Professional learning communities (PLCs) are an increasingly popular strategy for improving schools. While PLCs routinely implement universal academic screening, they seldom screen for emotional and behavioral problems. This is unfortunate, as the early signs of emotional and behavioral disorders can be identified and interventions developed. The purpose of this study was to examine the social validity of the Systematic Screening for Behavioral Disorders (SSBD) implemented in three professional development elementary schools in an intermountain state of the U.S. After using the SSBD in their schools for one year, 75 teachers were surveyed, Results suggested that participants (a) valued the SSBD process, (b) considered screening to be feasible and acceptable, (c) expanded their knowledge and skills regarding student emotional and behavioral issues, but (d) needed more training and support for planning appropriate interventions for at-risk students. Implications and limitations of this study are addressed.

Instruction and training in social and emotional learning (SEL) is an important component in addressing the emotional and behavioral needs of students. This study is the first to examine whether Strong Kids, an SEL program, delivered school-wide in all classrooms, could result in decreased internalizing behaviors and increased prosocial behaviors for both at-risk and general education students. This study also evaluated whether teachers could implement Strong Kids as designed and whether they viewed it as socially valid. A non-equivalent control group design was used. The treatment school consisted of 348 student participants and 17 teacher participants in grades K–6. The control school consisted of 266 student participants and 11 teacher participants in grades K–6. Pretest and posttest teacher ratings revealed significant decreases in students’ internalizing behaviors at the treatment school, while these behaviors increased at the control school. Students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders improved significantly more than those not at risk on ratings of internalizing symptoms and prosocial behaviors, even when the intervention was delivered school-wide in all classrooms. Teachers were able to implement Strong Kids with a high level of fidelity and they held moderately favorable views of the program.

The Brigham Young University-Public School Partnership (BYU-PSP) has been serving K-12 public schools in Utah for 28 years. The Partnership includes five school districts, BYU’s David O. McKay School of Education, and the seven arts and sciences colleges at BYU that participate in preparing teachers. This paper describes the structure of the Partnership and explains how the nine essential elements of professional development schools are implemented within this partnership agreement The BYU-PSP is unusual among professional development school partnerships due to its size, scope, and longevity. All schools within the BYU-PSP districts are considered Partnership schools, but some participate more fully in the preparation of teachers, school psychologists, and administrators than others. One of the strengths of the Partnership is that it provides over 40 preservice and inservice professional development programs. Insights and lessons learned are shared, with a particular focus on long-term sustainability of school-university partnerships.

Classroom management is a significant challenge for school teachers and administrators, often rated as the primary area of concern for first-year teachers and the most common reason many choose to leave the profession. Recently there has been an increased interest in social and emotional learning and its’ relationship to improved student behavior, academic outcomes, and emotional health, particularly during the early childhood years. This study examined the social validity of Conscious Discipline, a classroom management program which incorporates social and emotional learning. Seventeen early childhood special educators rated the significance, appropriateness, and effects of the program in a preschool setting. Results indicated that the program had high social validity, with ratings positively correlated with both teaching experience and experience using the program. Limitations and implications of this study are discussed.

This study investigated the effects of school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) on middle school climate and student outcomes. Data consisted of over 300 teacher responses and 10,000 student responses in two middle schools in the Western United States. This study used a quasi-experimental (non-equivalent two-group, pretest-posttest) design. One school implemented a SWPBS intervention over a period of four years, while the other served as a control. The SWPBS intervention included school-wide teaching of social skills, praise notes from teachers to students, posting of school rules, proactive screening for students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, and referrals of at-risk students for targeted interventions. The treatment school showed statistically significant improvements in teacher ratings of school climate, while the control school tended to stay the same or worsen. Statistically significant decreases were also evident in students’ tardiness, unexcused absences, and office discipline referrals when compared to the control school. Implications and limitations of this study are addressed.

