In this brief, we outline the five components of the ISLA model, as well as steps that school and district teams can take to begin implementing these practices within their positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) framework. Key Takeaways: (1) The ISLA model was created to support teachers, staff, and students by focusing on…

Disruptive student behavior is a common stressor for elementary school teachers and can significantly detract from instruction time (Greenberg et al. 2016; Robb et al. 2011). Although classroom management strategies and targeted interventions (e.g., daily report card) are effective in preventing and reducing disruptive behavior (Epstein et al.…

Decades of research have shown that exclusionary discipline practices are not only ineffective for changing student behavior, they lead to worse social, behavioral, and academic outcomes for students. This article explores the findings from a pilot study of the "Inclusive Skill-Building Learning Approach" (ISLA), an instructional…

The educational services available for fully included middle schoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the general education setting are not well known. Even less is known about how the executive functioning (EF) deficits of such youth are addressed in the classroom. The current study sought to identify the challenges, including EF, that…

This is the first systematic review of the school outcome literature for behavior interventions used with middle school students exhibiting disruptive behaviors. A total of 51 investigations (published between 2000 and 2020) including 6,498 students and 264 implementers were coded on four dimensions (i.e., sample, interventions, methodology, and…

For preschool-aged children at-risk for literacy difficulties, we examined whether classroom and home environments were jointly associated with literacy skill gains and whether environments moderated response to intervention (n = 281). We first used a person-centered approach to characterize children's classroom and home environments, identifying…

Establishing a positive peer climate in the elementary school classroom is an important goal for educators. This pilot study examined if children's liking and disliking of their classroom peers is predicted by teachers' use of practices designed to address child disruptive behaviors that are off-putting to peers, and practices designed to enhance…

Middle school is a cornerstone for success in high school. However, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement of adolescents often decline as they transition from elementary to middle school, resulting in lower school grades and more challenging behaviors, especially for adolescents with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders…

Though many educators are familiar with a suggested 3:1 or 4:1 praise-to-reprimand ratio (PRR), relatively little research has been conducted on this subject. Three years of data collected across three states in the United States, from 19 elementary schools and 151 classrooms, during a multi-site efficacy trial were used to analyse the effect of…

Measures that can be used to identify malleable, dynamic indicators of teacher practices that lead to or are associated with student outcomes are needed to inform classroom interventions and consultation practices with teachers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and validate the Brief Student-Teacher Classroom Interaction Observation in…

This group randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the efficacy of Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program (IY TCM) on student social behavioral and academic outcomes among a large diverse sample of students within an urban context. Participants included 105 teachers and 1817 students in kindergarten to third grade. Three-level…

Classroom management practices are critical to the success of teachers and students, and a growing number of programs have been developed to improve these practices. However, there has been less investigation into observational tools to assess classroom management and explore whether it can be measured consistently by observers across elementary,…

This cluster randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of the CHAMPS classroom management program on the social behavioral and academic outcomes of a large diverse sample of middle school students within an urban context. Participants included 102 teachers and 1,450 students in sixth to eighth grade. Two-level hierarchical linear models…

Research Findings: This study examined the relation between classroom behavioral composition and teacher-child interactions in preschool classrooms and the potential for teachers' experience, education level, and area of study to buffer against the challenges of teaching in classrooms with high levels of disruptive behaviors. Classroom behavioral…

Literature suggests that improving teacher use of culturally responsive classroom management strategies may reduce the disproportionate number of racial and ethnic minority students who receive exclusionary discipline actions and are identified as needing special education, particularly for emotional and behavioral disorders. Coaching teachers is…