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This study reviews findings for the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) on the Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) for school mental health (SMH) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Since its development in the late 2000s, the ISF has been supported by federally funded centers for SMH and PBIS, and, guided by a national workgroup, is being implemented in50 communities in the United States. This experimental evaluation of the ISF involved an RCT implemented in 24 schools in two southeastern states, with the ISF implemented in eight schools, PBIS alone implemented in eight schools, and typically co-located PBIS+SMH implemented in eight schools. Related to very poor implementation, documented by two sources of fidelity data, two ISF schools were dropped from major analyses; hence, the study used a treatment on the treated (ToT; Rubin, 1974) as compared to a more traditional Intent-to-Treat approach (ITT; Lachin, 2000). This is the first paper from this large study, with emphasis here on proximal variables and school discipline. Within schools' multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), ISF schools delivered more Tier 2 (early intervention) and Tier 3 (treatment) interventions to a greater proportion of students than the other two conditions by the second year of the intervention. There was also a dramatic difference in the provision of interventions by community mental health clinicians in ISF schools (almost half of interventions delivered) as compared to PBIS+SMH schools (around 3% of interventions delivered), underscoring the critical role of the ISF in integrating clinicians into MTSS teams and core school functions in SMH. As compared to the other two conditions, ISF schools also had reduced office discipline referrals (ODRs) and in-school suspensions, as well as reduced ODRs and out-of-school suspensions for African American students. Findings are discussed in relation to future directions of education-mental health system partnerships in improving the delivery and impact of SMH programs and services, demonstrated in the ISF.

Rural schools experience unique challenges, including teacher quality and teacher retention, limited resources, and availability of funding. Furthermore, access to professional development and, subsequently, implementation of evidence-based practices may also be limited in rural settings. One evidence-based framework for implementing evidence-based practices, School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS), has been widely implemented, including in rural and urban schools. Yet, very little research has explicitly compared rural and urban schools implementing SWPBIS with regard to implementation and discipline. Therefore, we examined statewide data to evaluate differences between rural and urban schools implementing SWPBIS in Florida. We found that both rural and urban schools were equally likely to implement all the components of SWPBIS. When comparing schools, we found that rural schools implementing SWPBIS had more out-of-school suspensions than nonimplementing rural schools, while the opposite was true for urban schools. Limitations and future research are discussed.

Positive school climate is associated with myriad positive student, staff, and school outcomes, including increased achievement and decreased problem behavior. Hence, universal evidence-based practices are necessary to increase school climate. One universal approach with evidence of effects on school climate is School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS). However, little research exists evaluating the effects of SWPBIS on school climate focus on student perceptions. Furthermore, researchers have rarely examined differences in students’ perceptions of school climate in rural and urban schools and differences of SWPBIS effectiveness in rural and urban schools. Therefore, we used state-wide school climate data for elementary students in the U.S. state of Georgia and examined differences between rural and urban locale and SWPBIS implementation. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we found that rural schools implementing SWPBIS with high levels of fidelity had significantly higher positive school climate than urban schools. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Evidence suggests that implementing School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) with fidelity can reduce behavior problems in schools and, concomitantly, the use of school suspensions. Few studies have explored differences in SWPBIS implementation fidelity and outcomes between rural and urban schools, but research suggests urban locale may moderate the effectiveness of particular interventions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess differences in SWPBIS implementation fidelity and suspension outcomes between rural and urban schools in California during the 2017–2018 school year. Using several subsets of this sample, we applied linear and multinomial regression and multilevel modeling to determine differences between locales. Results suggest no differences in the likelihood of implementing Tier 1 or Tiers 1 and 2 with fidelity between rural and urban schools. However, rural schools are significantly more likely to implement all three tiers of SWPBIS with fidelity. When comparing rural and urban schools and suspension outcomes, we found that urban schools implementing all three tiers were less likely to use out-of-school suspensions for all students and for students with disabilities. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Limited quantitative research has examined similarities and differences between the academic achievement and discipline outcomes, including suspensions, of students with disabilities in rural and urban schools. Therefore, we leveraged a statewide longitudinal data set to explore academic achievement and discipline outcomes for students with disabilities in rural schools and compared those outcomes to students with disabilities in urban schools. We then followed up with analyses to evaluate differences by disability category. The full data set of students in urban and rural schools included 1,306,134 observations from 366,529 unique students with disabilities across 11 consecutive years. We used a series of linear mixed-effects models to evaluate academic achievement for students in Grades 3 to 8 and generalized linear mixed-effects models to evaluate two discipline outcomes, in- and out-of-school suspensions. Overall, we found that students with disabilities in rural schools had lower reading scores, fewer in-school suspensions, and more out-of-school suspensions. Unique patterns across disability categories also emerged.

