The use of the term "response to intervention" focuses on its potential utility for diagnosis of learning disabilities. In this context, "response to intervention" can be understood as a diagnostic approach for determining which students are entitled to special educational services. It is important to notice that the validity of the RTI diagnostic…

As a school leader, what do you need to know about Response to Intervention (RTI) and your role in leading instruction for struggling learners? In this article the authors offer guidance about the content of the RTI initiative based on policy, research, and practice. They provide a brief history of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act…

In 2000, the California State Legislature passed the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act, which authorized funding for county juvenile justice programs and designated the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA), formerly named the Board of Corrections, the administrator of funding. California counties receiving state funds for Juvenile Justice…

This study looks at the utilization of assessments on developing behavior intervention plans (BIPs) and their use in designing actual implementation for the children (elementary through high school) labeled EBD in a mid-sized district in eastern Washington. Files were reviewed to determine the types of assessments used, FBA components addressed,…

Although there are now several adolescent HIV and STD preventive interventions of demonstrated efficacy in the literature, little is understood about the portability of these interventions. This study replicated Stanton's Focus on Kids intervention, developed for inner city African American adolescents, in a different population, transferring it…

As the number of schools implementing systemic, schoolwide positive behavior support (PBS) processes expands (nationally, at least 5,000 schools are participating), increasing attention is being paid to the efficacy of implementation. This article describes a case study of the experiences of Florida's Positive Behavior Support Project, which used…

This action research study addresses the link between building evaluation capacity and enhancing evaluation use for learning. The author shares her experiences and reports on the evidence collected from a set of self-evaluation capacity-building interventions that she implemented. Using a mixed-method approach, the author first determined that the…

A prominent leader in the movement towards restorative approaches in juvenile justice presents cutting-edge practices for community service. Such programs balance community safety, accountability for behavior, and development of the competency of youth. This article describes the benefits and challenges of implementing this model and suggests the…

Community participation in program decision-making and implementation is an ideal that community and academic stakeholders aspire to in participatory research. This ideal, however, can be difficult to achieve. We describe lessons learned about community participation from a quasi-experimental trial aimed at reducing the uptake of smoking among…

This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an online professional development course designed to develop an understanding of the foundations, perspectives, and strategies used by key disciplines (e.g., occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, early childhood special education, visual…

Part of the purpose of public schooling is to help children develop into productive adults who responsibly participate in a democratic community. The prevention of suicide is critical to the accomplishment of this purpose. Suicide prevention includes the development of policies and procedures that address enhancing school climate, developing…

To identify factors which facilitate and limit the successful implementation of pre-referral intervention systems in public schools, a survey was conducted of Maine Directors of Special Education who represented school systems using pre-referral systems. Forty-eight of 67 special education directors responded to the survey; 20 additional responses…

An experienced kindergarten teacher implemented a 10-week practicum intervention designed to improve the classroom management skills of 9 kindergarten teacher aides. In-service training for participants included planned workshops, observations, team activities, coaching, and evaluation. Each participant concentrated on a specific skill or area of…

This paper describes how individual teachers, who were the target of an implementation effort, changed over a two-year period in their use of and concerns about a new approach to discipline. The main focus of this paper is the measurement of the change process, in contrast to other papers that describe the change effort and analyze the…

Described back-end synthesis as the creation and integration of the secondary intervention required for efficient and cost-effective implementation of performance improvement programs. Involving analysis, design, evaluation, revision, and implementation, this process is related to front-end analysis, and a sample application in a performance…