Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
Without effective support, students with disabilities experience more exclusionary discipline and benefit less from classroom instruction. Students with disabilities can benefit when teachers implement key classroom positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) practices (e.g., prompts, opportunities to respond, and specific praise), but many teachers need additional professional development (PD) to implement with sufficient intensity to support students with disabilities. In this pilot study, we explored whether teachers’ intensified implementation of key practices improved academic engagement of students with disabilities. Three elementary teachers and three students with disabilities participated in an experimental multiple-baseline design. Following baseline, each teacher participated in targeted PD for each practice. Two teachers consistently self-managed their intensive implementation and their students’ engagement increased; one teacher did not consistently self-manage her implementation, and her student’s engagement decreased. These data provide an initial proof of concept for this approach; however, additional research is needed to document a functional relation.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
Promoting positive relationships with peers is an important support for children who exhibit social withdrawal. Children who show extreme shyness or are identified as self-isolating are at risk for developing internalizing conditions, which can also lead to poor social and academic outcomes. These children may benefit from targeted support to develop relationships with peers. Identifying effective social interventions that support children who exhibit internalizing behaviors such as social withdrawal in preschool classrooms is a critical need. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline across three focal children design was used to test the effects of an adapted version of Stay, Play, Talk (SPT) that included peer choice on the estimated duration of social play for young children who were socially withdrawn. A functional relation was found between the implementation of SPT with peer choice and focal children’s social play. This study demonstrates that SPT with peer choice may be an effective and socially valid intervention for increasing the social play of preschoolers who are socially withdrawn in classrooms. More research is needed to better understand to what extent this adapted SPT intervention impacts children’s social networks, broader social-emotional development, and specific internalizing behaviors when implemented over a longer period.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 27, Issue 1, Page 3-11, January 2025.
Check-in/Check-out (CICO) behavioral support has been implemented in Finnish School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (SWPBIS) schools to cater to students who require personalized behavior support beyond the universal level. Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of CICO as a behavioral support method. However, further research is needed to investigate its effectiveness in a larger sample and to analyze the timeline for behavioral change. This study focused on 51 elementary school students in Finland, assessing their behavior at baseline and during the CICO intervention phase using two data collection methods: the Daily Report Card (DRC) and the School Situation Questionnaire (SSQ). Nonlinear growth modeling was employed to examine the effects of the intervention. The results indicated that CICO yielded significant positive effects on behavior within 1 week of initiating support. After the outcomes stabilized, the behavior change remained stable beyond the first week of the intervention. These effects were detected in both the target behavior measured with DRC and the problem behavior measured with SSQ. These findings suggest that CICO interventions produce rapid and sustained changes in behavior. Further, the effects of CICO were observed in various settings within the school environment, indicating distal outcomes.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
The Schoolwide Expectations Survey for Specific Settings (SESSS) is a free-access tool school leadership teams can use to gather opinions from faculty and staff regarding what student behaviors are critical for success in various school settings. While the SESSS has been used for over a decade to inform the building of schoolwide expectation matrix as part of their Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-Tiered model of prevention, little is known about the extent to which data from the SESSS informs the actual building of schoolwide expectation matrices. In this pilot descriptive study, we examined SESSS data from 10 elementary, middle, and high schools from two Midwestern districts in the United State to determine how much and which data from the SESSS were included in their expectation matrices. Using a standardized rubric to score each school’s inclusion rate of SESSS items, results indicated all schools included most items rated as critical for success by 75% or more faculty and staff. We discuss implications and future directions.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
This sequential explanatory mixed methods study with a complementarity rationale examined the differential experiences of MTSS implementation in three Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)-implementing and three non-implementing secondary schools in the Midwestern United States. Using a survey and follow-up interviews with a sample of 25 secondary school leadership team (SLT) members, this study sought to understand (1) their beliefs and attitudes toward MTSS prior to implementation and (2) unique barriers and facilitators to MTSS implementation in secondary education following initial MTSS implementation. Overall, the results of this study indicated that generally, SLT members had positive beliefs and attitudes toward MTSS prior to implementation which were maintained a year later at follow-up. Additionally, several differential barriers and facilitators to implementation emerged between PBIS and non-PBIS schools, though shared barriers and facilitators were also evident. Lastly, experience with PBIS differentially impacted the experiences of SLT members from PBIS and non-PBIS schools. Implications for secondary school practitioners, schools, and local educational agencies are discussed.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
