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Many teachers resort to using reprimands in attempts to stop disruptive student behavior, particularly by students with emotional or behavioral problems, although this may not be effective. This study examined short-term longitudinal data on teacher reprimands of 149 teachers in 19 different elementary schools across three states, as well as disruptive behavior and classroom engagement of 311 students considered at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. A cross-lag analysis showed that teacher reprimands did not decrease students' future disruptive behavior or increase their engagement or vice versa. While teacher reprimands may suppress misbehavior momentarily, they do not appear to be effective in decreasing students' disruptive behavior or increasing their engagement over time. Limitations and implications are discussed. [For the Grantee Submission, see ED606563.]

Middle school is a cornerstone for success in high school. However, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement of adolescents often decline as they transition from elementary to middle school, resulting in lower school grades and more challenging behaviors, especially for adolescents with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Class-wide function-related intervention teams (CW-FIT), a classroom management program based on school-wide positive behavior support, has been found to be effective in elementary general and special education classrooms. The present study, a randomized control trial of CW-FIT for middle schools (CW-FIT MS), evaluated the effects on class-wide on-task behavior, as well as the on-task and disruptive behaviors of students identified as at risk for EBD. Participants included 629 students (70 identified as at risk) enrolled in 28 middle school classrooms across five Title I schools representing diverse geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic areas. The study also addressed research questions regarding effects of the intervention on teacher praise and reprimands, as well as teacher and student social validity. Results suggested that CW-FIT MS was associated with improvements in class-wide and at-risk student on-task behavior, student disruptions, teacher praise, and teacher reprimand rates. Both teachers and students reported the intervention to be socially valid. Study limitations and areas for future research are addressed.

Disruptive student behavior is a significant challenge in schools and a predictor of student failure. Effective classroom management is a crucial skill that middle level teachers must acquire to foster student engagement and learning. This qualitative study explored the experiences and perceptions of 35 middle level teachers in both general education and special education settings regarding effective classroom management techniques. Eight focus group interviews were conducted with 25 general education teachers and 10 special education teachers at one of five middle schools in Kansas, Missouri, or Utah. Focus group transcripts were analyzed using iterative qualitative content analysis to identify themes and subthemes. Findings revealed that effective classroom management includes teachers' use of appropriate positive and negative reinforcement, student buy-in to reward systems, positive immediate feedback to students, teachers' consistent follow-through with consequences, and positive teacher-student relationships. We also report similarities and differences between middle level general education and special education teachers' perceptions. Limitations and areas for future research are addressed.

This study investigated the effects of varying opportunities to respond when using a behavior management program with three elementary school students with developmental disabilities in a small group special education setting. These students exhibited both academic and behavioral difficulties. With the implementation of Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) with low opportunities to respond (OTR), students increased their active engagement and correct responses, as well as decreased their disruptive behaviors. When CW-FIT with high OTR was implemented, students showed an even greater improvement than CW-FIT with low OTR. Higher rates of OTR resulted in higher levels of active engagement and correct responses and decreases in disruptive behavior for all three students. These results indicate that CW-FIT in combination with high OTR can help elementary school teachers manage students' behavior and increase students' correct responding when implemented in a small group special education setting.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often receive low rates of teacher praise and high rates of teacher reprimands, though they may respond more positively to praise and more negatively to reprimands than their typically developing peers. Teacher praise-to-reprimand ratios (PRRs) are associated with increased student engagement, but more research is necessary to further explore how these ratios affect student behavior, particularly for students with or at risk for EBD. Commonly 3:1 or 4:1 is recommended as a desirable PRR, but students with EBD may need higher ratios to improve their classroom behavior. In our study of 540 students and 149 teachers, we found that as teacher PRR increased the engagement of at-risk students increased, though engagement for typically developing peers did not. A PRR of approximately 9:1 was needed for students at risk for EBD to approximate the engagement levels of their typically developing peers. No effect of PRR on disruption rates was found for either student category.

Student mental health problems often emerge in high school; however, such problems frequently go unaddressed. Using a time series design, we evaluated the effects of the Strong Teens social-emotional learning curriculum implemented by three school counselors and two school social workers with 28 high school students identified with internalizing symptoms. Decreases in students' self-reported levels of internalizing symptoms were statistically significant following the 12-week intervention, indicating moderate improvement. Participants rated the program as socially valid, though they also recommended ways to improve it. Results coincide with past studies indicating that Strong Teens may help reduce adolescents' self-reported internalizing symptoms.

