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A safe, supportive school climate is critical for school effectiveness. Unfortunately, the research linking a positive school climate to critical student outcomes includes few systematic reviews of the school climate literature and no reviews focused on the effects of interventions to improve school climate. This review examined the methodological quality and findings from 18 experimental studies evaluating the effects of schoolwide interventions on teacher and student perceptions of school climate. Each study was rated in terms of quality of the methods and magnitude of effects on school climate. Results indicated that only three of the 25 articles were considered methodologically sound. Effect sizes estimating the differences in teacher perceptions of school climate ranged from −0.29 to 1.69, while those concerning differences in student perceptions ranged from 0.03 to 1.93. Studies examining the effects of schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) and social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions were the most methodologically sound and associated with the highest effect sizes.

A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework for organizing and integrating academic, social, and emotional supports within a school. Full implementation of MTSS establishes a continuum ...

Many state education agencies provide supports for local education agencies (LEAs) that are implementing tiered frameworks or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). With a 61% response rate to an ...

Behavior intervention plans (BIPs) are intended to help educators systematically support students with behavioral problems at school. Previous research confirms that the effectiveness of a BIP depends on the degree to which the plan is technically adequate and implemented with integrity. What remains unclear from the literature is how professional experience and environmental variables impact technical adequacy, treatment integrity, and student outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore these relationships using data collected from a survey of members’ experiences with the BIP implementation team. The researchers collected BIPs from local school districts and then surveyed members of the implementation team regarding their professional qualifications, training, involvement in the BIP development process, treatment integrity, and perceived impact on student outcomes. Results from two multiple regression models predicting treatment integrity and student outcomes suggest that practitioners’ perceptions of BIP quality significantly predicted treatment integrity. Additionally, training, BIP quality, and treatment integrity significantly predicted student outcomes. These findings suggest that practitioners’ perceptions of BIP quality may play an important role in predicting treatment integrity but improving student outcomes requires technical adequacy and targeted professional development.

Social engagement is critical to the personal and social development of children. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often exhibit low levels of social engagement with peers and adults, with clearly fewer instances of eye contact, initiation, joint attention, and empathy. Given the pivotal role of social engagement, procedures that naturally evoke higher rates of social engagement may be critical. Prior research suggests that cartoons and other animated characters are more appealing to children with ASD than traditional face-to-face interactions with adults. However, this assertion lacks consistent empirical support. In this study, five elementary age students with ASD participated in a series of interactions with adults and live animation avatars. An alternating treatments design was used to evaluate participants’ social engagement comparing their interactions with avatars to those with humans. Data show all five participants were consistently more attentive to the avatar than to human interventionists. In addition, all participants and their parents indicated the procedures were socially valid (i.e., preferred, feasible, and effective).

In the United States, many teachers feel underprepared to manage student classroom behavior positively. Such management is crucial for students to learn effectively, especially those with or at ris...

State and national educational leaders encourage the use of an integrated multitiered system of supports (MTSS) to improve services to students with academic and social behavior problems. Implementing and sustaining MTSS is facilitated by support from leaders in state education agencies (SEAs). The purpose of this study was to identify the specific events, resources, and supports that help or hinder the work of scaling up an integrated MTSS approach from the perspective of MTSS leaders in SEAs. Researchers interviewed leaders in 27 U.S. states using the critical incident technique, a qualitative methodology to identify critical incidents associated with changes in practice. Eight helping incident, seven hindering incident, and nine “wish list” categories were identified. Helping categories included multidisciplinary leadership, access to professional development, consistent language and/or practices, consultation with external partners, and a focus on student outcomes in evaluation and planning. Seven hindering categories included competing philosophies, high personnel turnover, varying levels of readiness, and inadequate data systems. Participants also identified two unique categories associated with the items they wished had happened or could happen in the future including access to personnel with high-level MTSS training and access to more effective interventions.

In an article published in 2000, Flora indicated that 5:1 is the “magic” ratio of positive-to-negative interactions. Flora’s position is characteristic of the pervasive idea that there is a “magic” ratio of positive-to-negative interactions for improving interpersonal relationships. In the field of education, teachers are often recommended to maintain a specific ratio of positive-to-negative interactions with students (e.g., 5:1). Although this rule has good face validity, there is a lack of empirical support for any specific ratio. The authors support the idea of maintaining a high positive to negative ratio but argue against the use of any specific ratio. They include a discussion of the history of positive-to-negative interaction ratio recommendations, a summary of relevant research on students with emotional or behavioral disorder (EBD), an exploration of how teachers might adhere to these recommendations, and how each approach might affect students. The authors provide recommendations for teachers, researchers, and instructors in teacher preparation programs: considering how teachers might use the concepts behind the positive-to-negative interaction ratio to improve teaching, how instructors in teacher preparation programs might better teach preservice teachers, and advising how researchers might work to better understand the high positive to negative ratio.

The purpose of this article is to synthesize the existing research on classwide social, emotional, and behavioral programs for kindergarten students. The researchers identified 26 studies in peer-reviewed journals and dissertation databases to review. Each study was examined and coded in terms of study characteristics, strength of evidence, and quality of evidence. The interventions represented in the studies were grouped into four categories: social–emotional learning, behavioral, coping skills, and other. The studies of behavioral interventions demonstrated the strongest effects on increasing prosocial behavior and decreasing antisocial behavior. These studies also included the highest quality of research. The social–emotional learning intervention studies consistently demonstrated weaker effects and lower quality research. The remaining categories included too few studies to draw meaningful conclusions. Implications for practice and future research regarding classwide kindergarten social, emotional, and behavioral interventions are discussed.

Individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities struggle to acquire and appropriately use social skills to improve the quality of their lives. These critical skills can be difficult to teach because they are context dependent and many students are not motivated to engage in instruction to learn them. The use of multi-modal technologies shows promise in the teaching a variety of skills to individuals with disabilities. iAnimate Live is a project that makes virtual environments, virtual characters (avatars), augmented reality, and animation more accessible for teachers and clinicians. These emerging technologies have the potential to provide more efficient, portable, accessible, and engaging instructional materials to teach a variety of social skills. After reviewing the relevant research on using virtual environments virtual characters (avatars) and animation for social skills instruction, this article describes current experimental applications exploring their use via the iAnimate Live project.

Background Individuals with autism often struggle to establish and maintain positive relationships with peers and adults due to communication and social difficulties. Reviews of the research literature on social skills curricula suggest these approaches may be less than effective and often fail to promote generalization of acquired skills. Advances in the availability and adaptability of live animation and digital avatars could provide interventionists a tool to maximize engagement during instruction and program for generalization. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an avatar-based social skills intervention on participants’ social initiations in a clinical setting and with same-age peers. Method The research team used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design to evaluate the effects of instruction from an avatar on students' social skills. Systematic direct observation and the Social Skills Improvement System were used to evaluate the effects of an avatar delivered social skills lesson. Social validity was measured from the perspective of both participants and their parents. Results Following instruction from an avatar, participants’ percentage of independent steps completed in the skill “starting a conversation” increased to consistently above 80 %, or above typical mastery levels. Participants’ conversation skills generalized to interactions with same-age peers. Finally, parents reported small positive gains in social skills, and participants indicated the intervention was socially valid. Conclusions The findings from this study support the use of technology-aided interventions and instruction, specifically the use of live animation avatars. Future studies could extend use of this technology beyond the relatively simple, yet effective, application described here.

Tier 2 interventions play an important role within the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports framework, bridging the gap between schoolwide Tier 1 interventions and individualized Tier 3 supports. Check-in Check-out (CICO) is a promising Tier 2 intervention for addressing mild problem behavior and potentially preventing the need for more intensive supports. In this systematic review, we synthesize the characteristics, methodological quality, and outcomes of 15 single-subject studies and one group design study examining CICO. The results suggest that CICO can be considered an evidence-based practice for students with problem behavior maintained by adult attention. Versions of CICO that were modified to address other functions (e.g., obtain peer attention, escape from tasks) demonstrated strong effects, but there were not a sufficient number of studies for modified CICO to qualify as an evidence-based practice. We discuss the implications of this review for practitioners as well as future research on CICO.

In this chapter, Ross and colleagues address bullying from the student point of view including that of the aggressor, victim, and bystander. They outline a functional perspective on bullying noting that incidents of bullying are commonly reinforced by peer attention. Ross and colleagues describe that bystanders may play a variety of roles in bullying incidents from henchmen who participate in bullying to active defenders who stand up against bullying. Regardless of their intention, all types of bystanders may reinforce bullying, sometimes by just their mere presence. This chapter emphasizes the importance of effective bystander intervention strategies that remove peer attention in bullying prevention.

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have become increasingly popular in schools. PLCs are groups of teachers, administrators, parents, and students who collaborate to improve their practices and focus on results (DuFour, 2004). Grade-level and department teachers participate in regularly scheduled collaborative team meetings; however, many school leaders lack suitable tools to evaluate fidelity to the PLC model. To address this deficit, we developed a tutorial checklist called the Formative Assessment of Collaborative Teams (FACT) through an action research approach. This article discusses the context of grade-level and department collaborative teams where much of the work of implementing the PLC model takes place. Working alongside practitioners in this context, we developed, implemented, and validated the FACT tool. This article discusses practitioners’ reactions to the tool during these processes, including observations conducted using FACT at several schools. The results of this process suggest that FACT is consistent with the elements of effective PLCs, confirming that it discriminates among collaborative teams within and across schools.

Schools are often in need of low-cost, high-impact strategies to improve student behavior in school common areas. While many behavior management programs exist, there are few resources available to guide the implementation of these programs and ensure they are grounded in evidence-based strategies. Therefore, the current study had two primary purposes: first, to demonstrate the effectiveness of a simple behavior management system, and second, to begin the process of providing some guidance for the application of similar systems. The study used a differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI) procedure in a multiple-baseline design across three target behaviors to decrease inappropriate and increase appropriate behaviors in an elementary school lunchroom. The intervention consisted of 1) teaching specific appropriate behaviors 2) providing opportunities for students to practice skills, and 3) implementing a Praise Note system to reward students for behaving appropriately. Students were taught appropriate behaviors, and the school staff was trained to recognize and reward students who kept the lunchroom clean, sat appropriately in their seats, and walked in the lunchroom. Data show significant decreases for each of three target behaviors. The average amount of litter left in the lunchroom decreased by 96%, the average number of instances of sitting inappropriately decreased by 64%, and the average number of instances of running in the lunchroom decreased by 75%. Beyond contributing to the effective intervention strategies available to reduce problem behaviors in common areas, this research also provide much needed guidance for effectively implementing the necessary components of a Praise Note system, namely, program intensity, and delivery.