Amid a proliferation of highly potent opioids, school systems have sought to invest in programs for preventing substance misuse. School teams often prioritize early screening and intervention to prevent student substance misuse; however, given the limited resources of many schools, it is crucial to understand the extent to which commonly available data and existing frameworks are relevant for prevention efforts. In this study, we examined (a) how commonly available data on substance misuse (office discipline referrals [ODRs]) relate to self-reported substance misuse and (b) how positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) implementation across tiers relates to these substance-related outcomes. We found that self-reported substance misuse is significantly related to substance-related ODRs, but that self-report rates are much higher than ODR rates. We also found that Tier 2 PBIS implementation was associated with significantly lower rates of both self-reported substance misuse and substance-related ODRs. These findings suggest that aspects of PBIS implementation could be beneficial in preventing substance misuse, but more research is needed to understand what specific school-based practices best address these student behavioral health needs.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
Internalizing problems are common mental health concerns among children and youth. Identifying malleable risk factors that are associated with internalizing problems, such as not having a trusted adult at school, can lead to positive behavior supports to reduce student risk. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between student-reported internalizing problems and having an adult to talk to at school. Students in elementary, middle, and high school (N = 13,881) in the Midwestern United States provided self-report data about their internalizing symptoms and whether they had an adult to talk to at school if they had a problem. Participants were 51% male and 72% White; 40% qualified for free or reduced lunch and 12% were in special education. A series of growth models revealed that not having a trusted adult at school was a strong risk factor for internalizing symptoms over the school year. Moreover, lack of a trusted adult was associated with worsening internalizing symptoms over time for middle and high school students. The findings have implications for identifying students and planning supports to alleviate this risk.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
Class-wide Function-related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a classroom management intervention in which teachers incorporate positive behavior support (PBS) principles by teaching specific classroom expectations and providing feedback on student behavior as part of an interdependent group contingency. Interventions like CW-FIT may be helpful for students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD), as such students often struggle to succeed in school. In the present replication study, researchers examined the effects of CW-FIT in a self-contained elementary EBD classroom. One teacher and her five students with EBD participated. Researchers used an A-B-A-B withdrawal design with maintenance probes to examine changes in students’ on-task behavior, as well as teacher praise and reprimand rates. Results revealed the teacher was able to implement CW-FIT with fidelity with corresponding increases in student on-task behavior and teacher praise, though there was little effect on teacher reprimands. The teacher and the students found CW-FIT to be socially valid. Results suggest CW-FIT can be an effective classroom management intervention in self-contained elementary EBD classrooms.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
The Color Wheel System (CWS), a class-wide, rule-based behavioral management strategy, is a successful intervention to reduce off-task behaviors for elementary school students. However, this intervention has rarely been investigated in the middle school setting. The current study implemented the CWS within three sixth-grade general education inclusionary classrooms in a middle school in the United States. A multiple-baseline across classrooms design evaluated the effects of the CWS on class-wide inappropriate vocalizations. Partial-interval time-sampling recorded intervals when any student in the class displayed inappropriate vocalizations. Visual analysis of time-series graphs and effect size measures indicated that the CWS created large, immediate, and sustained decreases in inappropriate vocalizations across all classrooms. Implications for using the CWS as a class-wide behavioral management strategy within the middle school setting and directions for future research are discussed.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
We aimed to identify empirically valid cut scores on the positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) through an expert panel process known as bookmarking. The TFI is a measurement tool to evaluate the fidelity of implementation of PBIS. In the bookmark method, experts reviewed all TFI items and item scores by difficulty in order estimated by an item response theory (IRT) model of TFI data. Over two sessions involving data review and discussion, panelists individually identified which corresponding cut scores in each TFI tier scale indicated minimally adequate fidelity in the TFI, leading to corresponding scores of 83.3% for TFI Tier 1, 84.6% for TFI Tier 2, and 82.4% for TFI Tier 3. Then, the proposed cut scores were compared with the original cut scores of 70% for percentage of schools meeting fidelity and the association between the cut scores and school discipline outcomes using an extant sample. The results of descriptive statistics and multiple t-tests suggested that the bookmark cut score in TFI Tier 1 was reachable and more strongly associated with improved school discipline outcomes. Findings for TFI Tier 2 and Tier 3 were less conclusive.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 26, Issue 3, Page 131-141, July 2024.