Introduction Developing graphicacy skills is important for students with visual impairments if they are to succeed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content. Teachers of students with visual impairments report that they lack resources to use in teaching students graphicacy skills. Methods Forty-one students with visual impairments in grades 5–10 completed a pretest, intervention, and posttest designed to evaluate their skills locating and interpreting graphical data. Videos of the pre- and posttests were scored using a researcher developed instrument. Results Following intervention, there was a significant difference in students’ ability to use descriptors and mathematical terms when exploring graphs and a map. Students answered significantly more questions correctly from pre- to posttest. Discussion Students who receive direct instruction in how to locate and interpret data in graphs and maps can improve their level of independence in STEM classes. Use of an intervention that targets the development of graphicacy skills has been found to be effective. Implications for practitioners More research is needed to determine effective hand strategies students should use when exploring different types of graphics.

School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a tiered framework that supports the academic, social, and behavioral needs of students. In this study, we use a series of two-level linear multilevel analyses to examine the impact of SWPBIS fidelity on 10 exclusionary discipline outcomes for students with disabilities. Specifically, we compare the impact of schools that implemented multiple SWPBIS tiers with fidelity to schools that only implemented Tier 1 with fidelity from a sample of 558 schools in 113 districts in California. Findings indicate a statistically significant decrease in multiple out-of-school suspension categories as well as referrals to law enforcement for students with disabilities in schools that implemented all tiers with fidelity. We provide recommendations for using findings to inform school efforts to reduce exclusionary discipline for students with disabilities.

Intensive academic interventions help address the learning difficulties of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs). Challenging behaviors exhibited during instruction can have a negative impact on the overall effectiveness of an academic intervention. In addition to academic interventions, students with SLD may benefit from behavioral interventions. One method for evaluating the effect of interventions that target improved behavioral outcomes for students with SLD is single-case research design (SCRD). This article provides an overview of critical features of SCRD studies evaluating behavioral interventions with students with SLD or interventions with teachers of students with SLD. The article also examines how research decisions were made to support other researchers’ development of high-quality SCRD studies.

A large body of research has reported a positive relation between participation in extracurricular activities (ECAs) and improved academic performance, social competence, and school engagement. This study explored the relation between ECA, social competence, and school engagement for students with and at risk of emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Specifically, the study addressed three research questions: (a) Is there a relation between participation in ECA and high school students with EBD’s social competence and school engagement? (b) Is the relation moderated by EBD status, race, gender, or special education status? And, (c) is there a direct link between participation in ECA and students’ social competence and school engagement for youth with EBD? Eighty students with EBD and 21 typically developing students were included based on their participation in a larger study examining interventions for high school students with EBD. Participants were administered a battery of assessments at the end of the school year measuring ECA participation, social competence, and school engagement. We used regression and instrumental variable analyses to address the research questions. Results indicated statistically significant, positive relations between participation in ECA, social competence, and school engagement. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Schools continue to rely on disciplinary exclusions as a consequence for behavioral rule violations, despite evidence that removing students from instruction for discipline purposes is associated with poor behavioral, academic, and social outcomes. School-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is one multitiered support framework used to prevent behavior problems while developing effective and efficient systems for intervening with students who require more support. Prior research suggests implementing Tier 1 of SWPBIS with fidelity is associated with reductions in disciplinary exclusions. In this study, we evaluated the additive effects of implementing Tier 1 and advanced tiers (i.e., Tiers 2 and 3) with fidelity compared with Tier 1 alone for 558 schools in California. Results indicate schools implementing all three tiers with fidelity had significantly lower rates of students receiving one out-of-school suspension, out-of-school suspension incidents, and referrals to law enforcement. We also discuss implications and recommendations for future research.

