Ball Charter Schools (Dobson)

Dobson Academy will hire a Director of Academics and Behavior Analyst to address students' social emotional and academic needs. In addition, all staff will participate in professional development in social emotional learning tools and identification of students needing additional support.

A behavior analyst and a behavior technician will be added to staff and implement Zones of Regulation. Zones of Regulation is a metacognitive framework which teaches students the skills for emotional regulation. It is based on social-emotional theories and is shown to be effective with typical students as well as students with executive functioning disorders including ADHD and Autism. Student subgroups and populations being addressed by the interventions include students of all racial and ethnic groups, economically disadvantaged students, children with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, and students experiencing homelessness and children and youth in foster care. In addition, it integrates best practices of Trauma Informed Care and mental health support aligning with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) core competencies. It integrates the evidence-based best practices of Central Coherence Theory, Cognitive Behavior Management, and Systemizing Theory. A literature review of The Zones of Regulations can be found here.

The use of a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) is effective in addressing the behavior needs of students whose education and stability have been adversely impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A behavior analyst is trained in assuring that quality interventions are used in shaping the behavior of students who often use negative behaviors to communicate their needs. BCBA's are skilled in conducting functional behavior assessments (FBA) which are systematic sets of strategies used to determine the underlying function or purpose of a behavior, so that an effective intervention plan can be developed. FBAs meet evidence-based criteria with studies across all ages of students, as well as in the domains of behavior and communication.
Zones of Regulation curriculum is also included which is comprised of a book for each teacher and training will be done by the Behavior Analyst and Director of Student Support Services.
The success of the Behavior Analyst will be monitored through behavior referrals and behavior assessments conducted during FY22 and FY23 A pre and post Behavior Assessment will be documented to assess the effectiveness of the Behavior Analyst.

Behavior Analyst at 1.0 FTE $80,000 divided between Dobson, Hearn and Val Vista Academies. =
Salary prorated FY22 $80,00X .45 = $36,000
Benefits FY22 $36,000 X .3 = $10,800
TOTAL $46,800

Dobson students identified as having learning opportunities will participate in potentially two sessions of summer school in June 2021 and July 2021. Summer sessions are also being planned for summer of 2022 and summer of 2023. Vulnerable populations including minorities, low socio economic students, foster youth, migrant youth, special education students will be identified and learning gaps noted. Each "workshop" will be staffed with teachers who will identify the evidenced based program and/or resources to utilize to serve the students attending their workshops .Dobson Academy students will continue to be identified through AzM2 year-end assessments, Performance Matters Pre-tests and teacher feedback. The students will participate in summer learning workshops to provide individual instruction to support student proficiency in standards student may not have achieve in the past school year. The instruction will be delivered by classroom teachers across the school grades K-8 in both Math and Language Arts. Summer learning workshops will meet four days a week for two summer session in the summer of 2022 and 2023. For the workshops, teachers will utilize resources from Savvas Learning Companies for Math and ELA, and Fundations. Each workshop will have a student to teacher ratio of approximately 15:1. The effectiveness of the program will be monitored using student academic performance in the classroom as well as student test scores on Performance Matters as well as pre to post assessments of student individual education plan.

Dobson Academy will plan and implement targeted comprehensive after school academic programs for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters of the 2021-2022 and 2022 and 2023 school years. 8 staff will be identified and recruited to provide targeted academic support during each 9 week quarter for one hour after school, 4 days per week. Students will be identified based on prior year AzM2 results, FY22 pretests and other assessments to identify learning losses. Vulnerable populations including low socio economic, major racial and ethnic groups, children with disabilities, English learners, homeless students, and youth in foster care will be identified and evidence research based interventions will be utilized during the afterschool workshops. Dobson Academy students were identified through Spring 2021 AzM2 year-end assessments, 2021 Performance Matters Pre-tests and teacher feedback. The students will participate in workshops to provide individual instruction to support student proficiency in standards student may not have achieve in the past school year. The instruction will be delivered by classroom teachers across the school grades K-8 in both Math and Language Arts. Workshops will meet between two to four days a week. For the workshops, teachers will utilize resources from Savvas Learning Companies for Math and ELA, Fundations.. These workshops will take place between 45-60 minutes before or after school. Each workshop will have a student to teacher ratio of approximately 15:1. The workshops will either be full year or half year. Full year programs will begin no later than the first week of October and run for about 15-18 weeks. Half year programs will extend until the end of March at the earliest and the end of April at the latest. The effectiveness of the program will be monitored using student academic performance in the classroom as well as student test scores on Performance Matters as well as pre to post assessments of student individual education plan.