The benefits of precision teaching for educational psychologists

Abstract

Purpose

Educational psychologists play critical roles in assessing, supporting and enhancing student outcomes. Adopting Precision Teaching (PT) methods could amplify their capacity to serve struggling students. PT is a measurement system for defining target behaviours, systematic data collection, data displays and data-based programming decisions. The purpose of this paper is to present a rationale for the benefits of Precision Teaching to educational psychologists across four key domains: assessment, intervention, consultation, and research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper explains and provides examples of how PT principles would enhance practices in each domain. For assessment, PT enables clearer problem specification, direct behaviour measurement and growth metrics. For intervention, PT supplies tactics grounded in research and efficient progress monitoring. For consultation, PT aligns with data-based problem-solving models. For research, PT promotes tighter experimental control and measurement of key phenomena.

Findings

Integrating PT would sharpen assessment acuity through enhanced goal setting and progress quantification. Intervention expertise would improve via research-based techniques and response-driven decision rules. Consultation efficacy would rise from consistent data conventions and collaborative problem analysis. Finally, single-case experimental methods would raise the rigour of investigations into core learning processes.

Originality/value

The paper uniquely demonstrates how PT can enhance educational psychology practices across assessment, intervention, consultation, and research. By integrating precise behavior measurement, real-time data collection, and systematic decision-making, PT offers innovative solutions to improve student outcomes and professional efficacy. Its evidence-based approach also strengthens collaboration and research rigor in the field.

Educational psychology plays a critical role in assessing, supporting and enhancing student learning, development and well-being (Martin et al., 2020). Educational psychologists conduct psychoeducational assessments, consult with schools, provide interventions and engage in research to deepen the field’s understanding of learning processes and outcomes. Adopting Precision Teaching (PT) could amplify educational psychologists’ capacity to serve students struggling academically or behaviourally. PT is a measurement/decision-making system centred on precisely defining target behaviours, systematically measuring performance through frequency recording, displaying data on standard celeration charts, analysing data patterns and making data-based decisions about needed programme changes (Kubina, 2019). The manifold benefits of PT for educational psychologists bear consideration.

Assessment

A core function of educational psychology involves conducting comprehensive assessments to identify a student’s cognitive, academic, socioemotional and behavioural strengths and needs. PT could improve assessment in several respects. Firstly, PT uses specific “pinpoints” to define target behaviours that are observable, measurable and action-oriented (Evans et al., 2021). Replacing vague phrases like “reading comprehension problems” with precise pinpoints such as “says retell fact from a second-grade passage at 10–12 facts per minute with 0–1 errors” would significantly enhance assessment clarity.

Secondly, PT assessments emphasise direct behaviour frequency measures over indirect scores from norm-referenced tests. Stating a student reads 93 words correctly and 5 words incorrectly with a 3rd-grade narrative text adds precision and insight into a specific reading performance. Assessing reading frequencies across time paints a picture of learning, allowing the educational psychologist to determine growth in learning (i.e. celeration). For example, a celeration value of ×1.5 means the student has grown their skill by 50% per week. Growth rates or celeration values will promote judgement and analysis of reading progress differently when compared with a single standard score representing general “reading achievement”.

And thirdly, PT further enriches assessment through daily measurement and other standard celeration chart metrics (see Table 1). Many metrics exist in a standardised form to enrich the understanding of students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities performance measured and charted across time. Such measures span an individual’s performance (i.e. frequency) to show showing learning (i.e. celeration) and how robustly an intervention or programme (i.e. bounce) influences the acquisition of material.

Intervention

When assessment reveals academic or behavioural issues, educational psychologists may provide direct intervention or consult with school staff on appropriate strategies. Again, PT would significantly strengthen intervention efforts. Firstly, as a decision-making framework, PT supplies a wealth of tactical solutions for behaviour change grounded in learning theory, research, and discoveries from applied practice (Evans et al., 2021; Griffin, 2021; Mc Tiernan et al., 2021). For example, PT indicates that brief, frequent practice sessions optimise learning, whereas untimed practice sessions with non-systematic feedback hinder it – a vital consideration when designing interventions.

PT also presents student performance data on standard celeration charts that readily expose ineffective approaches versus those producing desired gains (Kubina and Yurich, 2012). Unlike tedious visual analysis of traditional line graphs, standard celeration charts allow quick determination of whether interventions should continue, require modification or if new tactics are needed. Research shows ratio graphs, which the standard celeration chart qualifies as, produce less interpretation error and faster decision-making (Kubina et al., 2023).

The standard celeration chart constitutes a powerful behaviour change tool, as it motivates learners through visually displayed fluency building and frequent celebration of small wins (Kubina and Yurich, 2012). Educational psychologists using PT would maintain an extensive intervention toolkit grounded in applied research and an efficient means to track effectiveness empirically. Furthermore, PT’s application to students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities in educational psychology did successfully occur in the past (e.g. Neal, 1981); perhaps a renewed focus would yield similar or even better results.

Consultation

Educational psychologists spend considerable time consulting with school personnel about learning matters. PT aligns well with common consultation models focused on problem-solving processes and data-based decision-making (Kratochwill and Pittman, 2002). Within such models, consultants help teachers frame problems, set goals, design interventions, monitor outcomes and evaluate progress. PT provides ideal systems support for such a workflow. The emphasis on pinpointing precipitates thorough problem analysis. Frequency aims establish measurable goals. Standard measurement tactics generate student process data. Celeration charts reveal intervention effects and required modifications. Consistent decisions and intervention hierarchies communicate to practitioners when to try new approaches (Kubina, 2019).

