In Norway 5.8% of students report being bullied as much as three or more times a month [UDIR. 2021a. Student Survey 2020 [Elevundersøkelsen 2020]. https://www.udir.no/tall-og-forskning/finn-forskning/rapporter/elevundersokelsen-2020-nasjonale-tall-formobbing-og-arbeidsro/]. The present study investigates the likelihood of students being bullied…

The US Department of Justice released the final report on school violence and showed that middle school is the age when violence is high, accounting for more than 70% of all violence cases (Zweig et al., 2013). After having perpetrated, the probability that the perpetrator will commit violence again will increase significantly (Office of the…

Approximately one in 10 children in the United States is diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a disability that can negatively affect academic achievement, yet relatively few children with ADHD are in special education. To better understand factors that determine which students with ADHD are in special education, we…

This dissertation is comprised of three studies using restricted data from the ECLS-K:1998 to address the questions who is placed in special education? and what happens after they are placed? Though these questions have been extensively studied, existing research has largely ignored the intersection of longitudinal developmental pathways and…

Kindergarten retention is a popular practice for children who are considered unready for primary school. However, past research has not yet succeeded to find consistent, strong empirical evidence supporting the practice. In the current study, kindergarten repeaters' development in nine psychosocial domains is compared with that of equally at risk…

Test-based accountability has become the new norm in public education over the last decade. In many states and school districts nationwide, student performance on standardized tests plays an important role in high-stakes decisions, such as grade retention. This study examines the effects of grade retention on student misbehavior in Florida, which…

Determining the effectiveness of many special education interventions is most difficult because of the practical and ethical limitations associated with assigning participants to a control or non-treated group. Using Longitudinal Study of Australian Children data, this article utilised eight different propensity score analysis methods to determine…

The purpose of the current investigation was to develop and provide initial validation of the "Social and Academic Behavior Risk Screener" (SABRS). Research was conducted in southeast elementary schools with 54 teacher and 243 student participants. An initial item pool was created through review of developmental research on the…

Little is known about the ways in which the accumulation of maternal factors increases or reduces risk for girls' disruptive behavior during preadolescence. In the current study, maternal risk and promotive factors and the severity of girls' disruptive behavior were assessed annually among girls' ages 7-12 in an urban community sample (N = 2043).…

The effect of a fixed-time (FT) schedule involving the delivery of preferred stimuli prior to the issuance of a low-probability instruction was evaluated with 2 young children with autism. The FT schedule was introduced according to a reversal design with 3 target instructions, 1 for the first child and 2 for the second child. Compliance increased…

Turning around chronically low-performing schools requires a multifaceted school-wide, systematic effort that includes strong leadership and data-based decision making. School-wide efforts to turn-around low-performing schools should address the academic, social, and behavioral needs of all students. One evidence-based, systematic school-wide…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the invariance of predictive relations across early-adolescent sex and ethnic groups regarding parenting factors and externalizing and internalizing problems and victimization. Data (n = 598; 54% female) from a triethnic (Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black) probability sample of fifth…

In an effort to improve academic performance for students receiving special education services, a large urban school district in Tennessee has implemented Integrated Service Delivery Model. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of students receiving instruction in self-contained classrooms to the performance of students…

This case study addresses two major priorities of the Boston Foundation--health and education. Since the 2007 publication of the "Understanding Boston" report "The Boston Paradox: Lots of Health Care, Not Enough Health," the Boston Foundation has worked to draw attention to the epidemic of preventable chronic disease that not…

U.S. social programs, set up to address important problems, often fall short by funding specific models/strategies ("interventions") that are not effective. When evaluated in scientifically-rigorous studies, social interventions in K-12 education, job training, crime prevention, and other areas are frequently found ineffective or…