Developmentally and culturally appropriate program behavior policies that are clearly communicated and implemented successfully can prevent exclusion and positively impact teachers, children, and families. However, it is unclear if policies are high quality or designed to equitably support positive behavior. We examined behavior policies from 41…

Paraprofessionals are increasingly being hired to support students with special needs in schools and are key implementers of behavior interventions for students. However, research is limited on how paraprofessionals perceive the management of student behavior. Using a mixed-methods design approach, the current investigation assesses…

Paraprofessionals are increasingly being hired to support students with special needs in schools and are key implementers of behavior interventions for students. However, research is limited on how paraprofessionals perceive the management of student behavior. Using a mixed-methods design approach, the current investigation assesses…

There have been an increasing number of incidents in which school resource officers (SRO) have been used to manage student disciplinary issues with disastrous results. Court cases brought by parents and advocacy groups claim SROs have traumatized and injured students. This article addresses several critical issues concerning SROs being used to…

Background: Research indicates the value of active support in achieving good outcomes across a number of quality of life domains for people with intellectual disabilities. However, implementation is not easy, and little research has explored why. We aimed to identify some of the factors that impact on implementation of active support in supported…

Background: Court-involved students, such as those in foster care and the juvenile justice system, generally experience high incidences of both acute and chronic trauma, adversely impacting their educational well-being and overall academic trajectory. Utilizing perceptions of teachers and other school staff, this study explores the challenges and…

This study evaluated the effects of manualized training in "Basic" functional behavioral assessment (FBA) for typical school professionals on the ability of these professionals to complete technically adequate FBAs. Twelve school professionals participated in four 1-hr training sessions using the Basic FBA training handbook. After…

The Virginia Board of Education's "Student Conduct Policy Guidelines" were first developed in 1994 in response to action by the 1993 General Assembly requiring the Virginia Board of Education to establish such guidelines. In 2004, the "Guidelines" underwent a major revision in response to requirements of § 22.1-279.6. of the…

The "Blueprint for Training and Practice III" (Blueprint III; Ysseldyke et al., 2006), attempts to pinpoint the vision for the field of school psychology through highlighting school psychologists' role as consultants engaged in activities ranging from individual to systems-level change. Although the literature is replete with calls to restructure…

The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the perceptions of participants regarding their effectiveness in responding to defiant student violence as a crisis response team, following crisis response team training. The participants were a group of 10 volunteer PK-6 public school educators from western Wisconsin. The study took place during the…

This article examined the efficacy of a primary-level, standard-protocol behavior intervention for students with externalizing behavioral disorders. Elementary schools were randomly assigned to treatment (behavior intervention) or control (business as usual) conditions, and K-3 students were screened for externalizing behavior risk status. The…

Positive behavior interventions and Supports (PBIS) programs are being introduced in school districts throughout Illinois and the rest of the United States, resulting in decreased behavioral incidents and increased academic achievement. Programs for students who are deaf or hard of hearing benefit from implementation of this type of…

This study investigated the use of organizational learning community principles to effectively manage organizational change. Target is a pseudonym for a small public school in Southern New Jersey that has provided educational services to students with special needs since 1969. In 2004 Target began providing services to a new population of students…

One approach to student behavior that may be particularly useful in exclusionary settings is school-wide positive behavior supports (PBS). Increasingly, evidence shows that PBS is an effective approach to student behavior in regular public schools (Sugai & Horner, 2005). While the data on behavioral systems in exclusionary schools are…

The purpose of this pilot study was to review the effects of professional staff training in crisis management and de-escalation techniques on the use of seclusion timeout and restraint procedures with at-risk students in a K-12 special day school. An exploratory pre-post study was conducted over a two-year period, comparing the use of these…