The eServe Initiative: An Empirically Supported, Web-based Educational Decision Making Product

Software Outfitters, Inc., in collaboration with the University of Kansas, proposes to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of a web-based data analysis and educational intervention selection product, called the eServe Initiative, which would be designed to support teachers, building administrators, and district administrators in making critical decisions about the selection of specific, effective instructional and behavioral interventions for individual students and groups of students in K-12 settings. Through the eServe Initiative project, we would determine if it is technologically feasible to capture student management system data, recognize patterns and trends in student data, establish a set of pre-defined decision-making rules, set notification thresholds (individual/group student “alerts”), and then link those to a rich, individually tailored menu of evidence-based classroom instruction and behavior management strategies for educators to access to help guide them in making sound decisions about how best to improve educational outcomes for all students. These strategies have been demonstrated in the research literature to be highly effective in preventing and reducing exclusionary disciplinary referrals, which often result in students with significant behavior problems losing valuable access to classroom instruction, thus resulting in a higher risk for academic failure.