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Risk Assessment and Distress Recovery (RADR) Scale—a new self-report psychological screening tool for high school students that explores risk factors related to mental health characteristics of students who have engaged in school violence. The sample consisted of 1093 high school students from all four regions of the United States. A four-factor model consisting of coping skills, depression, suicidal ideation, and narcissism demonstrated good fit. Results of confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance, as well as internal consistency estimates, provide initial evidence for reliability and validity of the RADR. Exploratory analyses between the RADR and characteristics of past school shooters are also presented. Students with disabilities self-reported significantly greater risks for mental health concerns across all four constructs, with small (.15) to large (.80) effect sizes.

Bullying is a widespread problem in schools that has been linked to poor psychological, social, and academic outcomes for school-aged children. Individual risk factors such as disability status, race/ethnicity, and gender increase the likelihood of involvement in bullying behaviors. The purpose of this study was to explore disproportionate bullying victimization and perpetration utilizing data from all US public schools as reported to the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. We used data from over 90,000 US public schools. All schools reported bullying-related incidents by race, gender, and disability status. We calculated school-level risk ratios and estimated a series of robust variance estimation models to evaluate disproportionate bully-related discipline incidents. We found that students with disabilities, Black students, and Hispanic students were significantly more likely to be victims of bullying (e.g., students with disabilities were 32% more likely of being a victim of bullying than their peers without disabilities). Students with disabilities, Black, Hispanic, and male students were all also significantly more likely to be disciplined for bullying (e.g., students with disabilities were over 41% more at risk than their peers without disabilities). The results reiterate that youth from traditionally marginalized backgrounds are at escalated risk for bullying involvement, and they are more likely to experience bullying and be disciplined as a function of their disability, race or ethnicity, or gender.

In reading intervention research, implementation fidelity is assumed to be positively related to student outcomes, but the methods used to measure fidelity are often treated as an afterthought. Fidelity has been conceptualized and measured in many different ways, suggesting a lack of construct validity. One aspect of construct validity is the scoring model of a measure. This methodological case study examined how different decisions in scoring models influence rank ordering of individuals on the construct of interest and influence our perception of the relation between the construct and intervention outcomes. Data for this study came from a large State-funded project to implement multi-tiered systems of support for early reading instruction. Analyses were conducted to determine if the different scoring models are stable in rank ordering participants and if scoring models of dosage and adherence data influence researcher decisions on model building within a multilevel modeling framework. Results indicated that the scoring models resulted in different relations to outcomes with the most commonly used scoring models for both dosage and adherence being the worst performing. A major shift is needed in the way intervention researchers conceptualize, measure, and use implementation fidelity in outcome models—a shift away from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, to an approach more specifically tailored to each intervention.

School-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) have been widely implemented in more than 25,000 schools. Although extant literature provides experimental evidence support...

Multitiered support for professional development (MTS-PD) is a framework for applying a three-tiered support system to teacher classroom management professional development through targeted trainin...