During the transition from elementary to middle school, adolescents may become increasingly vulnerable for emotional and behavioral problems. Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams for middle school (CW-FIT MS), the independent variable examined in this study, was developed to improve teaching and learning by fostering student engagement. The study's purpose was to examine the feasibility and effects of CW-FIT MS Tier 1 implementation across nine middle school classes using a single-subject ABAB withdrawal design. Participants were 234 students in grades 6-8, including 23 identified as at risk for emotional behavioral disorders. Results of CW-FIT MS Tier 1 implementation showed significant improvement in on-task behavior for groups as well as individual target students, increased teacher praise-to-reprimand ratios, and decreased target student disruptions. Outcomes of social validity surveys were consistent with earlier studies. Study findings extend previous results by demonstrating positive intervention effects in novel settings with a greater number of participants. Study limitations and areas for future research are discussed. [This paper was published in "Research in Middle Level Education" v42 n7 p1-15 2019 (EJ1226018).]

Disruptive student behavior, a common concern for teachers, presents particular challenges for those who teach art. Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a multitiered intervention for implementing effective classroom management strategies aligned with schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports. CW-FIT has proven effective in general education classrooms, with its emphasis on social skills instruction, teacher praise, group contingency, and positive reinforcement. This first study of CW-FIT implementation in elementary art classrooms examined its effects on student on-task behavior. The researchers used a single-subject (AB) design in one classroom and reversal designs (ABAB) in two classrooms. Results indicated student on-task behavior significantly improved, and the teacher was able to implement CW-FIT with fidelity as well as increase her praise-to-reprimand ratios. Both teacher and students found the intervention to be socially valid. Study implications and limitations are discussed.

Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a classroom management system using a group contingency involving direct teaching of classroom rules/skills, differential reinforcement of appropriate behaviors, and minimized social attention to inappropriate behaviors. We investigated elementary school teachers' implementation of CW-FIT with minimal reliance on external researcher support. Nine teachers and their classes participated. Ten students nominated as at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) were individually monitored. Effects were examined using a single case reversal design. During CW-FIT implementation teachers' use of praise increased and reprimands decreased, on-task behavior increased in all classrooms, and seven of the at-risk students also showed decreased disruptive behaviors. Teacher and student social validity ratings indicated support of and satisfaction with the program. Implications for classroom practice are discussed.

Middle level school teachers commonly measure and monitor students' academic performance, but such is not the case for students' classroom behavior. This is unfortunate, given the rise in students' classroom behavior problems in middle school, especially for students who experience emotional or behavioral disorders. The Classroom Performance Survey (CPS) is a brief behavior rating scale that has shown promise for use in elementary school settings, but no studies have investigated the psychometric properties of this measure in middle level schools. In the present study, 103 middle grades students at-risk for emotional or behavioral disorders were rated by their classroom teachers using the CPS. We conducted a psychometric evaluation using a multi-step analytic strategy, including confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. Results showed that the CPS displayed evidence of a reliable two-factor structure (Academic Competence and Interpersonal Competence), predictive validity with academic outcomes (percent of assignments completed and student grades), convergent validity with established behavioral and observational measures, and sensitivity to change over time. Study results suggest positive implications for using the CPS as part of behavior intervention and monitoring efforts in middle level 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 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 positive behavior support 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.

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.

Assessment of the long-term population-level effects of HIV interventions is an ongoing public health challenge. Following the implementation of a Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP) in Odessa, Ukraine, in 2013-2016, we obtained HIV pol gene sequences and used phylogenetics to identify HIV transmission clusters. We further applied the birth-death skyline model to the sequences from Odessa (n = 275) and Kyiv (n = 92) in order to estimate changes in the epidemic's effective reproductive number (Re) and rate of becoming uninfectious (δ). We identified 12 transmission clusters in Odessa; phylogenetic clustering was correlated with younger age and higher average viral load at the time of sampling. Estimated Re were similar in Odessa and Kyiv before the initiation of TRIP; Re started to decline in 2013 and is now below Re = 1 in Odessa (Re = 0.4, 95%HPD 0.06-0.75), but not in Kyiv (Re = 2.3, 95%HPD 0.2-5.4). Similarly, estimates of δ increased in Odessa after the initiation of TRIP. Given that both cities shared the same HIV prevention programs in 2013-2019, apart from TRIP, the observed changes in transmission parameters are likely attributable to the TRIP intervention. We propose that molecular epidemiology analysis can be used as a post-intervention effectiveness assessment tool.

