Studies have been conducted for decades on the impact that restorative practices can have on student discipline systems in an educational context, along with the challenges of implementation (Dhaliwal et al, 2023; Marsh, 2017; Blood, 2005; Wearmouth et al, 2007; Drewery, 2016; Jones, 2021, Guckenburg et al, 2015). However, these studies have not…

For social and emotional learning (SEL) initiatives to have the greatest positive impact on students, they must be implemented schoolwide. There is an urgent need for schools to shift away from traditional SEL frameworks toward transformative SEL (TSEL). TSEL program implementation cannot be done in isolation; rather, it must be fueled by a shared…

A wealth of evidence shows that exposure to the natural environment and nature-based learning can benefit children's physical, mental, social, and emotional health. Despite this, children are spending less time in nature and nature-based learning remains an underutilised pedagogical tool. Several barriers are frequently reported by teachers,…

The purpose of the Dissertation in Practice was to explore the experiences and perceptions of a group of middle school teachers and administrators that were implementing a Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program. The setting for this case study was an urban, Title I middle school located in Florida. Interviews were conducted…

Targeted Tier 2 interventions are critical to supporting students with challenging behavior and decreasing the resources associated with highly individualized and intense interventions. This study extends findings from recent single-case design studies and case example applications of the Tier 2 Identification and Intervention framework with the…

Black male community college students have the lowest retention and completion rates among any racial group (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2017). During this dissertation, I examined the root causes of Black male community college students' low graduation rates through a systematic literature review, and then identified mentoring…

Identifying factors that help or hinder the implementation of school environment interventions such as the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is needed to inform strategies that bolster implementation quality in low-income urban middle school settings. We used qualitative methods to identify supports and barriers for OBPP implementation…

Inappropriate behaviors often occur in non-classroom settings, such as lunchrooms, due to the increased volume of students with fewer supervising adults. As such, there is a need for effective and efficient behavior management interventions that can be implemented in these environments. To address frequent disruptions in an urban elementary…

Mindfulness research is growing as educators and practitioners place emphasis on social emotional learning (SEL). Evidence supports mindfulness benefits are both physical and mental to include lowering blood pressure, decreased anxiety, increased executive functioning, and increased ability to pay attention. While the benefits of mindfulness…

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a prevention-oriented multitiered system of support. In this article, we discuss how PBIS implementation might be different for schools in rural settings. We used two subsamples of an extant data set of 11,561 schools in 44 U.S. states reporting on PBIS implementation fidelity during the…

The restorative justice process utilizes various intervention strategies created by indigenous tribes throughout the world, as an alternative to procedural justice (Zehr, 2002). In modern education, restorative justice was incorporated into the public-school system, where it has evolved into a preemptive measure to combat punitive discipline…

Exclusionary school discipline practices and policies have contributed to the racial disparities in discipline for certain demographic of students, particularly Black students. As a result, many schools have adopted the school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) framework to identify and address disproportionality, despite…

Teaching youth how to self-regulate is a focus of a trauma-informed school approach. Peace Spaces, including Peace Corners and Peace Rooms, are a trauma-informed intervention used to teach self-regulation skills to students. The current study used a Consensual Qualitative Research design to identify and describe the thoughts, concerns, and…

Building on prior work regarding the potential for peer contagion or deviance training in group delivered interventions (Dishion & Dodge, 2005, 2006; Dodge, Dishion, & Lansford, 2006), we leveraged data from a randomized trial, testing the integration of two preventive interventions (PATHS and PAX Good Behavior Game; GBG), to explore the…

School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) relies on effective implementation of Tier 1 practices to ensure accurate identification of students in need of more intensive supports at Tier 2 or Tier 3. While measures of school-level fidelity are widely used, measures of classroom-level implementation of Tier 1 supports are…