Beth

Montick 1
SPED 730: Characteristics, Methods, and Assessment: Introduction to Struggling
Learners & Students with High-Incidence Disabilities
Evidence-Based Practice Assignment - Reflection

1. Purpose:

The Evidence-Based Practice assignment was completed for the course SPED

730: Characteristics, Methods, and Assessment: Introduction to Struggling Learners

& Students with High-Incidence Disabilities. The purpose of this assignment was to

identify a research article that describes a study conducted in my area of emphasis

that featured research on effective practice that teachers should be using in

educational settings to address the students needs.

2. Approach to assignment and revisions:

This was my first course that I took in the Masters program. I choose an

article on group contingencies because it is an area of behavior analysis that is

frequently used in classroom settings. The use of group contingencies in classrooms

for behavior management is an evidence-based practice in the field and this article is

one of the core studies supporting the efficacy of group contingencies. This was an

area that I was interested in researching further.

I received feedback for this assignment but most of it seemed to be general

information for additional education. I had a difficult time identifying where to make

revisions since a specific rubric was not used for feedback for the assignment. After

reviewing the assignment, the only revision I made was to add information about

how this article is part of the research base for the use of group contingencies as an

evidence-based practice.

3. How the assignment contributed to my development as a special educator:

Beth Montick 2
SPED 730: Characteristics, Methods, and Assessment: Introduction to Struggling
Learners & Students with High-Incidence Disabilities
Evidence-Based Practice Assignment - Reflection

This assignment was important to my development as a special educator

because it was part of the course that started my Masters education. This course

gave me a good foundation to build off of. I appreciated the amount of flexibility in

this course to focus on areas that were of interest to each individual student. As a

non-teacher in this program, I appreciated when I could make the assignment mesh

with my area of emphasis. This assignment allowed me to delve deeper into the

research behind a practice that I found interest in.

In addition, this was the first presentation that I created in the program. Upon

reviewing it, I realized how far I have come with technology to record presentations.

I have become much more at ease when recording presentations since then. I think

this is incredibly important in special education since being able to present your

ideas and be at ease while training others is such as big part of the job. When I think

back on this assignment, I was in a much different place professionally than I am now

and it is exciting to think about how far I have come, both personally and

professionally.