This session will present an empirical review of the SWPBS research. A discussion will be held concerning the issues about the effect on students with EBD.

No description available.

School-wide screening can be used to effectively identify students within schools struggling with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD), so that school teams can implement instructional strategies and interventions to provide early and timely supports for all students. While research has explored many aspects of screening within schools, the extant research lacks studies reviewing screening data interpretation process. This research study was designed to investigate how school teams could use a discussion guide to facilitate using their screening data. This involved having school leadership teams answer a series of guiding questions about data from the Student Risk Screening Scale -- Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE). The SRSS-IE Discussion Guide was presented to teams to use as they reviewed their data and then explored the usefulness of the discussion guide in practical settings. This qualitative study sought to understand feedback from seven teams who used the Discussion Guide during their data interpretation meetings, inviting participants to share what they found helpful and what was not helpful as well as what they might add to the Discussion Guide. Content analysis was used to understand qualitative data gained through focus groups. The results yield a variety of praise for the Discussion Guide, valuing its ability to guide teams through the data analysis process and focusing team discussions. Data from the focus group participants included changing the Discussion Guide to include ideas for strategies and supports that matched student needs, encouraging several meetings to review data and use the discussion guide, and adding charts for further student information organization and exploration in regard to higher risk students.

Level systems provide systematic support for teachers and students who need additional behavior support. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perspectives of faculty members from a self-contained school, for special education students with severe behavior needs, which has sustained the use of a school-wide, behavior management level system for nearly 30 years. A total of 11 faculty members were interviewed using the critical incident technique, a qualitative methodology used as an exploratory tool in early stages of research. Interviews detailed the observable behaviors and specific events, critical incidents, that helped or hindered the sustainability of their school's level system. Faculty identified eight helping categories, six hindering categories, and six "wish list" categories, items participants wished had happened or could happen in the future. Helping categories included building rapport and teaming; collecting, recording and using data; communicating and collaborating; schoolwide consistency; relationships and student feedback; student engagement and buy-in; faculty buy-in and adaptability. Hindering categories included scoring and accountability inconsistencies; philosophical differences; insufficient staff training and experience; multifaceted system requiring nuanced decision making; staff mental health concerns; and community factors and external pressures. The findings of this study illustrate the importance of varied communication portals to support sustainability.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate two research questions concerning: (a) the relationship between the percentage of students within a high school who participated in the Advanced Placement program and the school-wide student achievement of a high school and (b) the relationship between the percentage of students within a high school who successfully performed in the Advanced Placement program and the school-wide student achievement of the high school. It was determined in this study that there was a statistically significant relationship between Advanced Placement (AP) student participation and school-wide student achievement and there was a statistically significant relationship between AP student performance and school-wide student achievement in public high schools in the state of Florida in the 2007-2008 school year. Additionally, information was provided for policymakers and practitioners regarding the impact of Advanced Placement on school-wide achievement and the impact on students outside the AP program. While AP participation and AP performance correlated with school-wide achievement, when the population and data were disaggregated into the most affluent, middle-income, and poorest schools, the results changed. For the poorest schools, there was no relationship between AP participation and school-wide student achievement. In the middle income and most affluent schools, however, there was a statistically significant relationship between AP participation and school-wide student achievement. Additional confirmation that Advanced Placement, as part of the overall curriculum, had a significant impact on school-wide student achievement was provided. Further research is necessary to understand the implications of the AP program on schools of various socioeconomic levels.

School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) is a plan based on broad assessments of schools and their climate that can be implemented to create classrooms and schools that are focused on community and positive behavior (Horner, Sugai, Todd, & Lewis-Palmer, 2005). SWPBS involves creating and explicitly stating expectations, teaching those expectations, encouraging appropriate behavior, and defining ways to handle inappropriate behavior. Current tools that are suggested for use in conducting an assessment of school climate are: the Best Behavior School Discipline Assessment (BBSDA) also known as the Best Behavior Self-Assessment Survey (BBSAS), the School-Wide Evaluation Tool (SET), the Oregon School Safety Survey, and the Effective Behavior Support Self-Assessment (EBS Self Assessment) (Horner, et al., 2005; Sprague & Walker, 2005). All of these indicators and evaluation tools are helpful in planning SWPBS programs as well as assessing the integrity of implementation and changes in behavior patterns; however, they gather limited information from students. Collecting and examining student attitudes and perceptions about their school and safety is an important aspect of the evaluation process. The current study examined information from student surveys concerning the behavioral expectations at school as well as places in the school they felt safe and unsafe. Information gathered from these surveys was used to create an intervention that targeted a specific area identified as being the least safe and most unsafe, the bathroom, in the school to improve students' sense of safety. Based on the results of student survey information, an intervention was designed and implemented for six weeks. Compared to pre-intervention surveys, the treatment group reported feeling safer in the bathroom after the implementation of the intervention as compared to the control group, which reported no change.

The purpose of the current study is to examine the effects of the Caught Being Good Game (CBGG) on students’ classroom behaviors. The CBGG is a positive variation of the Good Behavior Game, which has been identified as an evidenced-based intervention designed for managing classroom behavior across students, behaviors, and settings. In the current study, the effectiveness of the CBGG intervention was examined within 2 high school special education classrooms located at two school districts in rural southeastern United States. Using a multiple baseline design, the data were analyzed using visual inspection and calculation of non-overlapping data. Results revealed that the percentage of intervals in which on-task behavior occurred increased during the implementation of the CBGG game, while the students’ level of off-task behavior decreased. Acceptability of the intervention of both teachers was favorable. Given the results, the implications of this classroom management tool are positive. Future directions are discussed and the literature base regarding the CBGG was expanded.

No description available.

This study assessed the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) model to determine its impact on problem and replacement behaviors of three children who are typically developing with behavioral challenges in a high-need elementary school setting. Specifically, this study evaluated the use of the PTR model as an intensive individualized Tier 3 intervention within a multi-tiered intervention system. In addition, the study examined the validity and usability of the Individualized Behavior Rating Scale Tool (IBRST), which was developed as a feasible daily progress monitoring tool in conjunction with the PTR model. Social validity and fidelity of intervention implementation were also assessed. A multiple baseline across participants was employed to evaluate the impact of implementation of the model on the children's behaviors. The results of the study indicated that the PTR model was effective in reducing problem behaviors and increasing the use of replacement behaviors for all three participants. In addition, the IBRST completed by the teachers was found to have a substantial correlation to data collected during direct observations.