Preschool children are expelled from early childhood education programs up to three times the expulsion rate of elementary and secondary students, and researchers have expressed concerns about this trend. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore educators' perspectives on behavioral supports to address preschool students' challenging…

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is an early-appearing temperamental trait characterized by intense negative affect and withdrawal behaviors to novel and challenging situations. Inhibited children are more likely to display social withdrawal and experience an increased risk for internalizing problems. Trait inference, the way children interpret…

Data from multiple school sources, including informant ratings, systematic direct observations (SDOs), and school wide data (e.g., office disciplinary referrals [ODRs]) are routinely used to guide decision making in the delivery of evidence based practices for students with externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Over 50 years of…

Preschool expulsion is a trending social problem. To date, this is the first study that examines the teacher decision factors behind preschool expulsions. This article presents results of the development and validation of the Preschool Expulsion Risk Measure (PERM). In a 2-phase analysis of the study, we provide evidence for the PERM's reliability…

There is a priority for schools to address students' social and emotional needs as is done for academic learning. Tiered models of prevention provide a framework for teaching social skills and behavioral expectations, as well as academics, with positive, proactive, evidence-based practices. Central to responding to students' needs is accurate…

Background: Children who experience early adversity often develop emotion regulatory problems, but little is known about the mechanisms that mediate this relation. We tested whether general associative learning processes contribute to associations between adversity, in the form of child maltreatment, and negative behavioral outcomes. Methods:…

There is a priority for schools to address students' social and emotional needs as we do academic learning. Tiered models of prevention provide a framework for teaching social skills and behavioral expectations, as well as academics, with positive, proactive, evidence-based practices. Central to responding to students' needs is accurate…

We report findings of a convergent validity study examining the internalizing subscale (SRSS-I6) of the Student Risk Screening Scale for Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) with the internalizing subscale of the Teacher Report Form (TRF; Achenbach, 1991). Participants included 227 sixth- through 12th-grade students from nine schools across…

R. Goodman's Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is widely used to measure emotional and behavioral difficulties in childhood and adolescence. In the present study, we examined whether the SDQ measures the same construct across time, when used for longitudinal research. A nationally representative sample of parents (N = 3,375) provided…

Modern attempts to explain why some assessment tools are readily adopted by school-based personnel whereas others are not have focused on the concept of usability. Usability encompasses not only the degree to which consumers find an assessment tool to be acceptable, but also the degree to which it is well-understood, believed to be feasible,…

As a way to raise attainment, schools are encouraged to form ability groups across classes for particular subjects. There is limited evidence however about the relationship between setting and primary school children's characteristics and how teachers perceive them. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between set positioning for…

Despite innovations in the screening and early identification of students who may benefit from school mental health services, many schools struggle to link screening to intervention decisions, particularly at the Tier 2 level. Universal complete mental health screening, which measures strengths along with risk factors, is a strength-based approach…

This qualitative study highlights the experiences of seven parents of preschoolers who engaged in persistent challenging behaviors. The study included an in-depth interview with each parent, member checking, and a follow-up discussion with each participant to clarify any ambiguous participant comments. Results revealed four major themes regarding…

In this study factors preschool teachers perceive as influencing their referral decisions for young children with severe behavior problems were investigated. Research questions focused on 1) teacher factors such as teachers' knowledge, beliefs and concerns; 2) program-system factors such as availability of services and inter and intra-agency…

As children with emotional or behavioral problems often fail to receive the treatment available to them, this study examined (1) the degree of perceived need (PN) among Korean parents regarding mental health services for their children, (2) the factors associated with such perceptions, (3) the degree to which Korean parents actually engage mental…