To address instructional challenges and poor academic outcomes of youth in juvenile correctional facilities (JCFs), we must understand how and why some teachers are effective and why students are responsive to instruction in these settings. We observed and coded teacher--student instructional interactions from 733 fifteen-minute classroom reading…

During a school day, children make several transitions between activities, which can take away from instructional time and result in challenging behaviors. This study investigates the impact positive engagement and behavioral supports have on children's behavior while transitioning. Participants (N = 40; 77.5% Male; 92.5% Hispanic) were enrolled…

Despite the overall success of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support, there is evidence teachers do not effectively utilize Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support features in the classroom. Classrooms are important systems within a Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support framework as this is the location within the school that students spend the…

Disruptive student behavior in middle school is associated with negative outcomes, including poor grades, low achievement scores, dropout, lost teaching time, teacher burnout, and societal expenditures. Classroom Behavior Management (CBM) strategies are effective at reducing disruptive behavior, decreasing teacher stress, and increasing…

The prevalence of psychotropic medication use among students with emotional and behavioral challenges continues to increase as intensive behavioral interventions are designed and evaluated in schools. There is general consensus among clinical professionals that psychotropic medications are not "silver bullets" but should be expected to…

In this study, we (a) describe patterns of challenging student behaviors (classwide and for a target student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) and teacher behaviors (i.e., praise, commands, and responses to challenging behavior) in kindergarten through Grade 5 classrooms, (b) examine the relations between these behaviors, and…

Although the number of schools implementing School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is increasing, and there is great demand for evidence-based Tier 2 and 3 interventions for students requiring additional support, little systematic research has examined administrator support for such programming. This article examines…

In this study, the authors examined the concurrent validity, predictive validity, and concurrent and predictive classification accuracy of using schoolwide behavior expectations as a universal behavioral screener. Three elementary schools implementing schoolwide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) participated. Within each school, the entire school…

Over 15 years after passage of legislation requiring the use of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) to inform the development of positive behavior support plans (BSPs) in special education, schools are still struggling to implement BSPs based on FBA and the function of behavior. A primary concern is that school teams regularly fail to use…

The paucity of research investigating the effectiveness of universal behavioral strategies for supporting students in alternative educational settings is of great concern. However, a growing literature base supporting schoolwide positive behavioral support interventions (SWPBS) has been encouraging. This program evaluation provides additional…

"Selective mutism" is the term used to describe a disorder in which a person speaks only in restricted stimulus situations. Examination of single-subject research concerning selective mutism reveals the most popular and successful interventions to instate speech involve a combination of behavior modification procedures. The present research…

In this article, the authors examined (a) the accuracy of teacher nominations in identifying (N = 178) high school students with externalizing, internalizing, comorbid, and typical behavior patterns, as well as students who were receiving special education services for high-incidence disabilities, (b) the level of treatment fidelity and access to…

The Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD), a multistage screening system designed to identify elementary school--age children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, was evaluated for use with middle and junior high school students. During SSBD Stage 1, teachers identified 123 students in grades 6 through 9 with…

Functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) were used to develop and implement behavior support plans for three middle school students who were not successful under a check-in, check-out system. Following implementation of function-based support, each participant demonstrated both reduced level of problem behavior and reduced variability in problem…

This study examined the relationship between opportunities to respond (OTR) to academic requests and teacher praise in 20 classrooms for students with emotional and/or behavior disorders using time-window sequential analysis. Results suggest that: (1) a summary-level relationship represented by a significant positive correlation and (2) a…