Inappropriate behaviors often occur in non-classroom settings, such as lunchrooms, due to the increased volume of students with fewer supervising adults. As such, there is a need for effective and efficient behavior management interventions that can be implemented in these environments. To address frequent disruptions in an urban elementary lunchroom, McCurdy et al. (J Sch Psychol 47:39–54, 2009) developed a team-based interdependent group contingency called the Lunchroom Behavior Game (LBG) and observed decreased disruptions, while staff and students found the intervention highly acceptable. Given this success, we replicated the LBG in an elementary school in a mid-sized Southeastern city. LBG implementation was staggered across three lunch periods using a multiple-baseline design across subjects. The rate of disruptive behaviors decreased in all lunches following LBG implementation and remained at lower levels during maintenance observations; however, implementation fidelity and student acceptability were low. Specific implementation issues encountered and recommendations for future research are discussed.

School-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is widely implemented across the United States. Evidence suggests that SWPBIS, when implemented with fidelity, has a significant and positive impact on schools, including lower suspensions and higher reading and mathematics achievement. A critical component of this research is measuring fidelity of SWPBIS implementation in schools. In this study, we re-evaluated the reliability and validity of a widely used fidelity tool, the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI), within a single-state sample. Using data from 693 schools in California, we found a hierarchical factor structure based on subscales and tiers fit the data best when controlling for the multilevel nature of the data; however, there was no relation between the latent fidelity variables and changes in suspensions. Implications of these results are discussed, including different approaches to scoring and conceptualizing fidelity of implementation for SWPBIS, along with considerations for future research using the TFI.

The Latinx population is the largest group of racially and ethnically diverse students in the United States. Although disproportionality in school discipline has been documented for Latinx students, findings related to such disparities have been inconsistent. We examined disciplinary exclusion practices involving students with and without disabilities who are Latinx across the United States using risk ratios (RR) and weighted mixed-effect models. We leveraged data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data set for the 2015 to 2016 academic school year, which included data from more than 94,000 schools. The CRDC is collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights every 2 years. All U.S. public schools are required to submit data to the CRDC. Results suggest that Latinx students with and without disabilities were statistically significantly more likely to receive exclusionary discipline than White students, but less likely than Black students. Implications for research and practice are provided.

Researchers have extensively studied performance feedback in the past 40 years. In organizational behavior management (OBM), feedback is a popular intervention component that can effectively increa...

Maintaining a safe and orderly school environment is challenging. In response, some schools resort to aversive punishments, including corporal punishment. Limited research has examined whether corporal punishment is disproportionately administered to certain students, particularly students with disabilities and black and Hispanic students. Therefore, we leveraged the most recent U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights data from the 2015–2016 school-year to evaluate disproportionate corporal punishment. We restricted the data to schools that reported at least 10 corporal punishment incidents and calculated risk ratios comparing students with disabilities to students without disabilities, and black and Hispanic students to white students. We then we estimated a series of robust variance estimation metaregression models and found evidence of statistically significant disproportionate corporal punishment administered to students with disabilities and black students. The largest risk ratio was for students with disabilities, indicating that they are much more likely to receive corporal punishment.

The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework is currently implemented in more than 25,000 schools across the globe. Its implementation has demonstrated positive impacts on a number of behavioral and academic outcomes. A growing evidence base has found that PBIS has been particularly effective at reducing both in- and out-of-school suspensions. This article describes concerns with the use of suspensions, defines PBIS, and outlines how schools can implement and use PBIS to reduce suspensions.

