Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) encounter challenges in successfully navigating through the United States educational system. With state and federal laws adding to ELLs’ already lower educational outcomes than that of their English-only peers through a reduction of primary language supports and requirement of high stakes testing, consideration is warranted into the evidence-based interventions aimed to support and promote ELLs’ academic success. Within a tiered Response to Intervention (RTI) model, ELLs’ progress can be examined to determine when they demonstrate the need for additional targeted intervention or even referral for special education assessment. Understanding this progress begins by analyzing ELLs’ growth trajectories through progress monitoring of interventions in order to timely identify, through a data driven method, if lack of anticipated ELLs’ progress requires further examination. Results suggested ELLs in this study were able to make positive growth within the same time frame as their English only peers albeit with different patterns of growth for each group.

There is an abundance of research on chronic absenteeism as well as the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) approach, specifically the element of positive behavior intervention strategies (PBIS), at the elementary school level. A clear understanding of MTSS and PBIS at the high school level and how those approaches may impact chronic absenteeism of high school students is lacking in the recent research. The literature review provided the reader with an overview on PBIS and chronic absenteeism through the theoretical lens of Cooper’s (1982) Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) theory and explained the influence that PBIS has on chronic absenteeism at the elementary school level. The argument supporting utilizing successful policies already in place to address chronic absenteeism at the high school level is presented. This study identifies PBIS within the current research, as a means to understand how these promising practices may support improved attendance for the chronically absent high school student. The research suggests that positive behavior intervention strategies have tangentially decreased chronic absenteeism by reducing suspension rates at the elementary school level. This study sought to understand how effective, evidence-based positive behavior intervention strategies (PBIS), which have addressed and improved challenging student behavior schoolwide, can be repurposed to combat the causes associated with chronic absenteeism at the high school level. The causes associated with chronic absenteeism at the high school level fall into four categories termed school, family, environmental and personal. The objective of this quantitative program evaluation study was to evaluate the PBIS interventions that a local, small public high school used for targeted chronically absent high school students to see if their chronically absenteeism rate decreases. This study hypothesizes that the PBIS approach to behavior intervention can successfully transfer to decrease chronic absenteeism at the high school level. Additionally, this study discusses the extent to which results may be generalized to high school students across school districts. The results of this research study affirm the research questions that PBIS strategies can be repurposed to address chronic absenteeism at the high school level and having an effective attendance intervention program can improve attendance rates between and within attendance tiers in high school students, resulting in reduced chronic absenteeism. The most effective tier in improving attendance rates and reducing chronic absenteeism was both Tier 3 and Tier 4, with each tier resulting in 50% of participants increasing their attendance rates and reducing chronic absenteeism.