The purpose of the study was to further examine the potential efficacy of the Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior Support (BP-PBS) program in addressing bullying in an urban public elementary school with a large and diverse student population, implementing school-wide positive behavior support with relatively low fidelity. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which BP-PBS could decrease target students’ bullying behavior across settings and increase appropriate active response to bullying of students being bullied. Changes in the students’ perceptions and attitudes on school safety were also examined. This study involved a multiple probe design across participants targeting multiple settings for six students (three bullies and three victims) to assess the impact of the BP-PBS intervention and to examine its generalization effects to a non-targeted setting. The results indicated that the BP-PBS intervention was effective in reducing the target students’ bullying maintained by peer and adult attention and increasing active response to bullying. The intervention also increased positive perceptions and attitudes on school safety in students being bullied and the bullies. Changes in student bullying and appropriate and inappropriate responses to bullying were generalized to non-training settings and remained at intervention levels for all participants. Social validity surveys indicated high acceptability of the BP-PBS intervention by teachers.

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Clinical Questions: What top-down and bottom-up interventions across the psychology, audiology, educational, and speech language pathology domains are most effective for children and adolescents with Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)? What considerations for planning research and intervention might be offered to a classroom teacher to further support students diagnosed with CAPD, especially in relation to the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), formerly known as Response to Intervention (RTI)? Method: Inter-Disciplinary Literature Review Study Sources: PsycInfo, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, ProQuest, International Journal of Audiology, American-Speech-Language Hearing Association, Journal of Neurotherapy, Medline-Esbcohost, ERIC Ebscohost, Professional Development Collection Education, and What Works Clearinghouse Number of Included Studies: 16 Age Range: 2-13 years Primary Results: 1) Phonological awareness training was the primary reading educational construct found among the included interventions in this literature review. 2) Most CAPD studies employed a combination of both bottom-up and top-down treatments in intervention. This finding may possibly indicate that in order for a CAPD intervention to be even more beneficial to the student, both bottom-up and top-down treatments should be considered and incorporated in relation to the student's individualized needs. Conclusions: Results confirmed very little research and few intervention implications on CAPD students within the educational research discipline, including special education. Search results primarily included methods to improve listening in the classroom environment, but did not specifically mention intervention in relation to CAPD and its implications. Results also confirmed that a multi-disciplinary effort is needed to provide clinical decision and effective intervention for the CAPD population.

Universal school-wide social-emotional screeners identify at-risk students with social-emotional behavior problems (Romer et al., 2020). Identifying such students alone cannot prevent these social, emotional, and behavioral concerns from becoming problematic. However, data gathered from social-emotional screening can guide the development of strategies, supports, interventions, and progress monitoring students at risk across all tiers (Yates et al., 2008), leading to the prevention of social-emotional and behavioral problems from turning maladaptive (Humphrey & Wigelsworth, 2016; Walker et al., 2004). A school district in the Mountain West area of the United States developed a screening survey that addresses school climate, culture, and connectedness to administer to their student body. Their survey aims to identify students' needs in the following character social-emotional learning (SEL) skills that contribute to student well-being: self-awareness, compassion, resilience, and respect. Their screening survey can potentially identify the general student body's social-emotional behavioral needs. The data gathered may be used to create tiered supports that address students' needs. In this study, we conducted two focus groups that provided a forum for school psychologists in this Mountain West school district who work in an elementary school to discuss what tiered supports may be appropriate to implement in response to needs identified by the survey. The discussion also included professional development topics the participants perceived necessary for school teams responding to the survey data. The findings from this study contribute to the existing literature by recognizing that school psychologists may understand implementation science and can help lay the needed groundwork before implementing social-emotional screeners so that the process can be more efficient and effective. The findings emphasize the understanding that from the perspective of school psychologists, social-emotional learning should be applied universally and collaboratively at school and at home. School teams need to allocate time to teach social-emotional learning at school. The findings also suggest that school psychologists can determine appropriate interventions if screening data suggest a weakness in social-emotional and behavioral areas and that data collected from the screener can be used to guide topics for professional development.

Tiered intervention models have evolved in the last two decades as growing research emphasizes shifting from single-focused tiered systems such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) and Response to Intervention (RtI) to the integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework. In 2015, federal leaders included the general term multi-tiered systems of support in the reauthorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act. However, little is known about how states interpreted this inclusion into their plans or selected the integrated MTSS framework as a highly effective practice. The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive case study was to conduct a comprehensive review of all 52 state departments of education's ESSA Consolidated State Plans to determine the level of inclusion of MTSS in state policy. Specifically, the study identified the inclusion of MTSS as an evidence-based intervention that state educational agencies use to support school divisions in implementing to improve school conditions for learning, improve educators' skills, and provide effective transitions for students. The study examined the degree to which state leaders included technical assistance in implementing MTSS for schools identified for comprehensive or targeted support and improvement. Data collection consisted of downloading approved ESSA plans from state departments of education websites and reviewing each plan using an identical process. Data were categorized and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The analysis found inconsistency and variability in the tiered systems states selected to include in their state ESSA plan. Most states have not fully shifted from using single-focus tiered systems to the integrated MTSS framework. / Doctor of Education / Tiered intervention models have evolved in the last two decades as growing research emphasizes shifting from tiered systems focused on behavior or academics to an integrated framework called Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). In 2015, federal leaders included the general term multi-tiered systems of support in the reauthorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act. However, little is known about how states interpreted this inclusion into their plans or included the integrated MTSS framework as an effective practice supported by state leaders. The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive case study was to conduct a comprehensive review of all 52 state departments of education's ESSA Consolidated State Plans to determine the level of inclusion of MTSS in state policy. Specifically, the study identified the inclusion of MTSS as an effective practice that state educational agencies use to support divisions in implementing to improve school conditions for learning, improve educators' skills, and provide effective transitions for students. The study examined the degree to which state leaders included targeted support in implementing MTSS for consistently underperforming schools as defined by the state. Data collection consisted of downloading approved ESSA plans from state departments of education websites and reviewing each plan using an identical process. Data were categorized and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The analysis found inconsistency and variability in the tiered systems states selected to include in their state ESSA plan. Most states have not fully shifted from using single-focus tiered systems to the integrated MTSS framework.