Student academic deficits and problem behaviors have long been demonstrated to be closely related. What is not as clear is the degree to which teacher behaviors are predictive of both academic and behavioral outcomes. Using direct observations of teachers in over 1500 unique elementary and secondary classroom instructional settings, rates of identified evidence-based teacher instructional behaviors were used as independent variables to predict both academic and disciplinary outcomes for students at the school level. Results showed that a school’s mean rate of teacher provided opportunities for student response and positive feedback during instruction were significant predictors for lower school-wide suspensions and higher percentage of students scoring in the proficient and distinguished level on state academic assessments. Implications of these relationships as a means of preventing student failure in school are discussed along with recommendations for future study.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs), particularly those in high school, present myriad challenges for educators. Although research suggests that students with EBDs experience schooling differently than their peers, few studies have examined differences in perceptions of school climate. School climate is a multidimensional construct consisting of students’ perceptions of physical and social school environments. To address this gap, we leveraged school climate data from more than 350,000 high school students, including more than 5,000 with or at risk for EBDs, in Georgia. We estimated a series of multilevel models and found that students with or at risk for EBDs consistently report more negative perceptions of school climate than their peers across all school climate domains. We also examined whether individualized education program (IEP) services affected perceptions for students with EBDs, finding more positive perceptions for some domains for students with IEP services for EBDs compared with students with EBDs, but no IEP services. Implications and limitations are then discussed.

Summer is a critical time for students with or at-risk for reading difficulties. This study examines the added benefit of a one-on-one intensive reading intervention presented during a school-based...

To examine disproportionality in the use of restraint and seclusion for students with disabilities compared with their peers, for boys compared with girls, and for students of color, specifically Black and Hispanic students, compared with White students. We used the 2015–2016 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), in which 21% (n = 19,700) of U.S. public schools reported using restraints or seclusions at least once during the 2015–2016 school year and 6% (n = 5485) of schools reported using restraints or seclusions at least 10 times. We used risk ratios (RR) and robust variance estimation (RVE) meta-regression analyses to estimate a covariate-adjusted mean RR to identify disproportionate use of restraints and seclusions. In schools with reported use of restraint or seclusion at least 10 times, students with disabilities were 200% more likely to be subject to restraint or seclusion relative to their peers; students attending elementary schools were more likely to receive restraint or seclusion than students attending secondary schools. Similarly, Black students were almost 200% more likely and Hispanic students were 45% more likely to experience a restraint or seclusion than their White counterparts. Prior research and results from this study indicate that subgroups of students—particularly students with disabilities, Black students, and Hispanic students—are disproportionately subject to the use of restraint and seclusion. Yet, research has found that restraints and seclusions are not effective interventions and should only be used as a last resort.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a multitiered system of support for behavior used in many schools across the world. Researchers have begun adapting and evaluating Tier 1 of PBIS for students placed in alternative education (AE) settings. The purpose of this review is to synthesize these evaluations. We systematically searched two electronic databases to find potential studies of Tier 1 PBIS in AE settings. We screened 47 full texts, 19 of which met all inclusion criteria. Most studies (16 of 19, 84%) evaluated student behavioral outcomes, while seven studies (37%) evaluated academic outcomes alone or in addition to behavioral measures. Overall, restraints and seclusions generally decreased following Tier 1 implementation, but behavioral incident changes were variable and academic outcomes only improved for students enrolled continuously throughout the studies. The findings of this review support the need for continued evaluations of Tier 1 in AE settings using more rigorous methodologies and metrics that account for rolling admissions. The observed reductions in restraints and seclusions are promising for students and practitioners given the poor outcomes associated with these consequences.

The use of restraint and seclusion in schools puts students at risk of injury or, in extreme cases, even death. As a result, advocacy organizations and the U.S. Department of Education have develop...

Disciplinary exclusions, particularly out-of-school suspension and expulsions, are a pressing concern for schools, as research demonstrates that they are associated with myriad deleterious outcomes such as increased risk for poor academic achievement, school dropout, and contact with juvenile justice. Research suggests that School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS), a prevention and intervention framework for addressing school-based problem behavior, can have a significant and meaningful impact on reducing the likelihood of student suspensions and expulsions. In this study, we conceptually replicated a series of previous studies conducted in other states and examined the effect of universal SWPBIS on disciplinary exclusions in California. Using propensity score matching, we examine differences in suspension and expulsion rates for 98 schools implementing universal SWPBIS with fidelity and 98 comparison schools not implementing SWPBIS. Results suggest that schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity have significantly fewer suspensions. No effects were found for expulsions. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Assessing school climate provides schools and school counselors with critical information about the social and physical health of a school. Researchers have examined predictors of students’ percept...

