All interventions -- whether academic, behavioral, or social-emotional -- should be consistently delivered as planned to realize desired student outcomes. In other words, they should be delivered with fidelity. School psychologists can address this concern by monitoring fidelity and providing support for intervention implementation. In this final…

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine patterns in implementation of Tiers 2 and 3 school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) systems to identify timings of installation that led to higher implementation of advanced tiers. Extant data from 776 schools in 27 states reporting on the first 3 years of Tier 2…

The development of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for the prevention of behavioral health problems is well supported. However, limited data exist on the sustainability of EBIs once initial support has ceased. The current study assessed, at 2 years after initial start-up support: (1) What percent of schools sustained EBI implementation? (2) To…

The Every Student Succeeds Act's evidence requirements mandate the use of research in the selection of school improvement interventions, with the aim of ensuring that schools and districts invest their efforts and funding more wisely. This study of eight states presents three different approaches to the evidence requirements: using lists of…

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate administrator perceptions of the second-year implementation of Dynamic Impact (DI) in Worcester County Public Schools (WCPS) by Johns Hopkins' Center for Technology in Education (CTE). As described by CTE, DI builds the capacity of school districts to form and sustain high-performing teams using…

The current implementation fidelity narrative in education is one written in federal legislation (e.g., ESSA, 2015; IDEA, 2004) and peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Chu et al., 2020; Noell et al., 2014). While teachers represent a significant force for the implementation of evidence-based practices in schools, their experiences and wisdom are often…

Purpose of Review: The purpose of this review is to provide an update on the recent research (2016-2021) that evaluates the effectiveness of school-implemented interventions for students with autism (3-21 years old) from preschool to high school. Recent Findings: Overall, the recent literature demonstrated that there are EBPs that help students…

Background: The increase in the number of autistic children being identified has led to increased demand on public schools to provide high-quality services. Effectively scaling up evidence-based practice (EBP) use for autistic students is challenging, given the complicated organization of special education. Teachers have significant challenges…

Although evidence-based practices for improving academic engagement for students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) have been identified, many teachers do not implement these practices with optimal fidelity. Thus, effective strategies are needed to improve teacher fidelity. Performance feedback is an effective professional…

The Federal government mandates the use of evidence-based practice for interventions with students. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is one of these evidence-based practices, but despite this, many school systems do not implement ABA as described in the literature, which leads to loss of fidelity and integrity with implementation, and often results…

While continuous improvement is not new to education, implementing it with fidelity in various educational contexts remains difficult. This article provides a framework of the necessary components in planning for and implementing continuous improvement, based on current literature in the field of education. Key characteristics for consideration…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between "district capacity" as measured by the District Capacity Assessment (DCA) and the "initial, depth, scale," and "sustained" implementation of an evidence-based practice (EBP), Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS). This exploratory analysis…

While beneficial, the consistent and regular use of evidence to improve teaching and learning is proving difficult to achieve in practice. This paper attempts to shed new light on this issue by examining the question: "If using evidence to inform teaching practice is rational behaviour, why aren't all teachers engaged in it?" It first…

As special education enrollment for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has increased, school-based programs and providers have been challenged to expand the scope and quality of services. Researchers and school-based providers are aligned in the goal of providing high-quality services to students with ASD, however current literature…

SPLASH is a 3-year professional development program designed to work with classroom teachers of students with moderate and severe disabilities. The program targets new teachers and employs methods aimed at supporting rural classrooms. The training content focuses on evidence-based practices in English language arts, mathematics, and science, as…