Positive behavior support (PBS) is an evidence-based framework for improving quality of life and preventing challenging behavior that is often implemented in combination with person-centered practices in the intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) field. Recently, state agencies and organizations supporting people with IDD have adopted a system-wide approach to PBS, much like multi-tiered school-wide PBS for youth in educational settings (e.g., SW-PBIS). Fidelity tools for guiding team implementation and action planning are essential throughout every phase of implementation in any innovation. Although such tools exist for SW-PBIS, no widely used measure currently exists for assessing the implementation of organization-wide PBS in the adult IDD field. This article describes the initial development of a fidelity of implementation tool used to evaluate organization-wide implementation of PBS and person-centered practices in community settings. A Midwestern state Department of Human Services and a university Center on Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) in the United States partnered to complete this project. The authors discuss the exploratory and descriptive evaluation process involved in the initial development of the tool and share data for 10 provider organizations over a 6-year period of implementation. A descriptive case study using mixed measures is used to provide more details about the implementation of PBS in one agency to show the types of changes captured by the fidelity tool.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 26, Issue 3, Page 142-156, July 2024.
The transfer and adoption of the school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) framework in different contexts worldwide is receiving increased interest. Identified challenges in implementing relevant systems and practices with fidelity at local schools can lead to adaptations improving the contextual fit of SWPBS, which eventually contributes to enhanced outcomes. The present study documents a 2-year systematic implementation of SWPBS in 31 elementary schools in Cyprus. Cultural and situational barriers were identified using a mixed-methods design. Data were obtained from three fidelity assessments across time, through which we examined the schools’ efforts to integrate SWPBS elements into their setting. School size and location were also used to predict implementation fidelity. External coaches’ experiences working with schools for 2 years were summarized to provide insight into the main impediments to effective implementation. Recommendations for forthcoming applications of SWPBS in contexts with similar characteristics are drawn.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 26, Issue 3, Page 157-167, July 2024.
Various district-level factors contribute to the successful implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in schools, a widely implemented evidence-based framework supporting students’ social, emotional, and behavioral development. Prior research has identified the district PBIS coordinator as a critical factor supporting school-level PBIS implementation. However, further research is needed to clarify the functions of the district PBIS coordinator role throughout the implementation process. This pilot study developed and validated a survey instrument to clarify (a) the common functions of the district PBIS coordinator role and (b) how the common functions of district PBIS coordinators changed across the distinct implementation stages. The Kruskal-Wallis H-test was used to determine whether significant differences existed in the amount of time district PBIS coordinators spent on functions of their role by implementation stage. Results from the pilot administration conducted in the U.S. state of Michigan indicated that district PBIS coordinators initially focused time on leadership and organization functions while competency functions developed as implementation matured. The survey findings offer preliminary insights into the district PBIS coordinator role, which may help inform professional development planning at the local and state levels, technical assistance offerings, and personnel decision-making. This study also serves as a blueprint for future research.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 26, Issue 3, Page 168-188, July 2024.
Teachers and clinicians report feeling underprepared to implement evidence-based behavior supports. As such, effective models of professional development that lead to improved outcomes for all individuals are required. Critical components of high-quality professional development include explicit instruction, modeling, practice, direct feedback, and, potentially, individual coaching. However, delivering all components may be resource intensive. Professional development approaches that extend the tiered logic of multi-tiered systems of support to adult learning may address these challenges. In such models, universal professional development is provided to whole-staff groups on specific skills using explicit instruction, modeling, practice, and feedback. Data are then collected and used to inform targeted, individualized supports. The current systematic literature review addressed a gap in the literature by identifying, summarizing, and appraising 20 published studies that examined tiered, responsive professional development models. While consistent practices were identified (e.g., group didactic training at Tier 1 and coaching at Tiers 2 and 3), the form and shape of specific interventions at each tier differed across studies. The same was observed in the data-based decision-making processes employed to determine the need for additional trainee support. Practical implications to inform the ongoing examination of tiered responsive professional development models are discussed.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Ahead of Print.
The negative outcomes of exclusionary discipline practices on children and youth are well established. Fortunately, for the past two decades, research has demonstrated that pro-active instructional approaches and building supportive class and school environments can effectively promote student social, emotional, and behavioral well-being, especially when evidence-based practices are placed within a problem-solving multitiered system of supports such as school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS). Recent work examining state-wide behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) initiatives, which include professional development and technical assistance to school leadership teams, has clearly documented that educators can reduce problem behavior and thereby reduce the need or use for exclusionary discipline practices. This study extends that body of knowledge by examining Missouri’s SWPBIS initiative over time and across grade levels. Using an extant data base, schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity were compared with nonimplementing schools over 11 school years. Results indicated that schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity had statistically significant lower rates of exclusionary discipline practices at the primary, middle, and high school level. Results are discussed within the context of past state-wide SWPBIS initiatives.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 26, Issue 4, Page 191-193, October 2024.
