The School-Wide Information System (SWIS) is a web-based software system for collecting and summarizing office discipline referrals in schools. The system was developed by University of Oregon faculty in collaboration with elementary, middle (junior high) and high school personnel. The purpose of SWIS is to provide schools with accurate, efficient, practical information for decision-making about school-wide discipline.

SWIS was developed to be an efficient, reliable and confidential strategy for managing office-discipline referral information. SWIS can be used for:

1. Internal decision making as schools improve their discipline practices.
2. Support plan design with individual students and their families.
3. Reporting to district, state and federal agencies about school outcomes.
4. As a method of collecting aggregated data across schools.

SWIS database is housed on a secure and dedicated server at the University of Oregon, and is managed by system administrators employed by the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Technical Assistance Center projects at the University.

Once a SWIS account is set up, the school staff enters office discipline referrals into a protected, web-space. The data may be summarized to provide information about individual students, groups of students, or the entire student body over any specified time period. Both numerical printouts, and graphs (histograms) are created for use in decision-making. While SWIS is flexible and can be adapted to the needs of individual schools, the major uses involve monitoring:

1. The number of office discipline referrals per month.
2. The type of problem behaviors leading to office referrals.
3. The locations of problem behavior events.
4. The problem behavior events by time of day.
5. The students contributing to office discipline referrals.

The data entered into SWIS are protected to ensure that only approved individuals from the school may access the database. Information about SWIS and opportunities for adopting SWIS may be obtained by contacting SWIS Support at support@swis.org.

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The design of SWIS facilitates data-based decisions on queries made about frequency of problem behaviors, locations of problems, types of problems, students involved in problem behaviors and staff making referrals. The design of SWIS also supports custom queries for specific reports.

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SWIS is an information system. That means it is designed to collect and summarize information that is used for decision-making. The heart of SWIS is the web-based computer application that allows easy collection, summary and storage of office referral data. However, schools using SWIS have also developed the internal skills, and allocated the faculty and staff time to use the information on a regular basis for making behavior support decisions about both individual children and school-wide discipline systems. SWIS is more than a computer application. It is a system for improving school-wide behavior support. The time allocated for team meetings, data summary and decision making are as, if not more, important to the success of SWIS than the computer application.

SWIS features include:

• Easy control over staff and student information.
• Data entry for students who are involved in problem behavior events.
• Student and staff information is entered one time and available for future use.
• Simple data entry (approximately 30 sec. per referral).
• Comprehensive and standardized referral form for problem analysis.
• Easy accuracy checks for data entry.
• Report options that include graphs and tables for a specified period of time.
• Options to print individual student and staff names on reports.
• Creatable custom reports and graphs to answer specific questions.
• Multiple security levels.
• Easy navigation.

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Schools using SWIS sign a license agreement with the University of Oregon that includes an annual fee of $250 per school per academic year.

Schools using CICO-SWIS pay an additional $50 per school per academic year.

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Schools gain access to SWIS through a SWIS Facilitator. A SWIS Facilitator is a person who has been trained by University of Oregon personnel to assist schools in building information systems, and providing the on-site training for SWIS use. SWIS Facilitators are trained during three-day workshops held at the University of Oregon, in Baltimore, Maryland, and in Geneva, Illinois. On-site training for SWIS Facilitators also may be arranged by contacting one of the two SWIS directors listed below. A SWIS Facilitator may work with many schools, and traditionally is a person who works out of the centralized location (e.g. district, regional office, county).

Schools interested in adopting SWIS will be asked by a SWIS Facilitator to address the following requirements:

1. School wide discipline is one of the top three goals of the school.
2. There is administrative support for the implementation and use of SWIS as a decision-making tool.
3. The school has a coherent office discipline referral process.
1. Problem behaviors are clearly defined.
2. The rules for assigning an office referral are used consistently across faculty.
3. The process captures all problem behavior events needed for effective decision-making.
4. The school uses an office discipline referral form that is consistent with SWIS format, content and problem behavior definitions.
5. A behavior support team exists, and will review SWIS data at least monthly.
6. The behavior support team agrees to a 90-minute training on use of SWIS data for decision-making (this training will be delivered by the SWIS Facilitator).
7. Personnel time is identified for data entry and report generation.
8. Three people within the school are identified to receive one 2-3 hour session of uninterrupted training on the use of SWIS (this training will be delivered by the SWIS Facilitator).
9. The school has computer access to the Internet, and one of two web browsers (Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher for PC, Safari 1.0 or higher, Mozilla 1.5 or higher, Firefox 1.5 or higher, or Netscape 7.0 or higher).
10. The school district agrees to provide a facilitator who will work with school personnel on data collection and decision-making procedures

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The office referral data contained in SWIS are the property of the school submitting the data. The information in SWIS is considered part of each student’s confidential record. A school selects two passwords for internal use. The “full use” password allows access to all features of SWIS. The 'read only' password allows access only to the report generating features of SWIS. It is the responsibility of the school personnel to control distribution of their passwords. It is recommended that the passwords be retained by a small number of SWIS users. A school can change their password by contacting their SWIS Facilitator.

The SWIS server, web-connection, and data storage procedures are designed to meet or exceed industry standards for privacy and confidentiality. Federal and University of Oregon regulations related to protection of privacy apply to all SWIS information. Only school personnel, SWIS Facilitator, and SWIS systems operator, at the University of Oregon will have access to identifiable records. All other information will be maintained or reported anonymously. The names of students, teachers or staff, and the name or location of the school will not be available or reported to anyone outside those users within the school and the SWIS systems operator. The collection, storage, and reporting procedures of SWIS data has been reviewed and approved following Internal Review Board procedures specified by the U.S. Department of Education.

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Hardware:

• Mac, PC, or other computer that will run a compatible web browser
• Modem, Ethernet or some other way to access the Internet
• Printer for report generation

Software:

• One of the following web browsers Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher, Safari 2.0 or higher, Firefox 2.0 or higher
• Software to create and maintain an Internet connection

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To preview SWIS:

1. Browse to https://app.swis.org
2. enter username: ebs
3. enter password: ebs
4. ask for current school year to view a year of data

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If you meet the ten SWIS requirements as outlined previously, and you are interested in establishing a SWIS account, contact a SWIS Facilitator near you to begin the process of completing the License Agreement. When the License Agreement is complete, a SWIS account can be established within several days.

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