Since the early 1990s, American schools adopted exclusionary sanctions such as zero-tolerance policies (ZTP) to reduce student misbehavior as well as to sustain school safety. Due to the punitive nature of ZTP, some schools have sought alternative discipline models, like the restorative practices, to manage student infraction. This mixed methods…

Stereotypy or automatically occurring behaviors, as commonly seen in children with autism spectrum disorder, can be divided into three main categories: self-injury, stereotypy, and aggressive behaviors. Researchers have suggested different intervention approaches to treat stereotypy, such as redirecting or replacing undesired action. This Delphi…

Teachers continually seek to find new and innovative ways to create classroom environments conducive to learning to discourage problem behaviors in students. Alternative seating, such as therapy balls and seat cushions, has been widely researched and found to have a positive relationship in decreasing student problem behavior and increasing…

As academic standards for incoming kindergarten students at Morris Early Childhood Center (MECC), in the Milford School District, increase, a significant obstacle to student achievement has emerged. The deficiency of social and emotional skills among MECC students has increasingly impeded school staff from focusing on instruction due to the…

It was not known what school staff identifies as student behavioral concerns in rural, low-income elementary schools, what they attribute as the cause of these behaviors, and how this attribution may affect their response to such behavior. This qualitative case study explored the experiences of school staff members at a low-income elementary…

Despite current trend analyses highlighting declining alcohol use in college students, this population remains at significant risk for alcohol's negative consequences. Though efforts to address these problems are not in short supply, research dedicated to this field has reported mild to moderate effects that decay over time. One method is to…

A phenomenological study, according to Creswell (2013), is one that "focuses on describing what all participants have in common as they experience a phenomenon" (p. 76). This phenomenological study aimed to (a) explore teacher perceptions who have experienced teacher-directed student aggression by students with emotional behavioral…

Exposure to violence among children and adolescents has been linked to negative outcomes including posttraumatic stress disorder, externalizing problems, low academic achievement, and impaired social-emotional adjustment. Aggressive behaviors specifically are shown to be strongly predicted by both direct and indirect violence exposure. Aggressive…

Students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) often display externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression and defiance) and experience internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression). When left untreated, these difficulties can result in negative outcomes for students in school and beyond. Cognitive-behavioral interventions (CBIs) offer…

School safety and security strategies is a generic qualitative study that seeks to comprehend school safety and disciplinary strategies through the perspectives and opinions of teachers and principals. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the strategies used in secondary inner-city schools to regulate student discipline…

Racial and socioeconomic (SES) stereotyping negatively impacts Black and low-SES individuals, and this impact is observed widely in schools. The present study attempts to disentangle the variables of race and SES in educational inequalities, and to explore the specific role of school psychologists. Participants included 218 school psychologists…

Aggressive behaviors are garnering a great deal of national attention in research, policy, and practice circles. The majority of these problematic behaviors occur in non-classroom settings, where students outnumber staff and structure is lacking. Although strategies, like active supervision, are effective at reducing problem behavior in these…

Young children experiencing toxic stress has negative consequences on their development. The purpose of this case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of toxic stress in young children and the classroom practices used to assist students experiencing toxic stress from two rural early childhood centers in an eastern state in the United States.…

One of the greatest challenges for alternative schools is to develop effective training programs for students with severe and profound developmental disabilities. School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) has been shown to decrease problematic behaviors in alternative schools and self-contained settings yet little is known about how effective…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a relationship between transformational principal leadership style, a safe school climate, and school safety (specifically, the number of reported fights and reported bullying incidents) in Broward County, Florida's middle schools. This study also investigated if a relationship…