Engaging with families to support their children’s social, emotional, and behavioral development is a key feature of positive behavior supports (PBSs). The purpose of this Special Series is to disseminate research on the application of PBSs with families and in home contexts. This issue contains five articles, including single case experimental designs, survey design, mixed-methods, and a literature synthesis. These articles provide a deeper understanding and clear implications for improving research and practice to increase family access, involvement, and benefit from PBSs.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 26, Issue 4, Page 241-256, October 2024.
Children with developmental delays are more likely to experience difficulties in social-emotional skills and challenging behavior, which can lead to poor long-term outcomes if left untreated. The purpose of this literature review was to synthesize the literature related to home-based interventions to address social–emotional skills and challenging behavior. A systematic review of the literature resulted in the identification of 26 single-case design studies and 31 group design studies that evaluated a home-based intervention to improve social–emotional skills or challenging behavior for young children with a disability or delay. The most common interventions implemented were differential reinforcement, functional communication training, and antecedent-based interventions. Data based on the quality of experiment, characteristics of participants, and characteristics of interventions were analyzed. Fewer than half of the studies (41%) met design standards with or without reservations. However, the majority of studies that met design standards demonstrated strong or moderate evidence for the efficacy of the intervention (67%). Overall, the literature indicates caregivers can accurately implement established evidence-based practices with their young children to improve social–emotional skills and challenging behavior. Implications for practice and future research directions are discussed.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 27, Issue 1, Page 12-25, January 2025.
The use of technology-based self monitoring (SM) interventions is becoming more popular, increasing the likelihood that SM interventions will have greater contextual fit within classrooms. SM has resulted in increases in desired school behaviors, such as increases in on task behavior, academic performance, and task completion for students diagnosed with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to extend the findings from Clemons et al. and examine student and teacher use of a web based SM application, I-Connect, and reinforcement to increase on task behavior for three U.S. elementary school students with or at risk for an emotional behavioral disorder using extended SM intervals. All three participants demonstrated significant increases in on task behavior with the use of the I-Connect application plus reinforcement intervention in the classroom.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 27, Issue 1, Page 39-49, January 2025.
Multitiered systems of support (MTSS) are composed of tiered prevention and intervention in multiple domains. MTSS is often referred to as an umbrella framework that includes both a multi-tiered approach to proactive school-wide behavior (e.g., Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) and academic supports in reading, writing, and/or mathematics (e.g., Response to Intervention). Integrating behavior and academic support systems can become complex, requiring significant coordination and implementation efforts within schools. However, efforts to measure implementation and study how such implementation across behavioral and academic domains relates are limited. In the current study, we used MTSS implementation data from 225 schools in a U.S. Midwestern state to examine a factor structure of schoolwide MTSS implementation measures in behavioral and academic domains (reading and mathematics). Results suggest (a) a hierarchical factor model for behavioral and academic MTSS measures fits well, indicating that integrated behavioral and academic supports are driven by an overall implementation factor, and (b) the overall factor had no relation to school-level achievement. Implications for practice and future directions for research are discussed.

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 26, Issue 4, Page 194-203, October 2024.
Despite the potential benefits of integrating family–school partnerships into school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), many barriers persist that limit a school’s ability to engage in meaningful family–school partnerships. These barriers to implementation suggest the importance of understanding the extent to which school teams can overcome these obstacles and promote family–school partnerships in PBIS. The present study adds to the literature by evaluating school teams’ reported implementation of different recommended practices in family–school partnerships in PBIS. Specifically, school teams in the U.S. state of Massachusetts (N = 79) participating in a 3-year PBIS implementation training program completed a survey (65% response rate) where they reported the extent to which they were implementing family–school partnership practices in PBIS across a variety of domains. Findings suggest relative strengths (i.e., communication, resources) and opportunities for growth (i.e., shared decision-making) in schools’ implementation of family–school partnership strategies in PBIS. We also found school characteristics related to increased enrollment and greater racial diversity of the student body posed additional challenges for school staff in ensuring high fidelity implementation of family–school partnership strategies in PBIS. We end with suggestions for researchers and practitioners to boost implementation of key features of family–school partnerships in PBIS via equitable and culturally responsive implementation strategies.