Transcript Evidence, Ethics, and the Law

Evidence, Ethics, and the Law
Ronnie Detrich
Wing Institute
The Law
• No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires that
interventions used to improve educational
performance are based on scientific research.
• In NCLB there are over 100 references to
scientific research.
• Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act [IDEIA] (2004) requires
interventions that are scientifically based
instructional practices.
The Law
• Specific requirements of IDEIA include:
 Pre-service and professional development for all
who work with students with disabilities to ensure
such personnel have the skills and knowledge
necessary to improve the academic achievement
and functional performance of children with
disabilities, including the use of scientifically based
instructional practices, to the maximum extent
possible.
The Law
• Specific requirements of IDEIA
 Scientifically
based early reading programs,
positive behavioral interventions and supports,
and early intervention services to reduce the need
to label children as disabled in order to address
the learning and behavioral needs of such
children;
 In determining if a child has a specific learning
disability, a local education agency may use a
process that determines if a child responds to a
scientific, research-based intervention as part of
the evaluation procedures.
The Law
• Specific requirements of IDEIA:
 The IEP shall include a statement of the special
education and related services and supplementary
aids and services, based on peer-reviewed
research to the extent practicable, to be provided
to the child, or on behalf of the child, and a
statement of the program modifications or
supports for school personnel that will be provided
for the child.
Federal Intent
• Clearly, the intent of Congress, the U.S.
Department of Education, and Office of
Special Education Programs is to rely on
interventions that have a scientific basis.
• A problem is that the definition of evidence is
not clearly specified.
The broad federal definition allows many different
types of evidence.
There is some controversy within the field about
what the standards for evidence should be.
Ethics
• First rule of ethical conduct is do no
harm.
 What constitutes harm?
 How can we know if we are causing harm?
 Does failing to have impact constitute harm?
Ethics
 How can we minimize risk of harm?
 The assumption is that interventions with a
scientific basis will increase probability of benefit
for students.
 Is using programs with scientific basis sufficient to
meet legal and ethical requirements?
Ethics
• Most national psychological and educational
organizations have ethical standards
requiring science based practices to address
problems.
 American Psychological Association Ethical
Standard 2.04:
• Psychologists’ work is based on the established scientific
and professional knowledge of the discipline.
Ethics
• National Association of School Psychologists
 Standard III F 4.
• School psychology faculty members and clinical or field
supervisors uphold recognized standards of the
profession by providing training related to high quality,
responsible, and research-based school psychology
services.
Standard IV C 1b.
• Decision-making related to assessment and subsequent
interventions is primarily data-based.
Ethics
• National Association of School Psychologists
 Standard IV 4.
• School psychologists use assessment techniques,
counseling and therapy procedures, consultation
techniques, and other direct and indirect service methods
that the profession considers to be responsible,
research-based practice.
 Standard IV 6.
• School psychologists develop interventions that are
appropriate to the presenting problems and are
consistent with the data collected. They modify or
terminate the treatment plan when the data indicate the
plan is not achieving the desired goals.
Ethics
• Behavior Analysis Certification Board
 Standard 2.09a
• The behavior analyst always has the responsibility to
recommend scientifically supported, most effective
treatment procedures. Effective treatment procedures
have been validated as having both long-term and shortterm benefits to clients and society.
 Standard 2.09b
• Clients have a right to effective treatment (i.e., based on
the research literature and adapted to the individual
client.
Ethics
• Behavior Analysis Certification Board
 Standard 4.04
• The behavior analyst collects data or asks the client,
client-surrogate, or designated other to collect data
needed to assess progress within the program.
 Standard 4.05
• The behavior analyst modifies the program on the basis
of data.
Ethics
• Primary organizations responsible for
services for children mandate use of
practices based on scientific research as part
of ethical behavior.
• Data-based decision making is mandated in
ethical guidelines.
One Other Ethical Consideration
• Special education services are largely funded
through public dollars (taxpayers dollars).
• There is an implicit assumption that the
money will be spent for the public good.
• A fiduciary responsibility exists when one
person or organization is charged with
managing another person’s money.
One Other Ethical Consideration
• The primary responsibility of a fiduciary is to
act solely for the benefit of the other party.
• Being a fiduciary carries the weight of ethical
conduct.
• Those of us charged with providing special
education services have a fiduciary
responsibility to assure that the taxpayers are
receiving the greatest possible return on their
investment.
How Do We Meet Our Fiduciary
Responsibility?
• Interventions that have an evidence base are
more likely to produce positive effects for
students.
• Our fiduciary responsibility requires that we
use the intervention that has a higher
probability of success, i.e. evidence-based
intervention.
How Do We Meet Our Fiduciary
Responsibility?
• It is unknown what impact non-evidencebased interventions are likely to have.
 Using a non-evidence-based intervention when
there are evidence-based interventions available
constitutes unethical practice.
 If we want to use a non-evidence based
intervention then it should be considered research
and all of the safe-guards afforded research
participants and their families should be in place.
 Conducting research with tax-dollars provided for
education may constitute a violation of our
fiduciary responsibility.
The Evidence
• There are many interventions that are
promising but most of these intervention are
evaluated under laboratory conditions by
highly skilled researchers (efficacy research).
• Far fewer interventions have been evaluated
under typical conditions found in public
school settings (effectiveness research).
• Very few of these interventions have been
evaluated to determine if they meet standards
to be considered evidence-based.
The Evidence
• Even if an intervention is established as
evidence-based, it does not mean that it is
guaranteed to work for all students.
• An evidence-based problem solving approach
requires that we collect data about the impact
of our interventions on each individual
student (practice-based evidence).
The Evidence
• Earlier in this talk ethical questions were
raised:
 What constitutes harm?
 How can we know if we are causing harm?
 Does failing to have impact constitute harm?
• An evidence-based problem solving approach
provides a means for addressing these
questions.
The Evidence
• If the function of education is to teach skills
that are relevant for a student then failing to
teach skills constitutes harm.
• We can know if we are causing harm by
monitoring progress on the skills we are
teaching.
 If progress is not occurring then we are obligated
to change interventions until there is progress.
 The unethical conduct is failing to monitor
performance and failing to change interventions if
there is no progress.
The Evidence
• An evidence-based approach to problem
solving requires not only that we collect data
to evaluate the impact of an intervention but
that we actually look at the data on a regular
basis.
• The Response to Intervention (RTI) approach
is an example of a systemic evidence-based
approach to providing education for all
students.
RTI Model
• Starts with an evidence-base of effective
academic and behavioral interventions.
• Interventions are applied universally within a
population (i.e., entire school, classroom).
• If a student is not benefiting from these
interventions, as determined by systematic
progress monitoring, then the student
receives additional evidence-based support
while monitoring continues.
• Process continues until student is
progressing.
RTI as Ethics-based Intervention
• Starts from a base of established evidencebased practices.
 Consistent with ethical statements of professional
organizations.
• At the heart of RTI is progress monitoring.
 Consistent with emphasis on data-based decision
making ethical requirements of professional
organizations.
RTI: From Evidence-based Practice to
Practice-based Evidence
• RTI is an example of starting with evidencebased practices and completing the process
with practice-based evidence.
• To be successful requires a system that
works together.
 Responsibility cannot fall on teachers alone.