ECS Researcher Dr. Erin Chaparro Awarded $4 Million Federal Grant for Team-Initiated Problem Solving
Educational and Community Supports at the University of Oregon College of Education is thrilled to announce research associate professor Dr. Erin Chaparro has been awarded a $4 million grant from the US Department of Education to study Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) over the next five years. The work will track the effectiveness of TIPS in 72 schools throughout California, Georgia and the Northeast to determine if PBIS teams have better classroom outcomes after training their staff to use TIPS methods.
“What means the most to me is schools want the TIPS training,” said Chaparro. “They want to do the training because it makes them feel more efficacious when they are in these team meetings.”
TIPS is a research-based model for meetings originally developed by researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of North Carolina which states that PBIS teams in schools make better decisions when they work more efficiently as a team. The model has three parts: meeting foundations, data-based problem solving, and lastly, implementation monitoring. For example, one element a PBIS team might practice is making sure each person on their team has a well-defined role, such as facilitator, data analyst, or minute taker, along with backups. Another example is identifying goals as a team that has measurable parameters, such as what, when, where and how.
“If the team is using TIPS for problem solving, those teams are more effective at improving student outcomes,” said Chaparro.
Chaparro’s new research is a replication study of a 2012 analysis by UO professor Dr. Rob Horner and his colleagues, who explored the use of TIPS in 38 schools. They found school PBIS teams that received TIPS training from university researchers had better, measurable results in their school outcomes such as fewer school suspensions and office referrals. However, the new 2024 grant improves on the 2012 research by expanding to 72 school PBIS teams, half of which will receive TIPS training from local coaches and the other half will be placed on the waitlist to receive the training later. The school outcomes will be compared among the two groups.
As a departure from the 2012 study, Chaparro’s work differs in that it seeks to demonstrate university researchers are not required to obtain strong implementation of TIPS. The study also seeks to better understand the implementation challenges that school teams experience in the process of implementing TIPS on their own.
The project launched on July 1, 2024. Two other researchers, Dr. Keith Smolkowski of Oregon Research Institute and Jeff Gau, a UO research associate, are on the research team for the grant which is titled TIPS (Team-Initiated Problem Solving) Evaluation: An Effectiveness Replication of a Widely-Used Problem-Solving Process for Data Teams Implementing Schoolwide Behavior Supports. Over the five years, Chaparro says they will observe and code team meetings as well as conduct focus groups. The $4 million grant will pay for UO staff, incentives for school participants, data collection, graduate student support, and other items.
“We will measure and compare: did the TIPS training make a difference in improving student outcomes and improving the behavior of the data team members?” Chaparro said.
Additional Resources
1. Listen to Dr. Erin Chaparro speak with Megan Cave from PBISApps about how using TIPS supports teams who meet virtually and in person. Cave, M. (2020, September 15). Making Virtual Meetings Work for Your Team [Podcast].
2. Listen to Dr. Erin Chaparro, Dr. Ginny Joseph, and Megan Cave speak about using the TIPS process in the context of Tier 2 decision-making. Cave, M. (2021, October 19) The Who, Why, & How of Tier 2 Decision Making [Podcast].
3. Go to pbis.org and enter “TIPS” in the Search option.
Useful Resources on TIPS
- A Team Using TIPS: Tier 1 Coordination Meeting (Video)
- A Team Using TIPS: Tier 11-111 Coordination Meeting (Video)
- A Team Using TIPS: Grade Level Meeting (Video)
- TIPS District Readiness Checklist
- TIPS School Readiness Checklist
- TIPS Fidelity Checklist
- TIPS Fidelity Checklist: Tier 2 Brief
- TIPS Meeting Minutes Template
- Making Virtual Meetings Work for Your Team (Podcast with Dr. Chaparro)
- The Who, Why, and How of Tier 2 Decision-Making (Podcast with Dr. Chaparro)