Adolescents in residential treatment centers (RTCs) often have a severe mental illness as well as significant deficits in their social competencies. Strong Teens is a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum designed to decrease internalizing disorders by promoting emotional resilience and social competence. The curriculum has shown promising effects in educational settings. This study is the second to implement Strong Teens in residential treatment with high-risk adolescents. Using a quasi-experimental wait-list control design, therapists implemented Strong Teens with 36 adolescent girls in an RTC during group therapy. The researchers assessed changes in social and emotional knowledge, internalizing symptoms, and resilience using a split-plot repeated measures ANOVA, paired samples t-tests, and effect sizes. Although results indicated that Strong Teens did not affect the girls’ social and emotional knowledge, the intervention did show evidence of reducing their internalizing symptoms and increasing their resilience. In a social validity survey, most group therapists agreed with the goals and procedures of the curriculum but were less certain regarding the outcomes. We recommend that future studies of this population investigate which SEL topics are most suitable, identify the most favorable lesson times for RTC implementation, and explore student perspectives and experiences with Strong Teens.

Social skill instruction and school-wide positive behavior support have been found to be effective in treating students with emotional and behavioral disorders. However, students with internalizing behavior are often overlooked for interventions that could improve academic outcomes and prevent problems that might have serious implications, including social withdrawal, social isolation, and suicidal ideation. In this study, a multiple baseline across participants design was used across two elementary school recess playgrounds to evaluate a “buddy bench” intervention, which utilized peers to help socially withdrawn students to decrease social isolation behavior. Students in Grades 1 to 6 were observed during recess. Results revealed that from baseline to intervention phases the number of students engaged in solitary recess behavior decreased between 19% and 24%. Most students reported positive attitudes towards the intervention, while teachers were more neutral.

Students who experience social withdrawal and anxiety (internalizing difficulties) are often overlooked in schools due to the covert nature of their symptoms. The literature lacks empirically supported preventive approaches for kindergarten students who are socially withdrawn and behind their peers in developing social skills. Furthermore, research suggests that parents often are not adequately involved in interventions during this critical period of social development. In response to this need, a school-based intervention was implemented to increase the positive social interaction of three kindergarten students on the playground. Treatment consisted of (a) social skills training, (b) adult mediation, (c) self-evaluation and reinforcement, and (d) parent involvement through home notes. The effects of this intervention were assessed on the playground during recess using partial interval recording of target students’ positive interactions. During implementation of the intervention, all target students demonstrated improvements in social interaction. Future studies should investigate whether addressing the limitations of this study would yield stronger results with this underserved population.

School recess, though beneficial to students in many ways, can be a problematic setting due to inadequate supervision, structure, and safety. A peer praise note (PPN) intervention was implemented on the recess playground to address these concerns at a Title I elementary school. Researchers used a single-subject reversal design across all students to evaluate intervention effectiveness. Results included overall improvements in the level, trend, and variability of office discipline referrals (ODRs), especially from reversal to reinstatement of the intervention, and an effect size (percentage of data points exceeding the median; PEM) suggesting that PPNs effectively decreased ODRs. Results from social validity surveys completed by recess aides and students indicated participants’ perceptions that PPNs helped improve student behavior and peer relations, communicate playground rules, extend supervision responsibilities, and offer structured activity to peer praisers. Limitations, future research, and implications are addressed.

Numerous well-validated academic progress monitoring tools are used in schools, but there are fewer behavioral progress monitoring measures available. Some brief behavior rating scales have been shown to be effective in monitoring students’ progress, but most focus only on students’ social skills and do not address critical academic-related behaviors. We conducted a quasi-replication of a study by Brady, Evans, Berlin, Bunford, and Kern examining the Classroom Performance Survey (CPS) by using a multi-step analytic strategy, including confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. Over a period of 3 years, 160 elementary schoolteachers in 19 schools across three states completed a modified CPS on 356 elementary students identified as at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. The modified CPS was found to be comprised of two factors (Academic Competence and Interpersonal Competence) and showed evidence of reliability and validity. These results suggest that the CPS shows promise as a brief behavior rating scale for progress monitoring in elementary schools.

Classroom management is a common concern for teachers. Music teachers in particular experience unique behavior challenges because of large class sizes, uncommon pacing requirements, and performance-based outcomes. Positive behavior support (PBS) is an evidence-based framework for preventing or eliminating challenging behaviors by teaching and reinforcing appropriate social skills. Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT), a specific PBS intervention involving social skills instruction, positive reinforcement, and group contingencies, has proven effective in elementary schools but has not been evaluated specifically in music classrooms. The present study sought to investigate the effectiveness of CW-FIT in increasing on-task behavior and teacher praise-to-reprimand ratios in a sixth grade music classroom. A single-subject reversal (ABAB) design was used. Results indicated that student on-task behavior increased when CW-FIT was implemented. Teacher praise-to-reprimand ratios also improved. Results suggest the teacher and the students found CW-FIT valuable and enjoyable. Study limitations and implications are addressed.

