New Behavior Management Tools
July 30, 2012 – Blaine, Minn. – School districts seeking federal grant funding tied to the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act will enjoy ongoing benefits from a new toolset provided by Infinite Campus in July’s E.1230 product release. The Behavior Management Tool re-envisions how behavior data is managed within Infinite Campus District Edition.
For a district to qualify for Safe School-related grants, they are required to provide data to their state educational agency about student behavior as it relates to drugs, violence, bullying and related concerns. This data informs outcomes-based evaluations that drive program and funding decisions with the intent of making schools safe and healthy with the lowest cost to the taxpayer.
A central organizing principal within Safe Schools reporting is the notion of an incident. An incident is an episode in which one or more behavior-related events occur in roughly the same place and at the same time. An example of an incident would be a pep rally where several events are witnessed, including a fight and a dress code violation. Within the new Behavior Management Tool, this notion of an incident has guided all aspects of the design of the user experience and application architecture.
The overarching theme driving the changes in the recent release is a movement from a student-centric model to an incident-centric model. Previously, when a behavior event such as a fight at a pep rally occurred, it was tracked primarily in terms of who was involved in the event. Now the emphasis has shifted to the what, where and when that describe the event’s context. The Pep Rally Example in the diagram below shows this shift in focus.
Jonathan Luknic, the analyst on the project responsible for product localization, explained,
The incident-based architecture is a more natural fit with the variety of state reporting needs nationally. The information the reports require, including options and details localized to each state, has been organized with the reports’ consumers in mind.”
In addition to its reporting benefits, the Behavior Management Tool also creates a centralized place for all staff tasks related to behavior. Navigation has been simplified to create a more efficient and elegant experience for users. Marc Gahie, software product analyst, described a related benefit, “The new workflows will have a big impact on communication. For example, when an incident is reported, the staff in charge of behavior will be notified via a message in their inbox. And when a resolution is posted, the reporter of the incident will also get a message. It’s configurable so an administrator decides who gets what messages.”
The Behavior Management Tool and the associated state reports are integrated into the core Infinite Campus District Edition product at no additional expense to districts. More information for current customers, including documentation, videos and simulations, is available on the Campus Community.