Effect of Continuous Improvement Training on Student Interaction and Engagement

This article describes a preliminary study investigating whether a specific awareness and training for six teacher–paraprofessional teams would have an effect on the inclusion of six students with mild to severe disabilities in elementary general education environments. An experimental design employing a pretest–posttest control group with matched subjects was used to evaluate the effectiveness of training that emphasized the continuous improvement components of teamwork, goal setting, and data collection. Data focusing on student interaction and engagement were collected using MS-CISSAR. Results indicated an increase in teacher interaction and a decrease in paraprofessional interaction with special education students after the training component. Engaged behavior was not found to change noticeably for this group of students. Individual student strategies and benefits are also reported. The article includes a discussion of training format, key elements, and their relationship to long-term systems change.