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For information contact:  Brion Marquez:  bmarquez@irised.com  (541) 343-4747 ext. 200
                                            Jeffrey Sprague: jeffs@uoregon.edu         (541) 914-0960

  IRIS Ed Helps Pre-Teen Students Learn Skills to Manage their own Behavior in Classrooms

Every educator’s dream is to have students who can manage their own behavior so teachers can focus on the teaching instead of spending valuable time and energy putting out behavior fires. IRIS Educational Media of Eugene has received a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a self-management curriculum for elementary students. The ultimate goal is to help students improve their academic outcomes. Students who misbehave and can’t control their impulses not only put their own learning at risk, they impact the learning of their classmates through disruption and lost instructional time. Everybody benefits when a student’s behavior improves.

IRIS Educational Media (IRIS Ed), working in collaboration with the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior at the University of Oregon, will develop curriculum materials consisting of direct media instruction to students, computer-based assessment, and teacher training. Instruction will be created for students with 4 steps in mind: Self-monitoring: teaches students how to be aware and teach themselves good behavior. Self-recording:  learning skills to record their behavior. Self-evaluation: evaluation of their behavior based on pre-established criteria. Self-reinforcement: learning how to reward themselves for achievement.  For years, society has focused on intelligence as the most important predictor of school success.  But current research shows that impulse control and self management skills have the greatest impact on children’s academic outcomes. In these days of increasing classroom size, successful self-management skills will play a critical role in academic and behavioral performance.

In developing this program, IRIS Ed will also work closely with local educators including Nancy Golden, Superintendent of Springfield, Ore. schools and a key education advisor to Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and with Lane County, Ore. elementary school principals. Brion Marquez and Jeffrey Sprague, Ph.D. are collaborating as co-principal investigators on this project. Marquez is the Chief Development Officer at IRIS Ed. Sprague is the co-director of the U of O’s Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior. IRIS Ed’s development methods are noted for blending scientific research, creative instruction, and interactive technology into programs that are well-received by students, teachers and school administrators.

About IRIS Educational Media:
IRIS Ed is a behavioral research and development firm based in Eugene, Ore. The firm was founded in 1999 with the intention of bringing research-based professional development media to K-12 school staff and all educators, including teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, direct support staff, parent educators and parents. IRIS Ed collaborates with leading educators and researchers on important topics to create video-based curriculums on DVD and online. These programs are distinguished by the use of scientifically-based content that is presented in interesting, realistic, and engaging approaches. For example, IRIS Ed programs for teachers address real-life problems and seek to present effective solutions using current media approaches.  Programs for children blend music, animation and realistic models for instruction.
For more information, visit www.irisEd.com.

About the IES grant:

The grant is being awarded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. This is the third IES award received by IRIS Ed.  The other two projects are We Have Skills!, a program designed to teach early elementary students social skills that support academic achievement, and Classroom Management in Action, a behavior management program for elementary school teachers. The prestigious IES grants are competitive and highly sought after by universities and research centers across the country. Recently, IRIS Ed developers were invited to Washington, D.C. to present on their programs and their development process to IES staff.

 

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