There is an urgent need to aid in what will be an ongoing educational recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. One avenue for supporting students with and at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (e.g., internalizing and externalizing behaviors) is implementation of tiered systems, which emphasize evidence-based practices to prevent…

Despite the high prevalence of and documented impairment associated with pediatric anxiety disorders, less than half of youth access mental health services. This study examined (a) the utilization of eight school services and supports (e.g., seen a school counselor for a mental health reason, placement in a special class for a behavior or…

Community-based systems of care (SOC) provide a range of services to students with significant emotional and behavioral difficulties and their families. However, little is known about the educational characteristics and functioning of students at enrollment in SOC. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous research by…

The purpose of this paper is to share descriptive data about Office Discipline Referrals (ODRs) in a sample of 112 high schools that used the School-wide Information System (SWIS) database to collect discipline data during the 2005-2006 academic year. The findings were that tardies, defiance/disrespect and skip/truancy were the most common types…

This study reports findings from a validation study of the Student Risk Screening Scale for use with 9th- through 12th-grade students (N = 1854) attending a rural fringe school. Results indicated high internal consistency, test-retest stability, and inter-rater reliability. Predictive validity was established across two academic years, with Spring…

States and jurisdictions are under increased pressure to demonstrate the use of evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for children's mental health, increasing the demand for a workforce trained in these practices. Universities are a critical pipeline for this workforce. This article describes the genesis and evolution of a university-based initiative…

The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of mental health disorders in children living in residential care and their use of therapeutic services, including the relationship between these factors and social-family and intervention process variables, as well as the relationship among the disorders identified by professionals and the…

Research has widely documented the over-representation of office disciplinary referrals (ODRs) among specific student groups (e.g., African American, boys). Despite extant research documenting individual-level predictors of ODRs, few studies have accounted for the nested structure of the settings in which these events occur. Guided by critical…

Early identification of behavioral and emotional risk has been identified as one strategy to help decrease rates of childhood behavioral and emotional problems. This study compares two methods for early identification (teacher nomination and universal screening) to determine how each strategy may differentially identify at-risk students. A sample…

Few studies have examined the longitudinal impact that systems of care (SOCs) have on the clinical functioning of young people. This study investigated patterns of clinical improvement over time in an SOC and explored the degree to which demographic characteristics and referral source affected those patterns. Data were gathered at the time of…

Behavioral and emotional strengths are important to consider when understanding youth mental health and treatment. This study examined the association between youth strengths and functional impairment and whether this association is modified by race/ethnicity. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to estimate the effects of strengths on…

In this analogue investigation, 215 practicing Pennsylvania school psychologists reviewed hypothetical referral forms and related data (vignettes). Vignettes represented children who met eligibility criteria for special education as well as children who did not. Participants were most likely to recommend, as eligible due to emotional disturbance,…

A study involving 11 elementary and 9 middle schools illustrates how office discipline referrals can be used to indicate the status of school-wide discipline, and how schools can use the information to modify their universal interventions for all students and their targeted interventions for students with severe behavior problems. (Contains…

This prospective study found that self-reported attitudes toward peer aggression among 403 middle school students were both internally consistent and stable over time (7 months). Aggressive attitudes were correlated with four outcome criteria for aggressive behavior: student self-report of peer aggression; peer and teacher nominations of bullying;…

A study explored the characteristic similarities and differences of 696 children with serious emotional disturbances being served in community-similar urban systems of care as a function of their referral source. Results found the children did not share uniform sociodemographic and psychosocial profiles as a function of the referral agency.…