Implementation Drivers of Data-Based Instruction for Students With Intensive Learning Needs: A Systematic Review.

Despite decades of research efforts, data-based instruction (DBI) for students with intensive intervention needs are not being widely used in practice as anticipated, and many educators have difficulties in implementing it. This systematic review aimed to examine what kinds of implementation drivers and strategies have been used to support educators implementing DBI and what kinds of implementation outcomes researchers have measured. Eighteen studies were synthesized using the Implementation Drivers framework and Implementation Outcomes taxonomy and were quality appraised. We found that the majority of studies primarily used competency drivers to increase teachers' DBI expertise, while a limited number of studies focused on organizational and leadership drivers. Acceptability and fidelity were frequently assessed as implementation outcomes. We discussed the implications of the findings, including the need for researchers to incorporate implementation drivers and outcomes at diverse levels to best support educators' implementation of DBI, as well as the limitations of this review, such as the limited generalizability of the findings.

Teacher Predictors of Student Progress in Data-Based Writing Instruction: Knowledge, Skills, Beliefs, and Instructional Fidelity.

Teacher-level factors are theoretically linked to student outcomes in data-based instruction (DBI; Lembke et al., 2018). Professional development and ongoing support can increase teachers' knowledge, skills, and beliefs related to DBI, as well as their instructional fidelity (McMaster et al., 2020). However, less is known about how each of these teacher-level factors influences student progress during an intervention. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between several important teacher-level factors-teachers' writing instruction fidelity, knowledge and skills related to DBI, explicit writing orientation, and writing instruction self-efficacy-and students' writing growth. Participants were 49 U.S. elementary teachers and their 118 students struggling with early writing skills. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we found a significant positive relation between DBI knowledge and skills and student writing growth, but no relation was found between writing instruction fidelity, writing orientation, or self-efficacy and student writing growth. Implications for writing instruction fidelity measurement in DBI and professional development related to teachers' DBI knowledge and skills are discussed.