IntroductionViral load is one of the most important determinants for HIV transmission. Identification of people with high viral load (PHVL) can be effective in limiting onward HIV transmission. In order to improve the identification of these individuals within risk networks, we determined a) the number of PHVL recruited through risk networks b) their socio-demographic, behavioural and clinical characteristics and c) the characteristics of individuals who referred these PHVL to the study.MethodologyFrom November 2013 to March 2016, in Odessa, Ukraine, Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP) was implemented to identify people recently infected with HIV within the risk networks of "seeds" and "venues" where they engaged in risk behaviour.ResultsTRIP identified 53 PHVL, of whom 32 (60%) injected drugs; 42 (79%) were unaware of their HIV status; 25 (47%) had more than one sex partner, and only 14 (26%) were using condoms. There were 164 people who referred individuals into the study; 33 of them (20%) referred PHVL. In terms of referrers, those with lower than secondary level of education, not living with a sex partner, and reporting regular condom use were significantly more likely (p < 0.05) to refer PHVL. Most PHVL (38, 72%) and their referrers (27, 82%) were found through venues.ConclusionsIn Odessa city, PHVL are at high risk of transmitting HIV as the majority inject drugs, do not know their HIV status, and have unprotected sex and/or multiple partners. Targeting these individuals for HIV prevention, harm reduction and initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) is urgent.

IntroductionThis paper examines the extent to which an intervention succeeded in locating people who had recently become infected with HIV in the context of the large-scale Ukrainian epidemic. Locating and intervening with people who recently became infected with HIV (people with recent infection, or PwRI) can reduce forward HIV transmission and help PwRI remain healthy.MethodsThe Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP) recruited recently-infected and longer-term infected seeds in Odessa, Ukraine, in 2013 to 2016, and asked them to help recruit their extended risk network members. The proportions of network members who were PwRI were compared between TRIP arms (i.e. networks of recently-infected seeds vs. networks of longer-term infected seeds) and to the proportion of participants who were PwRI in an RDS-based Integrated Biobehavioral Surveillance of people who inject drugs in 2013.ResultsThe networks of PwRI seeds and those of longer-term infected seeds had similar (2%) proportions who were themselves PwRI. This was higher than the 0.25% proportion in IBBS (OR = 7.80; p = 0.016). The odds ratio among the subset of participants who injected drugs was 11.17 (p = 0.003). Cost comparison analyses using simplified ingredients-based methods found that TRIP spent no more than US $4513 per PwRI located whereas IBBS spent $11,924.ConclusionsFurther research is needed to confirm these results and improve TRIP further, but our findings suggest that interventions that trace the networks of people who test HIV-positive are a cost-effective way to locate PwRI and reduce HIV transmission and should therefore be implemented.

