Educational innovations continue to improve schools' abilities to implement up-to-date, effective, efficient evidence-based practices. Across education, it is important to understand the implementation and contextual elements that are critical to educator acceptability, feasibility, and usability. This preliminary qualitative study seeks to better…

In this study, we examined the extent to which educators believe students with complex support needs (CSN) participate in and benefit from practices associated with school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS). We conducted a survey of 622 teachers in the United States and analyzed responses according to the implementation…

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is recognized as a preventive tiered framework that positively supports and addresses student behavior. Currently, there are over 30,000 schools across America implementing PBIS. This phenomenological investigation examines the perceptions of key secondary school personnel on school climate in…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how caring student-teacher relationships facilitate positive student behavior. Additionally, it examined the effect of student behavior when building positive student-teacher relationships. Previous research by the authors determined that when teachers build relationships with children it is one of the…

This research explored the experiences of primary school principals in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) regarding the implementation of positive discipline in their schools. The primary focus of the study was to understand how principals experienced the process of implementing positive discipline. Data were collected from interviews with a…

This mixed-methods study describes a framework for conducting cost analyses of school-based programs leveraging fidelity data and applying the ingredients method. We illustrate this approach by applying it to Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), drawing on multiple sources of data from a sample of U.S. 77 schools that were…

As a result of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools and districts are encouraged to implement school-wide initiatives to improve outcomes for all students. In accordance with the ESSA, this research study investigated the relationship between school improvement planning and the implementation of school-wide interventions. The study…

This manuscript style dissertation investigates the impact of a brief positive psychology group intervention on both wellbeing and academic achievement among adolescents. Two experimental research studies were conducted to address this. Participants from a local high school engaged in a brief small group positive psychology intervention in both…

Policies exist to regulate the use of restraint and seclusion so that they are only implemented when necessary and following appropriate standards and procedures. These policies often focus on students with disability. This qualitative study explored school leaders' understanding, use and perspectives of the Restraint and Seclusion Policy mandated…

Teachers at a public middle school were given a questionnaire assessing the supports for student behavior and emotional needs in their school and district. Results show that teachers at this middle school perceive themselves as highly effective in forming individual relationships with students. Areas of growth include more clearly communicating…

Exposure to adverse and traumatic events in childhood has been found to lead to poorer academic and social-emotional outcomes in school settings. The psychological impact of exposure to such events, referred to as childhood trauma, has been identified as a key driver of these educational difficulties. First Nations students have been found to…

Social validity focuses on a program's goals, procedures, and outcome, which helps determine if an intervention is socially acceptable and valued. This study represents a conceptual replication of the investigation by Lane and colleagues (2009) regarding the psychometric properties of the Primary Intervention Rating Scale (PIRS), a teacher survey…

The National Association of School Psychology recognizes the role that family engagement holds on school functioning and student outcomes. This article describes a qualitative study using constructivist grounded theory to explore systems-level family engagement practices in urban schools that implemented a Comprehensive Behavioral Health Model…

This chapter describes Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), with a specific focus on Response to Intervention (RTI) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). When outlining MTSS, authors address how MTSS evolved as well as operating characteristics of the framework. MTSS is an prevention-based framework for enhancing the…

Trauma, including abandonment, neglect, poverty, or abuse, affects students. Because of this, a classroom community is vulnerable to the sheer unpredictability of behaviors. Students who have experienced trauma need support in order to create a classroom community where they can thrive and learn. This study examines a Whole-Child Approach…