Challenging behavior in preschool is a serious concern for teachers. Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) have been shown to be effective in reducing such behaviors. Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a specific multi-tiered intervention for implementing effective classroom management strategies using PBIS practices. CW-FIT has been shown to be effective in elementary classrooms but has not yet been evaluated with younger age groups.
CW-FIT Tier 1 is a group contingency utilizing social skills training, teacher praise, and positive reinforcement to improve student behavior. The present study examined the effects of CW-FIT Tier 1 implementation on student group on-task behavior and on teacher praise and reprimand rates in four preschool classrooms. A single-subject delayed multiple baseline design with embedded reversals was used to evaluate impact. Results indicated the intervention increased student group on-task behavior and teacher praise to reprimand ratios. Both teachers and children found CW-FIT Tier 1 to be socially valid. Limitations and implications of this study for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Parents of children with disabilities are at risk for high stress and low marital quality; therefore, this study surveyed couples (n = 112) of children with Down syndrome (n = 120), assessing whether respite hours, stress, and uplifts were related to marital quality. Structural equation modeling indicated that respite hours were negatively related to wife/husband stress, which was in turn negatively related to wife/husband marital quality. Also, wife uplifts were positively related to both wife and husband marital quality. Husband uplifts were positively related to husband marital quality. Therefore, it is important that respite care is provided and accessible to parents of children with Down syndrome.

This study investigated the effects of a Tier 3 peer-matching self-management intervention on two elementary school students who had previously been less responsive to Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions. The Tier 3 self-management intervention, which was implemented in the general education classrooms, included daily electronic communication between the teachers and the children’s parents. Results indicated that this intervention effectively reduced disruptive behaviors and increased total engagement when implemented with integrity; without integrity results were variable.

Dropping out of high school has negative results and implications for individuals and society. The likelihood of dropping out is attributed to both social and academic risk factors. Poor high school attendance, low course completion, and low grade-point-average (GPA) have been identified as three leading indicators that students are at risk for dropout. Early identification of at-risk high school students is critical during the first semester of ninth grade. This study utilized a single case study design with embedded quantitative statistical analyses to understand the characteristics of 416 students transitioning from three middle schools to a large suburban high school. Regression analyses were used to examine the relationship of 12 middle school indicators to ninth grade attendance, course completion, and GPA. Findings indicated that middle school GPA, grades, attendance, and ACT math scores were all strong predictors of ninth grade performance. Using these middle school risk indicators, ninth grade students at risk of school failure may be identified early and provided interventions during their first year of high school.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a multisensory phonics-based reading remediation program with juvenile delinquent poor readers at a residential treatment center. This study employed a pretest-posttest control-group design with random assignment. The treatment group (n = 10) participated in a 30-hour multisensory phonics reading intervention over the course of eight weeks: The control group (n = 10) received standard reading instruction. Both groups completed pretest and posttest norm-referenced reading measures to evaluate gain in reading skills. Results indicated that the treatment group showed significantly greater gains in reading skills as compared to the control group. Students with higher pre-intervention reading scores and those with higher verbal IQ appeared to respond more favorably to the reading intervention. Implications and limitations of this study are addressed.

Comprehensive evidence-based interventions are needed to help early childhood educators manage challenging student behaviors. One such intervention, class-wide function-related intervention teams (CW-FIT), is a multi-tiered behavioral intervention program based on positive behavior support principles, including four main elements: (a) teaching socially appropriate communication skills, (b) using differential reinforcement with an interdependent group contingency, (c) extinguishing or eliminating potential reinforcement for problem behavior, and (d) implementing individual interventions using self-management, help cards, and/or functional assessment. This study implemented CW-FIT with five kindergarten through second grade teachers. Results demonstrated efficacy of the program as early childhood teachers increased their praise rates and decreased their reprimand rates, and students responded with increased on-task behavior and fewer classroom disruptions. Study implications and limitations are addressed.