The objective of this study was to assess the rates of disciplinary exclusion for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students with and without disabilities, relative to Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White students, using 2015–2016 national level data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). We utilized quantitative analysis, including rates and weighted risk ratios, to assess disproportionality in disciplinary exclusions in terms of suspensions and expulsions. AI/AN students were disproportionately represented in exclusionary discipline practices, most substantially in comparison to White students, while AIAN students with disabilities were disproportionally represented in terms of suspension and expulsion risk compared to both Hispanic/Latino and White students, but not compared to Black students. The risk for AI/AN students, with and without disabilities, was highest for expulsion, the most extreme form of disciplinary exclusion. AI/AN students with and without disabilities remain overrepresented in exclusionary discipline. The Largest disproportionality was evident comparing AI/AN students and White students, with AI/AN students nearly nine times more likely to receive an in-school suspension, more than 10 times more likely to receive an out-of-school suspension, nearly 16 times more likely to receive more than one out-of-school suspension, and more than 30 times more likely to be expelled. Implications and recommendations to address issues related to this overrepresentation in disciplinary exclusion are provided.

School leaders react to inappropriate behaviors by excluding students, despite research suggesting an association with poor student outcomes. Students with disabilities are frequently subjected to these practices. One framework that has been proposed to reduce the reliance on reactive discipline procedures is schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS). In this study, we replicated several state-level quasi-experimental studies with discipline data from California. Using propensity score matching, we compared 544 schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity and 544 schools that had never been trained. We found statistically significantly fewer out-of-school suspensions and days missed due to out-of-school suspensions across all students. Students with disabilities were statistically significantly less likely to be sent to alternative settings due to behavior in schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity, with an effect size of −0.65. These results replicate and extend prior findings.

Active supervision—defined as circulating, scanning, interacting with students, and reinforcing demonstrations of expected academic and social behaviors by a teacher or other staff member—is often considered a component of safe and secure schools. Yet, the evidence base supporting the effectiveness of active supervision has not been synthesized or evaluated for its quality. Therefore, we conducted an evidence-based review and meta-analysis of empirical research evaluating the effects of active supervision in schools. We identified 12 research studies evaluating active supervision, assessed the quality of each study, and calculated effect sizes for student behaviors, including disruptive behavior. Results from the four studies meeting data requirements for estimating standardized mean difference effect sizes suggest that, on average, active supervision reduced problem behavior by almost 2.0 standard deviation units. Only four studies met the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) design standards and the results of those were mixed, thus not meeting the WWC evidence-based criteria. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.

PBIS is has been consistently correlated with reductions in student exclusion including suspensions, expulsions, poor attendance, and high school dropout rates. However, school-wide strateg...

The objective of this study was to determine the current national results regarding school discipline for Black students. There are decades of data demonstrating the discriminatory discipline faced by Black children and adolescents in America’s K-12 public education system. Yet, there is limited research focusing exclusively on Black students with disabilities and no publically available research documenting the analysis of Black students with and without disabilities at the national level. The method was a quantitative analysis using rates and weighted risk ratios. The results indicated that ∼10% of Black students received a suspension, compared with 2.5% for all other racial/ethnic groups. For students with disabilities, ∼23% of Black students received a suspension, compared with ∼9% for Hispanic and White students with disabilities, almost 6% for Asian students with disabilities, and 21% for Native American students with disabilities. Risk ratio results vary by comparison group. Black students with and without disabilities continue to be grossly overrepresented in exclusionary discipline compared to their proportion within the population. Implications for research, policy, and practice are provided.

