Challenging Criminalization in Los Angeles

Chapter 5 documents the ways organizing groups have confronted a vast school district and militarized system of police control in Los Angeles. It features the role of Black and Brown parents in CADRE as key leaders. These parents won the first district-wide breakthrough against zero tolerance discipline approaches in the country when they got the LA Unified School District to adopt schoolwide positive behavioral supports in 2006. The movement “nationalized” this local victory, inspiring groups across the country to launch campaigns against zero tolerance. The chapter also highlights the youth-organizing work of the Labor Community Strategy Center to end police ticketing of students, one of the pioneering efforts to address policing in the school-to-prison pipeline movement. It examines the Youth Justice Coalition and its Free LA High School that supports young people returning from the juvenile justice system and attempts to create a model for police-free schools based upon transformative justice.

An Adaptation of Multitiered Systems of Professional Development to Support Teacher Implementation of Tier 2 Behavioral Supports

General education teachers encounter challenges with behavior management that are compounded by limited experience and training on implementing targeted behavioral supports. One research-based method to support teacher implementation of behavioral interventions is on-site coaching. Unfortunately, coaching can be a time- and resource-intensive approach to professional development. The purpose of this article is to provide intervention team leaders with a step-by-step process for providing feasible coaching support to teacher implementers of Tier 2 behavioral supports.

Leveraging insights from behavioral science and administrative burden in free college program design: A typology

Amid concerns over college affordability, many communities and states have enacted free college programs, and the Biden administration has brought momentum to federal free college discussions. Today, hundreds of college promise programs exist in communities across the country, including at least 20 state-sponsored free college programs. While free college policies have the potential to increase enrollment by reducing college costs, substantial variation in program design likely shapes how effective these programs are at expanding college access and reducing racial and economic disparities. This paper leverages insights from administrative burden and behavioral science to develop a typology of statewide free college programs, offering a framework for examining how policy design reduces (or increases) the burden individuals are likely to incur in receiving free college benefits. To do so, we collected data on design features of free college programs (e.g., eligibility criteria, application procedures, maintenance requirements) and created indices capturing the extent to which each program imposes administrative burden and, conversely, offers behavioral supports to help students navigate the aid process. Our findings offer insight for policymakers as they design free college programs and provide context for researchers examining the effectiveness and equity outcomes of statewide free college programs.

Inclusive Instruction for Students with Emotional Disturbance: An Investigation of Classroom Practice

A survey was developed to obtain information on practitioner self-reported knowledge, use, and perceived effectiveness of classroom-based practices for the inclusive instruction of students with Emotional Disturbance (ED). This study reports descriptive results for a sample of general and special education teachers from the northeast who provided inclusive instruction and/or support to at least one student with ED in a general education classroom in the past year. Mann–Whitney and MANOVA tests were employed to determine differences between teacher populations for individual practices and four clusters of practices identified in an exploratory factor analysis (EFA; Behavioral Supports, Differentiation, Classroom Management, Instructional Practices). Findings suggest that special educators serve an important role in efforts to provide instruction that focuses on inclusion rather than merely integration. Implications for practice, study limitations, and areas for future research are discussed.

Enhancing Professional Development for Educators: Adapting Project ECHO From Health Care to Education

Adequately prepared educators are critical to the success of children in rural settings, but many educators receive little training on how to support students with disabilities. Professional development for educators is challenging in rural areas due to the lack of opportunities and travel requirements. Project ECHO™ was originally developed to overcome similar challenges facing physicians. The ECHO Model overcomes these challenges by creating a hub and spoke network that connects local providers with experts. These networks meet regularly over teleconferencing technology to conduct a short professional development workshop, followed by a case-study from one of the local sites. We adapted the ECHO Model for use in education and since 2014 implemented four networks: autism, assistive technology, secondary transitions, and behavioral supports. Educators found ECHO highly acceptable and reported improved skills and knowledge. ECHO for Education is effective and has the potential to improve capacity of education systems in rural settings.

Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching Learners With Mild to Moderate Disabilities

With the rise in inclusive practices, information on evidence-based practices for teaching learners with mild to moderate disabilities is an important topic. Many professional and government organizations are working to disseminate this information to educators; however, the process can be thwarted by time, resources, training, and implementation of practices. By using multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) such as response to intervention (RtI) or positive behavior interventions and support (PBIS), schools can assess for, identify, and implement supports for all learners. If a learner continues to encounter challenges, even with high-quality teaching and strategies, then a more intensive intervention may be needed. One schoolwide change would be to use universal design for learning (UDL) to ensure strategies and supports are provided to all learners. Additionally, students may benefit from assistive technology. Teachers can learn about free and commercial evidence-based educational practices to create a safe environment, implement positive behavioral supports, and provide systematic, explicit instruction in academic areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social sciences.

A Model of Distance Special Education Support Services Amidst COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the everyday life of many individuals across the globe. The school closures across the majority of the United States have presented administrators, educators, and behavior analysts with the unprecedented task of deciding how best to teach and support our students, especially those accessing special education services. The current paper describes the steps our program took, in light of school closures, to advocate for and ultimately create and implement a model that allows special education students to access the behavior analytic educational supports they had received on campus (e.g., BCBA and paraprofessional support) in a novel and remote manner. We share details regarding the advocacy and collaboration process as well as the distance special education support model itself in hopes that similar processes and models can be implemented across geographical locations to assist special education students in accessing their educational and behavioral supports in a meaningful way throughout current and future school closures.