A Pilot Study of a Problem-Solving Model for Team Decision Making

Many schools have problem-solving teams that support teachers by helping identify and resolve students' academic and social problems. Although research is limited, it has been found that teams sometimes fail to implement problem-solving processes with fidelity, which may hinder the resolution of problems. We developed the Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) model to guide problem-solving processes of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Teams and the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA) instrument for measuring the fidelity of TIPS implementation. We conducted a TIPS Workshop for four elementary school PBIS Teams in North Carolina and Oregon and used DORA to assess the teams' implementation of TIPS processes in subsequent meetings. We found DORA was successful at allowing us to gather measures of fidelity of implementation, and that teams implemented TIPS processes with fidelity following the workshop. Limitations of these findings as well as implications for future research and practice are provided.