Background: Students with behavioral support needs are educated in elementary classrooms daily. However, teachers receive limited training to support students, resulting in limited preventative and intervention services for such students. It is currently unclear what types of training preservice and inservice teachers receive, their perceptions of…

Every 2 years, Education requires nearly all school districts to report incidents of restraint and seclusion. Generally, restraint is restricting a student's ability to move, and seclusion is confining them alone in a space they cannot leave. The House Committee on Appropriations' explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations…

The Department of Justice has a responsibility to ensure that all programs serving students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) abide by laws, as do state governments. This study took a close look at a Department of Justice's investigation of the appropriateness of a behavior intervention program (that is, the Georgia Network for…

The improper use of reported restraints has been associated with serious injury and death in both mental health and school settings. However, there is currently no federal legislation that regulates the use of reported restraints in the schools in contrast to health care facilities (e.g., Children's Health Act of 2000). As children with…

Attending to instruction is a critical behavior for academic success. Many elementary school teachers, however, identify disruptive and inattentive classroom behaviors as key barriers to students' successful educational performance. This study examined the impact of two class-wide positive behavior support programs. The Mystery Motivator and…

The present study is an initial investigation of the concurrent validity of a new assessment, the Classroom Strategies Scale (CSS version 2.0) for Elementary School--Observer Form. The CSS assesses teachers' use of instructional and behavioral management strategies. In the present study, the CSS is compared to the Classroom Assessment Scoring…

Schools across the nation are facing the challenge of addressing behavioral issues with students. Traditional approaches to discipline have been ineffective in improving student behavior. The passing of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 and revisions of the Individual Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004 require schools…

The alarming rise of office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions among students in public schools, have been a major concern for stakeholders in learning communities throughout the country. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (2001) and The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) mandated state and local educational agencies to implement scientific…

High-stakes tests are the most heavily weighted measures in accountability systems developed in response to No Child Left Behind. While some studies show high-stakes accountability being related to test score gains, others suggest these policies do not improve achievement and often result in unintended consequences. To understand mechanisms…

This article discusses the construction of the "emotional disturbance" (ED) category in the cases of four African American elementary students. These cases represent a sub-set of data from a three-year ethnographic study of the special education process in a large, culturally/linguistically diverse school district. Based on interviews,…

This study examined the utility of a brief assessment approach for identifying a potentially effective intervention to improve math performance and on-task behavior. Participants included four elementary students referred for intervention services in the general education classroom. A brief individual assessment was conducted with each participant…

Response to Intervention (RtI) has become an important element of policy, practice, and research since the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In this article, five metrics recommended by Gresham (2005) were used to evaluate the progress of 127 students who were at risk of developing emotional disturbance and…

This publication consists of the contents of a hearing before a subcommittee of the committee on government operations of the United States House of Representatives. The hearing was conducted during the second session of the ninety-first congress in September of 1970. The primary purpose of this hearing was to investigate Federal responsibility in…