6th Annual USU Behavior Education System and Training Conference (USU-BEST)

Session Summary: Workloads have increased the last two decades and educators are more anxious now than during the pandemic. Job stress negatively impacts educators’ implementation of classroom and school initiatives, obstructing student learning. This keynote focuses on “de-implementation,” or removal of low-value practices, which impair implementation and student learning and heighten teacher and leader stress.

Presenter: Peter Dewitt, Ed.D., is a former teacher (11 years) and principal (8 years) who facilitates workshops and provides keynotes nationally and internationally focusing on leadership, coaching and fostering inclusive school climates. DeWitt’s work has been adopted at the university, state level and national level, and he works with numerous districts, ministries of education, school boards, regional and state organizations where he facilitates workshops for leaders, leadership teams as well as coaches building and district leaders. Peter is the author of several books including Collaborative Leadership: 6 Influences That Matter Most (Corwin Press/Learning Forward) and School Climate: Leading with Collective Efficacy (Corwin Press/Ontario Principals Council. 2017), Coach It Further: Using the Art of Coaching to Improve School Leadership (Corwin Press. 2018), Instructional Leadership: Creating Practice Out of Theory (Corwin Press. 2020), Collective Leader Efficacy: Strengthening Instructional Leadership Teams (Corwin Press/Learning Forward. 2021), and De-Implementation: Creating the Space to Focus on What Works (Corwin Press. 2022). His articles have appeared in education journals at the state, national and international level, and he has presented at forums, conferences, and panel discussions at state, national and international conferences.

Session Summary: The concept of fluency” is often applied to skills such as reading or foreign language learning, but fluency can be achieved in any skill or knowledge element with deliberate practice. While some practice strategies focus on repetition that can decrease motivation to learn, this keynote will describe how educators can arrange deliberate practice based on basic behavior science that rapidly accelerates performance toward true mastery—and is fun for both learners and teachers.

Presenter: Dr. Carl Binder is CEO of The Performance Thinking Network, a firm that certifies organizational performance consultants and develops leaders and managers worldwide. He studied behavior science at Harvard with B.F. Skinner in the 1970s, and conducted both laboratory and applied research as Associate Director of B.H. Barrett’s Behavior Prosthesis Lab during the 1970s, where his research focused on discoveries measuring behavior frequency using the standard celeration chart in classrooms, clinics, and multi-disciplinary therapy teams. His dissertation, advised by Eric Haughton, focused on what is now called “endurance” –  the relationship between behavior frequency and practice duration for skilled behavior.  Ogden Lindsley encouraged him to move from education to corporate performance improvement in the early 1980s, and apply what they had learned with the standard celeration chart. He joined the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), where he met and was mentored by thought leaders including Tom Gilbert, Joe Harless, Geary Rummler, and Don Tosti. He embraced accomplishment-based performance improvement, as taught by Gilbert and Harless, and has spent the ensuing 30 years making performance improvement and fluency-based instruction accessible to non-specialists using plain English language and simple visual models. Carl has published several dozen chapters and articles, including his 1996 paper entitled Behavioral Fluency: Evolution of a New Paradigm, the 12^th most cited publication in the 40 years of The Behavior Analyst journal. He has received career achievement awards from the American Psychological Association, the International Society for Performance Improvement, the Organizational Behavior Management Network, and the Standard Celeration Society. He lives on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, and can be reached by email at CarlBinder@sixboxes.com or on Twitter @dr_carlbinder. Learn more about his work at www.PerformanceThinking.com,  PerformanceThinking.tv  (his YouTube channel) and www.Fluency.org.

Session Summary: Research shows the most common reason for students to escape or avoid the classroom or learning experiences is to get away from instructional stimuli. In this session we will discuss what stimuli students are trying to escape or avoid and why. We will learn appropriate tools to build classrooms that are welcoming, inviting, and fun and that keep students participating and engaged in their learning. If you have ever hammered a nail into the wall with the heel of a boot, water bottle, or other household item, you know how much more efficient and effective a hammer would have been. This session will equip you with the right “tools” for the job of generating student learning by helping you build classrooms that promote happy, successful students.

Presenter: Christine Manning is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and a Licensed Behavior Analyst in the state of Utah. She has a passion for helping children with autism and other abilities in the home and school settings. She enjoys collaboration with administrators, teachers, and parents in support of children with challenging behaviors using evidence-based interventions. She worked as a special education teacher and principal for Spectrum Academy in North Salt Lake for 10 years, supporting children with autism. She worked for the Utah State Board of Education (USBE), as an education and behavior specialist in the special education department. These experiences have allowed her to grow and fulfill her life-long desire to help children be successful. She currently works as a behavior and special education consultant for Utah schools and contracts with Utah State Center for Schools of the Future Behavior Supports Team. She is the chair of the UtABA School Collaboration Committee supporting behavior staff in Utah schools. She is part of the Utah School Mental Health initiative working to promote mental health services in schools with wrap around services in the community. She is the Director and owner of Manning Behavior Services, an in-home ABA clinic serving clients along the Wasatch front. She has a genuine compassion and dedication to serving children and families and takes joy in supporting people in living happy and fulfilling lives. 

Session Summary: Educators have an incredibly difficult job but vital role. In the United States, 44% of teachers in K-12 education said they very often or always feel burned out at work, while for college or university teachers, the figure was 35%. These are the top two occupations among 14 listed in the 2022 Gallup Poll on occupational burnout. How do we address this issue? In this presentation, we will tackle how to infuse joy into instruction and learning through reinforcing strategies, which can often minimize challenging student behavior.

Presenter: Dr. Katie has over twenty years of experience working with children and adults with disabilities in a variety of environments. Most of her experience is with children with autism and severe disabilities; she has served as a behavior specialist, special educator, coach, special education coordinator, and currently works as an assistant teaching professor in the World Campus Applied Behavior Analysis graduate program at Pennsylvania State University. In addition, she worked as an implementation specialist for the Utah Professional Development Network where she delivered trainings throughout the state on the topic of addressing challenging behavior, and currently works as a team member for Behavior Support, Consultation, & Training at the Center for the School for the Future.