A growing body of evidence suggests that network-based interventions to reduce HIV transmission and/or improve HIV-related health outcomes have an important place in public health efforts to move towards 90-90-90 goals. However, the social processes involved in network-based recruitment may pose a risk to participants of increasing HIV-related stigma if network recruitment causes HIV status to be assumed, inferred, or disclosed. On the other hand, the social processes involved in network-based recruitment to HIV testing may also encourage HIV-related social support. Yet despite the relevance of these processes to both network-based interventions and to other more common interventions (e.g., partner services), there is a dearth of literature that directly examines them among participants of such interventions. Furthermore, both HIV-related stigma and social support may influence participants' willingness and ability to recruit their network members to the study. This paper examines (1) the extent to which stigma and support were experienced by participants in the Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP), a risk network-tracing intervention aimed at locating recently HIV-infected and/or undiagnosed HIV-infected people and linking them to care in Athens, Greece; Odessa, Ukraine; and Chicago, Illinois; and (2) whether stigma and support predicted participant engagement in the intervention. Overall, experiences of stigma were infrequent and experiences of support frequent, with significant variation between study sites. Experiences and perceptions of HIV-related stigma did not change significantly between baseline and six-month follow-up for the full TRIP sample, and significantly decreased during the course of the study at the Chicago site. Experiences of HIV-related support significantly increased among recently-HIV-infected participants at all sites, and among all participants at the Odessa site. Both stigma and support were found to predict participants' recruitment of network members to the study at the Athens site, and to predict participants' interviewer-rated enthusiasm for naming and recruiting their network members at both the Athens and Odessa sites. These findings suggest that network-based interventions like TRIP which aim to reduce HIV transmission likely do not increase stigma-related risks to participants, and may even encourage increased social support among network members. However, the present study is limited by its associational design and by some variation in implementation by study site. Future research should directly assess contextual differences to improve understanding of the implications of site-level variation in stigma and support for the implementation of network-based interventions, given the finding that these constructs predict participants' recruitment of network members and engagement in the intervention, and thereby could limit network-based interventions' abilities to reach those most in need of HIV testing and care.

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.

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of authentically based instruction using the 5E model as the structure for lesson delivery on student emotions and the extent to which the students perceived that the teacher was facilitating mastery goals. Participants were 241 sophomore and junior biology students in three urban high schools in a large city in the Midsouth region of the United States. Two conditions occurred: a lesson designed using authentic 5E model, while the other was a text-based lesson on the topic of photosynthesis. The results suggest that the authentic 5E instruction increased interest and enjoyment and decreased anxiety, hopelessness, frustration, confusion, and boredom as compared to the text-based instruction. Furthermore, the students in the authentic group perceived that the teacher facilitated more mastery goals than the comparison group. Finally, we found that the change of student perception in teacher mastery had a predictive relationship with change in positive and negative emotions. Implications of this study are that authentic instruction can lead to positive academic outcomes and that perceived teacher mastery can have a positive influence on student emotions, which in turn can generate motivation and achievement in high school science courses.

Background: High school students have few physical education (PE) and health requirements for graduation. Twenty-first century students have choices to take their PE and health courses in the traditional face-to-face (F2F) setting or online through accredited virtual schools. The purpose of this inquiry was to examine differences in high school students' perceptions and experiences in traditional versus online PE and health-related courses. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized mixed methods through survey distribution. Participants included 506 students from traditional F2F high school health and PE classes and 355 students finishing an online course from an accredited online academy. Results: The online education setting was found to be statistically significantly more favorable for students in terms of the feedback and responsiveness of the teacher, understanding and interest of the content and perceived positive health changes during the course. However, the qualitative findings on student perceptions were relatively consistent between both the online and F2F classes. Conclusions: The results indicate that students' positive perceptions in an online high school class may equal or surpass those in a traditional F2F format. Increasingly, youth are exhibiting enhanced capacity for online-based coursework. Physical education classes have traditionally been F2F, but warrant further consideration as an online platform.

Given globalization and other social phenomena, controlling the spread of infectious diseases has become an imperative public health priority. A plethora of interventions that in theory can mitigate the spread of pathogens have been proposed and applied. Evaluating the effectiveness of such interventions is costly and in many circumstances unrealistic. Most important, the community effect (i.e., the ability of the intervention to minimize the spread of the pathogen from people who received the intervention to other community members) can rarely be evaluated. Here we propose a study design that can build and evaluate evidence in support of the community effect of an intervention. The approach exploits molecular evolutionary dynamics of pathogens in order to track new infections as having arisen from either a control or an intervention group. It enables us to evaluate whether an intervention reduces the number and length of new transmission chains in comparison with a control condition, and thus lets us estimate the relative decrease in new infections in the community due to the intervention. We provide as an example one working scenario of a way the approach can be applied with a simulation study and associated power calculations.

PurposeThis paper presents an overview of different kinds of risk and social network methods and the kinds of research questions each can address.Recent findingsIt also reviews what network research has discovered about how network characteristics are associated with HIV and other infections, risk behaviors, preventive behaviors, and care, and discusses some ways in which network-based public health interventions have been conducted. Based on this, risk and social network research and interventions seem both feasible and valuable for addressing the many public health and social problems raised by the widespread use of opioids in the US South.