A multi-tiered system of supports offers a comprehensive model for the prevention of academic and behavior problems in schools. To date, research has emphasized the impact of universal and intensive interventions. However, the need for research on secondary or targeted group interventions (Tier 2) for those students who do not respond to the universal level of support is growing. This study evaluated CICO, a Tier 2 intervention, in improving student behavior when it is used with three elementary students from a high-need population and in conjunction with student accountability tracking, designed to promote parental involvement. Functional assessments indicated that all three students had attention-maintained problem behavior during instruction sessions. The study employed a concurrent multiple baseline design across students to assess the effects of CICO and CICO with accountability tracking on academic engagement and problem behavior. Results indicated that the team members were able to implement CICO with fidelity and their implementation of the intervention was effective in increasing academic engagement and reducing problem behavior. The CICO with accountability tracking implementation with one student contributed to further improvement of his target behaviors. These effects were shown to be maintained moderately well for two students who underwent fading. Results are discussed in terms of the study limitations and implications for practice and future research.

An educational framework known as School Wide Positive Behavior Support being implemented in school systems across the country provides the schools with three tiers of support to address both academic and behavior challenges. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of peer tutors when applied to a Tier 2 intervention known as Check-In Check-Out (CICO). Peer tutors performed the morning check-in with the tutees by setting the expectations for the day and giving the tutees their Daily Progress Report (DPR) form. Throughout the day, the tutees took the DPR form to each class where they received a score from the teacher. At the end of the class period, the peer tutors provided the tutees with feedback on the scores received on the DPR form. Once the school day finished, the peer tutees checked-out with the tutors and received a reward if they met their percentage goal. The results of this study showed that CICO implemented by peers improved classroom behavior for all three participants.

abstract: ABSTRACT This mixed methods study examined how a high-poverty urban school district implemented four initiatives to support special education teachers and increase student achievement. The initiatives that were implemented consisted of direct instruction teaching methods, the use of a district-approved curriculum, monitoring program fidelity with walkthroughs, and increased professional development opportunities. Quantitatively, the study compared walkthrough data and student achievement scores. The walkthrough data was collected from 52 special education teachers employed at the 19 schools making up the district while teaching reading and math. Student achievement scores were collected from the students taught by the 52 special education teachers. The walkthrough data compared the percentage of students making academic growth on district assessments with the percentage of teachers implementing the district initiatives with a high level of fidelity. Data was collected and analyzed between the first and third quarters of the 2013–2014 school year. Qualitatively, six special education teachers were interviewed to examine their thoughts on the change process and to determine their needs to be successful as they continued to implement the district initiatives. The results of the quantitative data indicated that students demonstrated growth as walkthrough scores increased in 16 out of 19 schools, specifically in the area of math. Fidelity to the initiatives increased throughout the year as teachers began to use and implement the initiatives. The results of the qualitative data indicated that special education teachers positively responded to the support they received through the Special Services ii Department and the district’s initiatives. Using grounded theory, it was determined that teachers need opportunities for collaboration, feedback, and time to practice in order to be successful. Lastly, the epilogue discusses the next steps that are being taken by the district to support all students with their learning needs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Appendix G--Contains Qualitative and Quantitative Data Used in the Study / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Administration and Supervision 2015

Autonomous reconnaissance missions are called for in extreme environments, as well as in potentially hazardous (e.g., the theatre, disaster-stricken areas, etc.) or inaccessible operational areas (e.g., planetary surfaces, space). Such future missions will require increasing degrees of operational autonomy, especially when following up on transient events. Operational autonomy encompasses: (1) Automatic characterization of operational areas from different vantages (i.e., spaceborne, airborne, surface, subsurface); (2) automatic sensor deployment and data gathering; (3) automatic feature extraction including anomaly detection and region-of-interest identification; (4) automatic target prediction and prioritization; (5) and subsequent automatic (re-) deployment and navigation of robotic agents. This paper reports on progress towards several aspects of autonomous (CISR)-I-4 systems, including: Caltech-patented and NASA award-winning multi-tiered mission paradigm, robotic platform development (air, ground, water-based), robotic behavior motifs as the building blocks for autonomous telecommanding, and autonomous decision making based on a Caltech-patented framework comprising sensor-data-fusion (feature-vectors), anomaly detection (clustering and principal component analysis), and target prioritization (hypothetical probing).

No description available.