate the effects of providing implementation planning on paraeducators' fidelity to existing behavior support plans (BSPs). Related student outcomes (i.e., academic engagement and disruptive behavior) were also explored. Participants of the present study included three paraeducators and three students recruited from one elementary school (grades PK-2) in a large suburban district in the Northeast region of the U.S. Overall, all paraeducators' fidelity to the BSPs increased and were above 80 %, on average, following provision of implementation planning. One paraeducator met criteria to receive additional implementation support and received performance feedback. Student outcomes improved after fidelity to BSP increased. Implementation planning can be applied as needed to support paraeducators to more consistently deliver BSPs within a tiered framework.