Despite over 50 years of research and discussion concerning school-based interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), a discernible consensus regarding the core elements of intervention for this student population remains elusive. This discordance is seen by many as an obstacle to the proper design, dissemination, and…

Special education professionals and teachers of students with autism face many behavioral and instructional challenges. In addition to teaching content to a demanding population, teachers are often faced with particular circumscribed and special interests that often take up time and divert attention from the students. It is an educators job to…

The purpose of this study was to determine how the needs of students with disabilities are addressed by state coordinators of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) during professional development activities on positive behavioral strategies, school-wide systems, and school-wide commitment to the PBIS approach.…

The practices of school-wide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) are dependent on teachers to implement them in their classrooms; thus, gaining the "buy-in" and support of teachers is a critical step in reaching full, building-wide implementation. One step toward achieving this support may be to gain a better understanding of the…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) have academic, behavioral, and social characteristics that present unique needs within schools. Educators across the country are responding to the academic, behavioral, and social needs of all students, including students with E/BD, by implementing a continuum of supports across a…

The purpose of this study is to explore the journey of one large urban inner-city school district with a high population of Hispanics in South Texas as it worked to implement Positive Behavior Intervention and Support into primary (elementary) schools. We questioned, "How does a large urban inner-city school district serving a majority of…

It is well documented that youth with or at-risk for emotional and behavioraldisorders (E/BD) have severe deficits in their academic functioning. To beginto address these deficits, we focus on the need to close the opportunity gap by providing access to multi-tiered systems of academic prevention, maximizing academic learning time, and providing…

School discipline has been a subject of national attention both inside and outside the field of education for years. Efforts to improve how schools and communities work together to address student discipline have shown the potential for creative and effective solutions that provide better outcomes for all--students, families, educators, and…

The quantitative study seeks to analyze if School-wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (SWPBIS) model reduces the likelihood that minority students will receive more individualized supports due to behavior problems. In theory, the SWPBIS model should reflect a 3-tier system with tier 1 representing approximately 80%, tier 2 representing…

We review the concept of response to intervention (RtI) as it is being applied to emotional and behavioral disorders (EDB) in the early part of the 21st century, examining how it differs from and incorporates features of other approaches to addressing those problems, including pre-referral interventions, applied behavior analysis, functional…

This paper presents a description of ongoing work of an Alberta school district that is working to support and enhance effective inclusive practices that reach and teach every student. The district is implementing a Pyramid of Supports model that is built upon four critical elements: a belief in social justice and the value of every child, a…

Students who display the most challenging behaviors are more likely to be excluded from the general education learning environment and placed in more restrictive environments such as residential or juvenile justice (JJ) settings. Historically, the approaches used to address the needs of these students have been rooted in reactionary and punitive…

Schools are changing rapidly, and the pressure is on to find ways to effectively support the growing diversity of student needs found in general education classrooms. Urban high schools, which serve students of diverse backgrounds, are in dire need of proactive approaches to discipline that will support student behavior rather than remove them…

Reactive and exclusionary approaches to discipline are common in secondary schools but do not improve behavior or ensure safety. In this article, the author highlights two promising models that schools can combine to improve climate and discipline for all students. The combined models of PBS (positive behavior support) and RTI (response to…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and No Child Left Behind emphasize the use of scientifically based research to improve outcomes for students. From this emphasis, response-to-intervention has evolved. We present one perspective on the defining features of response-to-intervention and application of those features to school-wide…