Evaluation and Replication of a Comprehensive Tier 2 System: Equipping Schools to Provide Alternatives to Suspensions (RPA Pilot / Seed Project)

Schools continue to cite supporting student behavior as one of the most difficult aspects of the teaching profession. Three-tiered frameworks, such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, exist to systematically guide schools in the selection of evidence-based practices, review of data to determine responders and non-responders, and creation of systems to support implementation to help ensure equitable outcomes for all students. However, schools commonly struggle to coordinate student-level support for advanced tiers of support (i.e., Tier 2 behavioral support). The four primary research objectives for the project are to (1) replicate findings from an initial series of pilot studies conducted with a school in Fayette County Public Schools, (2) make practitioner-infromed refinements to a comprehensive screening and implementation support framework to improve system infrastructures for targeted behavioral support within a PBIS framework, (3) reduce the disruptive behavior and increase academic engagement for students who have been nominated for targeted behavioral support, and (4) explore staff perceptions of the framework, use of exclusionary practices, and other implementation barriers.