This commentary for the special issue on integrity measurement in school mental health research advocates that pragmatism is centralized in implementation and fidelity efforts for evidence-based behavioral interventions (EBIs). Specific recommendations include focusing on augmenting existing practices and core element interventions; developing…

The authors present two sets of replication studies and aim to confirm, refute, and expand prior work.

Special education teachers have one of the most challenging and stressful jobs in public education, which often leads to increased burnout. High levels of burnout have, in turn, been related to lower levels of fidelity of implementation in delivery of evidence-based behavior interventions. The purpose of this position paper is to (a) propose…

The articles in this special issue discuss efforts to improve academic reading outcomes for students and ways to achieve high implementation fidelity of promising strategies. At times the authors discuss if--and how--strong fidelity is associated with strong outcomes and potentially even impacts (the difference between program and control group…

George Sugai is the Carole J. Neag Endowed Chair in Behavior Disorders in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. He previously served on the faculty at the University of Oregon and the University of Kentucky. At Connecticut, Dr. Sugai and colleagues established the Center for Behavioral Educational and Research…

This paper is a reaction to Marsiglia and Booths' paper, "Cultural Adaptation of Interventions in Real Practice Settings." In their paper, Marsiglia and Booth present the difficulty of implementing and replicating evidence-supported treatments, such as randomized clinical trials, among culturally diverse clients. Practitioners working in…

The articles presented in this special issue both advance what is currently known about treatment implementation in research and practice and illuminate what remains unknown. This article provides a commentary selectively linking current findings to prior research to make arguments regarding those facts that are well established and the gaps in…

This commentary is in response to the article "Effects of Verbal and Written Performance Feedback on Treatment Adherence" (Kaufman, Codding, Markus, Tryon, & Kyse, this issue). The overall recommendation to those who study treatment integrity using performance feedback methods is to incorporate theories and research on social…

In this commentary, the issue of fidelity assessment is addressed as it relates to Strain and Bovey's article (2011). Four reasons are provided for measuring fidelity in intervention studies. Measuring fidelity (a) potentially allows investigators to document the findings were not due to the lack of fidelity in a study; (b) presents information…

Professional confusion, as well as case law confusion, exists concerning the fidelity and integrity of response to intervention (RTI) as a defensible procedure for identifying children as having a specific learning disability (SLD) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Division is generated because of conflicting mandates…

The articles in this Special Topic issue present a range of assessment models and challenges for improving the identification and early intervention of students in need of additional supports. Although each article targets a unique aspect of student learning (learning behaviors, math skills, reading comprehension, behavioral functioning, and…

In this webinar, Dr. Hilda Borko, professor, Stanford University Graduate School of Education, presented examples of promising models of professional development, including the Problem-Solving Cycle, Learning and Teaching Geometry, and the use of videos as tools for teacher learning. This Q&A addressed the questions participants had for Dr.…

This reaction article highlights areas of agreement and disagreement with the study conducted by Hughes, Rycus, Saunders-Adams, Hughes, and Hughes on the current state of research and practice in differential response (DR). Overall, we agree with several of the arguments put forth by Hughes et al. regarding the limitations of DR research and the…

This article is a response to "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS): A Tool for Evaluating Student Learning?" by Kamii and Manning (2005). The intent of their study was to evaluate how DIBELS and a writing test predict reading achievement, which was measured by scores on the Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT) as well…

This invited commentary includes observations about the article "Building Local Capacity for Training and Coaching Data-Based Problem Solving with Positive Behavior Interventions and Support Teams," published in the July 2011 issue of the "Journal of Applied School Psychology." In this article Newton and colleagues present an interesting field…