Because PT uses the same measurement language and graphics regardless of the target behaviour, educational psychologists could easily teach teachers data interpretation and decision rules for creating fluency or frequency aims for social skills, transitions, work completion and other critical school-based goals. Such consistent data conventions and problem-solving procedures would significantly improve consultation communication, recommendation fidelity and intervention effectiveness. Essentially, PT offers both methodological enhancements and shared conceptual understandings to advance consultant–consultee partnerships.

Research

Active research agendas distinguish educational psychologists as scientific practitioners committed to expanding professional knowledge (Slavin, 2020). However, the field could benefit from well-defined dependent variables, enhanced use of single-case experimental designs, and an increased direct behaviour measurement. Such issues would further the understanding of core learning phenomena. As an applied science of human behaviour, PT provides solutions. For example, PT emphasises precise measurement of target behaviours versus abstractions like “reading ability.” PT also routinely employs single-case methods considered vital for studying behaviour–environment relations, yet not as common in school research. Furthermore, PT appraises interventions through student frequency, celeration, bounce and improvement index data on standard charts (see Table 1).

As an example, a standard celeration chart appears in Figure 1. The chart has all of the relevant information concerning who did what, when they did it, where they did it and who helped them chart the behaviour and make decisions. All appear in the labelled blanks outside the chart. Inside the chart, dots represent acceleration data (i.e. data we want to grow) and X’s denote deceleration data (i.e. data we want to decay). A line drawn through the acceleration data, a celeration line, has a corresponding value of ×1.8, meaning the behaviour has grown by 80% or 1.8 times each week. Once an educational psychologist and other stakeholders learn the conventions, all standard celeration charts become immediately comprehensible.

PT practice adds a valuable dimension when contrasted with standardised test scores detached from local learning conditions. Adopting PT tactics would enable educational psychologists to conduct tightly controlled studies into fundamental academic and social behaviour change questions. Findings would further enrich PT’s extensive empirical base (Evans et al., 2021). Published experiments could identify improved instructional procedures for classroom implementation, thus fully actualising the scientist–practitioner model. Ultimately, embracing PT could strengthen the methodological rigour of educational psychologists’ investigative work and align it with the behavioural focus of their intervention services.

Challenges/limitations

While the following paper argues for PT’s benefits for educational psychologists across assessment, intervention, consultation and research, several challenges and limitations remain. One primary challenge concerns the steep learning curve of mastering PT techniques and standard celeration charting. Educational psychologists may need substantial training and ongoing support to effectively implement PT, which could hinder adoption and implementation in environments with limited time and resources. In addition, the reliance on frequent, detailed data collection might seem daunting for practitioners accustomed to more traditional assessment and intervention methods. The shift to closely monitoring and recording behaviour could lead to resistance or inconsistent application among professionals.

Another limitation concerns the potential for PT’s focus on measurable, observable behaviours to conflict with more commonly used concepts such as well-being, emotional regulation, self-esteem or grit. While PT provides robust tools for quantifying academic and some behavioural interventions, educational psychologists may prefer to continue using constructs and concepts that are less easily quantified.

Finally, integrating PT into existing educational and psychological frameworks and practices may present logistical and philosophical challenges. Aligning PT with curriculum standards, existing intervention programmes, and school-wide assessment systems would require adjustment and collaboration among educators, administrators and psychologists. While the educational psychologist may adopt the PT framework, having other aligned professionals functioning in an effective system could prove challenging.

Conclusion

PT offers tremendous advantages in enhancing educational psychologists’ assessment acumen, refining intervention expertise, bolstering consultation efficacy, and expanding research capabilities. PT measurement procedures yield vital student performance metrics otherwise overlooked. PT charts unveil moment-to-moment behaviour patterns that inform high-leverage intervention adjustments. PT problem-solving frameworks streamline data analysis for consultants and teachers, and PT research methods extend experimental control into authentic learning environments. For these reasons, adopting PT promises to amplify educational psychologists’ professional impact at scale. Students struggling academically and behaviourally stand to gain substantially from educational psychologists augmenting their skills with vigorous PT strategies.

Figure 1

A standard celeration chart displaying student performance data over time

Table 1

Precision teaching standardised measures available to educational psychologists

Behavioural attribute	Example	PT measure	Impact
Performance	A student writes an answer to an addition problem	Frequency (aka rate)	The extent to which a single acceleration data point (correct) or deceleration data point (incorrect or error) occurs in time
Learning	Over a week’s time a student who first answered only +1 addition problems correctly can now answer +1 and + 2 addition problems	Celeration	How fast performances (behaviours) have grown or decayed per week. Data set must contain a minimum of five data points
Environmental control or influence	Over a week’s time a student answering +1, and + 2 addition problems did so correctly with consistently and regularity	Bounce (aka individual variability)	How much control (from a programme or intervention) appears in a measured set of data
Quality	A student answering +1 and +2 addition problems has correct answers accelerating and incorrect answers decelerating. The rapid learning of corrects and diminishing incorrects show the quality of behaviour (i.e. answering +1 and +2 addition facts) improving	Improvement index	The degree of accuracy or quality in a measured set of data. The overall condition of learning can improve or deteriorate

Source: Table by authors