The purpose of this survey study was to assess the perceived skill level and educational needs of special education paraprofessionals in the area of function-based intervention and to identify paraprofessionals' preferred training delivery method(s) and any variables that affect paraprofessionals' preference for these methods. Special education…

School psychologists are frequently called upon to assess students who have made verbal or behavioral threats of violence against others, a practice commonly known as threat assessment. One critical issue is whether the outcomes of a threat assessment generate the kind of racial disparities widely observed in school disciplinary practices. In…

The purpose of this "From the Field" article is to share the tentative results of community-engaged research investigating the impact of Restorative Justice Discipline Practices on persistent discipline gaps in terms of race, gender, and special education identification.

Bully victimization is associated with lower academic performance for individual students; however, less is known about the impact of bullying on the academic performance of the school as a whole. This study examined how retrospective administrator reports of both the prevalence of teasing and bullying (PTB) and the use of evidence-based bullying…

The presence of challenging and violent behaviors that pose risks to the overall safety and the educational learning experience in the public education setting have been on the rise in recent years. Traditional reactive, coercive, and punitive measures to address these behaviors have been futile. Congress responded to the national increase in…

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of public school principals within the Commonwealth of Virginia as to their desirability for professional development in leading special education programs within their schools. Given a list of 18 competencies related to leading special education principals rated their desirability for…

Virginia's statewide plan of educator preparation in functional behavioral assessment, as required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, is described. The step-by-step training process facilitated positive academic and nonacademic outcomes for all students. Preliminary data support the effectiveness of both the content and…