Cloud Program Reduces Bullying

Educators at the Dallas Independent School District (ISD) are using cloud technology to revolutionize the reduction of aggressive behavior and–they hope–force schoolyard bullies into a “can’t run, can’t hide” situation.

The implementation of the new Student Welfare Freedom From Bullying policy has put the district in a position of national leadership, according to Suzie Fagg, executive director of student services with the Dallas ISD. That’s because the district board of trustees wants to prevent bullying from starting or escalating as much as it wants to see a reduction of current incidents, Fagg said. Adopting one of the “most comprehensive anti-bullying” policies in the nation meant the old methods weren’t sufficient, so she turned to cloud computing as a tool to start a revolution.

“To me, being proactive means you’ve got to have the data,” she said.

It begins with reporting

The first step is having consistent and reliable information about what’s happening in school buildings, including, where on the campus and how often bullying occurs; students involved as bullies, targets, or bystanders; and classrooms where particularly high or low levels of inappropriate behavior are reported. Enter Review360, created by Psychological Software Solutions. The scalable and customizable anti-bullying components of the behavior software made it possible for Dallas ISD to duplicate its old paper-based incident tracking form in an electronic format, almost immediately streamlining data collection.

“Every teacher, every staff person, will have access to this reporting form online,” Fagg said. “The neat thing about the reporting form is that it has a lot of detail. Yet it’s very user friendly, because it’s click, click, click. There’s text space, but everywhere possible we wanted it to be drop-down so that it’s easier to collect the data.”

Fagg said standard reports identify trends–both positive and negative–making it possible to develop comprehensive behavior profiles, be it of the entire district or even just a single grade level. This is important because becoming a bully or a target is the behavioral manifestation of other problems. She said she sees the anti-bullying effort as a complement to the comprehensive Psychological and Student Services program already in place to address the root causes of aggressive behavior. The district already has 10 Youth and Family Centers in the schools delivering mental health and physical services.

“My vision is that any time one of my staff has contact with a student, we should know that,” Fagg said. “If I have a student who threatens suicide or is experiencing some type of emotional distress, I should be able to type in their student ID number and I should know if they were seen at the Family Center.”

The universal access to real-time information that cloud computing offers makes it possible to have a collaborative approach to dealing with the whole child in a way that isn’t possible when staff members are passing around paper files. If, before lunch, a teacher has a student acting out, he or she can check on the student’s recent behavior history before classes begin in the afternoon.

Teacher training in the cloud
Translating that wealth of data into an action plan for anti-bullying will be a challenge if teachers aren’t trained to do so. Utilizing traditional teacher training for this would be expensive. The cost of substitute teachers, the salaries of teachers in training, and trainer fees would be unpalatable in a district such as Dallas ISD, where 90 percent of the 157,000 students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Once again, the district turned to Review360 and the cloud.

A comprehensive training program based on best practices related to prevention, as well as de-escalating and responding to bullying is available to teachers electronically via a computer and internet access–tools already in the classroom.

Teachers can participate in online training when they have time. A learning management system incorporated into the program allows an administrator to easily access the progress of each teacher through a proscribed set of modules against a set deadline. That administrator can also check on teachers who report frequent behavior problems to see how they are or aren’t using the materials when issues arise.

The online access means teachers have an electronic coach available throughout the year. And as new research, resources, and other tools are developed, they’re automatically updated with no downtime.

“It’s much less expensive for a district to have us host. IT departments don’t have to worry about applying patches and updates on their own,” said Stewart Pisecco, a behavioral psychologist and creator of Review360. “We use Rackspace. Security, redundancy, fires walls, data encryption–all are FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)-compliant.”

The practical combination of Review360′s customizable application, cloud technology, and sound behavioral practices is a revolutionary replacement for failed anti-bullying efforts, according to Fagg.

“What I think we’re going to find is the number of suspensions and discipline referrals are going to decrease tremendously,” she said. “If you have a classroom [where] you have expectations about treating others with respect, then that takes care of the majority of the bullying.”

- Margo Pierce for THE journal

[Click here to read the entire article at thejournal.com]

Green-Buildings.Com, the green building and education service, reviewed Re: Vision Dallas’ ECOBlOCK entry from the firm ODA in New York City.  Inspired by the basic elements of wind, water, earth and sun, ECOBLOCK focuses on the aspect of creating a community.  ODA did not win the competition, but they submitted a very interesting concept that merits further investigation.

To read the full article click here.

ArchDaily featured Re:Vision Dallas honorable mention “Commonwealth” in their latest article. Below is an excerpt – click to read the full article.

We have been featuring several Re:Vision Dallas entries because the competition has attracted forward thinking designers with solutions we’d like to share.  The newest submission from PIKL Studio won an honorable mention for their proposal Commonwealth.   PIKL Studio’s proposal

envisions the urban block as gradually moving toward becoming a natural community built on effective relationships and connections.

Read full article from ArchDaily

Could the first fully sustainable city block in America rise out of a nondescript parking lot in downtown Dallas, Texas?

After a full year of design competitions aimed at stimulating discussion about the nature of sustainability in cities, San Francisco-based Urban Re:Vision is about to transform theory into reality in Dallas. The land is available, the city is on board and there appear to be no serious obstacles to the development of a city block that would radically redefine sustainability in the urban context.

The site today.

Over the past year, Urban Re:Vision held a series of design competitions, which addressed issues from transportation and materials to energy and economy in the city block. Here are some of the results of the Re:Construct competition, announced in September at West Coast Green.

[ Read entire article ]

“The goal is to create the first fully sustainable block downtown,” said Brent Brown, Dallas architect and founder of the buildingcommunityWORKSHOP. “And by sustainable, we mean a place that is socially, economically and environmentally healthy. We’ll take the first step in that effort on Friday.”

Hosted by the City of Dallas, San Francisco-based Urban Re:Vision and Dallas’ buildingcommunityWORKSHOP, the Charrette will look at the common city block in an uncommon way, examining the impact of this particular city block’s development on the City of Dallas and its surrounding area. In rethinking the city block, experts will re-assess the potential value of available resources like water, waste, and air and how to strike the delicate balance between economy and equality.

“Our job on December 5th is to explore how pivotal the city block is in the urban landscape, and how it can be used as a catalyst for a whole new way of living,” said Stacey Frost, Founder of Urban Re:Vision. “This process is one that puts real people first and promotes sustainability.”

Potential requirements, barriers, and changes will be examined in an effort to pave the way for the implementation of the proposed site. This examination will also serve to aid both site-specific, and regional decision-making. Topics will include: energy systems, transportation, the natural and developed environment, community, the economy and technology.

Additional groups involved include Downtown Dallas, The Real Estate Council, Central Dallas Ministries, The Institute for Urban Policy Planning, Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture, Enterprise Foundation, Fannie Mae Foundation, Vision North Texas and others. Participants from outside the Dallas area include representatives of the Biomimicry Institute, Architecture for Humanity, ARUP, Organic Architect, United States Green Building Council, and others.

Media attendance will be strictly limited, RSVP required
Location: Dallas City Hall
Date: December 5, 2008

Timeline:
8:30 – 10:30:Registration, Discussion & Mayor’s Welcome
12:00 – 1:30: Lunch / Interviews
4:00 – 5:30: Presentation of Regional Plans / Question and Analysis