Bullying continues to be a major concern in U.S. schools and is the focus of myriad prevention and intervention efforts. Researchers have recently cited school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) as a prevention framework for reducing school-based bullying. Therefore, we examined the effect of universal SWPBIS implemented with fidelity on students’ self-report of bullying victimization. We used school-level propensity score matching to compare 76,248 students’ self-report of bullying victimization in 118 schools that implemented SWPBIS with fidelity and 118 matched comparison schools. Random-effects regression models found no statistically significant difference between treatment groups on students’ self-report of bullying victimization. Recommendations and limitations are discussed.

Quality professional development (PD) can be a great benefit to teachers who need help with classroom management implementation. PD programs have better outcomes when there is follow-up after skill instruction. Providing PD within a multitiered support (MTS) framework can make PD delivery more efficient for schools. We describe an MTS-PD program and its empirical support. We also provide specific recommendations for developing an MTS-PD implementation team, data collection systems, and classroom management skills for training.

A large body of research supports the efficacy of small group reading interventions for students in Grades K through 3. However, there are few studies evaluating the effects of supplemental Tier-2 intervention implemented within a response to intervention (RTI) or multitiered systems of support (MTSS) framework. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of providing Tier-2 supplemental intervention to students in Grades 1 through 3 identified as experiencing reading difficulties ( n = 318) in four elementary schools across four different school districts that were selected to participate in a state MTSS initiative. The supplemental intervention was evaluated using a regression discontinuity design, and results indicated statistically significant overall effects on measures of phonemic awareness and word decoding and no discernable effects on reading fluency and comprehension. Results suggest that supplemental reading intervention implemented within MTSS frameworks can impact key reading outcomes when intervention significantly increases instructional intensity.

Schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is currently implemented in more than 23,000 schools nationally and internationally. Several reviews have examined the SWPBIS evidence base, including a meta-analysis of single-case design research. However, to date, there has not been a review of group-based experimental research (e.g., randomized controlled trials [RCTs]) on the school-level effects of SWPBIS implementation to reduce disciplinary exclusion, including office discipline referrals and suspensions. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis following What Works Clearinghouse procedures to investigate that relationship. We identified four group experimental studies that included disciplinary exclusion as an outcome variable; two RCTs and two quasi-experimental designs. Overall, 90 schools, including both elementary and high schools, were evaluated. A statistically significant large treatment effect ( g = −.86) was found for school suspension, but no treatment effect was found for office discipline referrals. Implications for future research are discussed.

This study explored the effects of School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) on school suspensions and behavioral incidents for elementary and intermediate schools in Georgia implementing with fidelity by comparing results with a propensity score–matched comparison group of schools that never received SWPBIS training. Significant decreases in suspensions and disciplinary exclusions were found in schools implementing with fidelity compared with matched comparison schools. Schools implementing SWPBIS with higher fidelity had fewer out-of-school suspensions and disciplinary incidents than schools implementing with lower levels of fidelity, but both groups had significantly fewer suspensions and incidents than the comparison group. When converted to standard mean difference effect sizes, results indicated medium to large effects. These findings suggest that SWPBIS is an effective model for reducing disciplinary exclusions and disciplinary incidents and that implementing SWPBIS with fidelity can result in meaningful improvements on student behavioral outcomes in schools.

School discipline continues to be a challenge for schools, resulting in loss of instructional time for both teachers and students. With respect to discipline actions, school suspension is one of the most widely used, yet research continues to demonstrate an empirical link between receipt of suspension and poor student outcomes, including increased risk of dropping out of school. Therefore, interventions with empirical support for reducing school-wide disciplinary actions are needed. This study examined the effect of school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) on disciplinary actions using quasi-experimental design analysis. We (propensity score) matched 593 Florida schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity with 593 Florida schools that have never been trained. Overall, we found statistically significantly fewer out-of-school suspensions for students with disabilities and Black students within schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity and an effect size of −0.55, indicating meaningful improvements.

Background: This meta-analysis focused on the teaching of skills to individuals with intellectual disability (ID) to maximise independence increase the likelihood of full participation in all aspec...