In this study we examine the impact of the Behavior Education Program (BEP; Hawken, MacLeod, & Rawlings, 2007) with four middle school students who were not responsive to a comprehensive primary prevention program including academic, behavioral and social components. To extend this line of inquiry we (a) conducted a functional behavioral…

Given documented racial/ethnic disproportionality in disciplinary referrals and strong recommendations to base provision of secondary level supports on data, we explored whether students from various racial/ethnic groups have equitable access to secondary supports. We disaggregated discipline data from 155 elementary and 46 middle schools by…

This study examined the probability of (a) being placed in a disciplinary alternative education setting for mandatory versus discretionary reasons and (b) returning within the same year among an ethnically diverse sample (African American, Caucasian, Hispanic) of middle and high school students (N=270). Participants were compared based on…

The authors used an ABCBC design to compare the effects of a single-student response strategy and unison handraising strategy on a teacher and two middle school students (a targeted student and typical achieving student) during a 7th grade health science class. During baseline the teacher had high rates of redirections and low rates of praise…

Middle school students classified with Emotional Disturbance in two levels of least restrictive environments (LRE)--self-contained classes (SCC) and a self-contained school (SCS)--were compared at the beginning and the end of a school year, using demographics, IQ and achievement testing, a teacher checklist for DSM-IV psychopathology, and standard…

A multiple baseline design across teachers was used to evaluate the effects of a systematic, response-to-intervention (RTI) approach on rates of desired teacher behavior. Specifically, teachers whose rates of specific, contingent praise were nonresponsive to typical schoolwide positive behavior support training (primary intervention tier) were…

As more schools turn to positive behavior interventions and support (PBIS) to address students' academic and behavioral problems, there is an increased need to adequately evaluate these programs for social relevance. The present study used social validation measures to evaluate a statewide PBIS initiative. Active consumers of the program were…

Outcomes for students in special education continue to be disappointing and those having emotional disturbances (ED) continue to lag behind the other disability groups. In this study, school reform activities and the effects on students who are educated in special education programs for students who have ED were examined. Demographically similar…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) experience deficits in social, behavioral, and academic areas. Of great importance in the academic area is reading achievement. Students with E/BD who struggle with reading tend to have negative in-school and post-school outcomes. Due to the severity of potential outcomes, it is essential to…

Research indicates that student achievement improves when teachers provide opportunities for active engagement. Guided notes have been suggested as a way to increase active student responding during teacher-directed lectures. The purpose of this review was to summarize research on the effectiveness of guided notes. Specifically, we sought to…

The majority of research on the efficacy of ClassWide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) is based on research with urban elementary students (Rohrbeck, Ginsberg-Block, Fantuzzo, & Miller, 2003), with much less research in middle schools. This study investigated CWPT with 975 middle school students in 52 classrooms, grades 6 through 8, over a three-year period.…

A single subject alternating treatment design was used to compare the relative effectiveness of one-to-one embedded instruction in the general education classroom and one-to-one massed practice instruction in a special education class. Four middle school students with developmental disabilities, their special education teacher, and…

The role of peer acceptance, number of mutual friends, and friendship quality in predicting adjustment across the transition from elementary to middle school was examined. Participants were 146 students (68 boys, 78 girls) who participated in the Time 1 (spring of fifth grade) and Time 2 (fall of sixth grade) assessments. Peer acceptance and…

Three-tiered models have been embraced by many schools to prevent and respond to antisocial behavior. However, many of these three-tiered models are incomplete or underdeveloped. Specifically, little attention has been devoted to studying how to (a) systematically identify students who require more focused secondary interventions and (b) build…

This study used self-monitoring, coupled with a student/teacher matching strategy, to improve the classroom social skills of five inner-city middle school students, who were at risk for school failure. Using a multiple-probe across students and settings (class periods) design, we evaluated intervention effects in up to six different settings.…