Mental health challenges for youth continue to be a growing concern. Youth-serving organizations have the potential to play a significant role in recognizing the signs and symptoms of mental health challenges in youth. The Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training course is widely used to equip adults working with youth with skills to support…

Rural schools experience unique challenges, including teacher quality and teacher retention, limited resources, and availability of funding. Furthermore, access to professional development and, subsequently, implementation of evidence-based practices may also be limited in rural settings. One evidence-based framework for implementing…

Background/Context: In the early elementary grades, many students do not achieve literacy proficiency due to inadequate personalized literacy instruction (Taylor et al., 2010). Despite increasing evidence that differentiated instruction informed by assessments of students' reading abilities can improve learning more effectively than…

This study evaluated the use of the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) model as an intensive individualized behavior intervention. Three educators and three high school students with autism spectrum disorder participated in the study. A concurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to demonstrate the outcomes. The results indicated…

The purpose of the Dissertation in Practice was to explore the experiences and perceptions of a group of middle school teachers and administrators that were implementing a Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program. The setting for this case study was an urban, Title I middle school located in Florida. Interviews were conducted…

Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) is a teacher PD program that has been found to have a potentially positive impact on student learning in mathematics through randomized controlled trials. Through a series of grant-funded projects led by FSU, approximately 2,000 Florida teachers have participated in CGI-based professional development in the…

Project START (Students and Teachers Actively Reading Together) is an adaptive shared reading intervention designed to address the varied learning needs of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This report summarizes procedures and results of the developmental year of the project, which focused primarily on evaluating…

Project START (Students and Teachers Actively Reading Together) is an adaptive shared reading intervention designed to address the varied learning needs of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This report summarizes procedures and results of the developmental year of the project, which focused primarily on evaluating…

Three parents of preschool-aged children with Down syndrome using mobile augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies to communicate participated indirect, systematic communication-partner instruction. Intervention featured an adaptation of the ImPAACT Program (Improving Partner Applications of Augmentative Communication…

Students need proficient literacy skills if they are to be successful in school and in life. Students typically master foundational literacy skills in the primary grades, and their abilities continue to develop throughout middle and high school as they encounter increasingly difficult academic work. Unfortunately, a substantial percentage of…

Enny Elementary School (This is an actual school with a different name to protect the identity of all stakeholders. All data is real, and any names used are pseudonyms.) is in South Florida and operates under the auspices of The Palm Beach County School District. The school serves over seven hundred students with forty-three teachers and…

Community implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is greatly lacking. A recent randomized community-based trial of an EBP for ADHD (Supporting Teens' Autonomy Daily; STAND) demonstrated suboptimal implementation and effectiveness outcomes. In the present study, we conducted an…

The current study provides foundational research on the extent to which Florida Title 1 middle schools (schools including grades 7 and/or 8) have policies and practices that align with core components of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). Principals from 197 (42.73%) of all FL Title 1 schools that included at least grades seven…

The CPI Mid-Term Assessment provides insights from the first two years of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF)® Career Pathways Initiative (CPI). The authors derived insights from a comprehensive view of the experience of UNCF's Institute for Capacity Building (ICB) and the network of institutions implementing the program. To facilitate continuous…

This qualitative single case study explored how general education middle school teachers implement the three tiers of the Multi-Tiered Response to Intervention (MTSS/RTI) model while delivering differentiated core curriculum instruction. The conceptual framework included the differentiated strategies of Fleming and Mills' (1992) Visual, Aural,…