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.

IntroductionProviding HIV healthcare and Treatment as Prevention both depend on diagnosing HIV cases, preferably soon after initial infection. We hypothesized that tracing risk networks recruits higher proportions of undiagnosed positives than outreach-based testing or respondent-driven sampling (RDS) in Odessa, Ukraine.MethodsThe Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP) used risk network tracing to recruit sexual and injection networks of recently-infected and longer-term infected (LTs) seeds (2013 to 2016). Integrated Biobehavioural Surveillance (IBBS) (2013) used RDS to recruit people who inject drugs (PWID). Outreach Testing tested PWID for HIV at community outreach sites (2013 to 2016). Proportions of undiagnosed positives among those tested were compared TRIP versus IBBS; TRIP versus Outreach Testing and between TRIP arms. Costs were compared across the projects.ResultsTRIP tested 1252 people (21% women) in seeds' risk networks; IBBS tested 400 (18% women); Outreach Testing 13,936 (31% women). TRIP networks included a higher proportion of undiagnosed positives (14.6%) than IBBS (5.0%) or Outreach Testing (2.4%); odds ratio (OR) 3.25 (95% CI 2.07, 5.12) versus IBBS and 7.03 (CI 5.95, 8.31) versus Outreach Testing respectively. Findings remained significant in analyses stratified by sex and when PWID in TRIP networks were compared with Outreach Testing and IBBS. Within TRIP, recently-infected participants' networks contained higher proportions of undiagnosed positives (16.3%) than LTs' networks (12.2%); OR 1.41 (CI 1.01, 1.95). TRIP located undiagnosed positives less expensively than did RDS or Outreach Testing.ConclusionsTRIP's recruiting techniques, including prioritizing networks of the recently infected, find undiagnosed HIV-positive people efficiently. They should be integrated with standard practice to improve case-finding. Research should test these techniques in other socio-epidemiologic contexts.Clinical trial registryRegistered ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01827228.

Latinx people who inject drugs (PWID) are less likely to engage in injection equipment sharing, but are more vulnerable to injection drug use (IDU)-related morbidity and mortality than Whites. Identifying subgroups of Latinx PWID who do engage in equipment sharing and likely bear the brunt of this health burden is a priority. Ethnic disparities may reflect contextual drivers, including injection networks. Latinx PWID with low ethnic homophily (the proportion of individuals with the same ethnic background) may be more likely to share equipment due to forced distancing from health-protective ethnocultural resources and power imbalances within injection networks. The current study offers a framework and examines how associations between network ethnic homophily and injection equipment sharing differ among 74 Latinx and 170 non-Latinx White PWID in the Chicagoland area (N = 244). Latinx had less homophilous than non-Latinx Whites (p <.001). Ethnic homophily was protective for equipment sharing among Latinx (OR = 0.17, 95%CI [0.77, 0.04], p =.02), but not non-Latinx Whites (OR = 1.66, 95%CI [0.40, 6.93], p =.49). Our findings implicate the need for targeted cultured interventions that focus on Latinx PWID who are more vulnerable to morbidity and mortality, potentially due to less access to ethnic peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early treatment, soon after infection, reduces HIV transmissions and benefits patients. The Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP) evaluated a network intervention to detect individuals recently infected (in the past 6 months). TRIP was conducted in Greece (2013-2015) and focused on drug injector networks. Based on HIV status, testing history, and the results of an assay to detect recent infections, TRIP classified drug injector Seeds into groups: Recent Seeds (RS), and Control Seeds with Long-term HIV infection (LCS). The network members of RS and LCS were traced for two steps. The analysis included 23 RS, 171 network members of the RS, 19 LCS, and 65 network members of the LCS. The per-seed number of recents detected in the network of RS was 5 times the number in the network of LCS (Ratio RS vs. LCS: 5.23; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.54-27.61). The proportion of recents among HIV positives in the network of RS (27%) was approximately 3 times (Ratio RS vs. LCS: 3.30; 95% CI: 1.04-10.43) that in the network of LCS (8%). Strategic network tracing that starts with recently infected persons could support public health efforts to find and treat people early in their HIV infection.