Eric Alan Common

• Ph.d., BCBA-D LBA (MI)
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Michigan–Flint

In this article, we present findings from our first iterative design study for Project ENHANCE to share our findings as well as provide an exemplar for others engaged in design inquiry. In particular, we explain how we used a data-informed design process with district partners to determine content and features of three foundational professional lea...

There are many integrated Multi-tiered Systems of Support (iMTSS), which we refer to as integrated-tiered systems. These systems hold benefits for students with disabilities, as such systems have the potential to facilitate inclusion and focus the collective expertise of educators committed to meeting students’ multiple needs. The Comprehensive, In...

Educators across the United States have designed and implemented Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-tiered (Ci3T) models to meet K-12 students’ academic, behavioral, and social and emotional well-being needs. As part of implementation efforts, educators collect and use social validity and treatment integrity data to capture faculty and staff views of...

Due to ongoing and severe teacher shortages, preparing and sustaining a skilled special education teacher (SET) workforce is a top policy priority. Understanding predictors of SETs’ intent to leave is crucial for policy makers and school leaders alike, as they seek to develop interventions to support retention efforts. In this study, we examined at...

In this article, we introduce active supervision as a simple, feasible strategy for teachers and families to increase student engagement as well as decrease off-task and disruptive behaviors across a range of contexts. We provide step-by-step guidance to illustrate how active supervision can be used by teachers in in-person and virtual learning env...

Social justice reform in the US education system has been a persistent concern and is long overdue. We contextualize the movement toward equity and social justice to be multifaceted, interdisciplinary, sub-disciplinary, and ultimately, complex. Specifically, we define and contextualize three theories framing key dimensions of equity and social just...

Research conducted to date has highlighted barriers to initial adoption of universal behavior screening in schools. However, little is known regarding the experiences of those implementing these procedures and there have been no studies conducted examining the experiences of educators in different stages of implementing various tiered systems of su...

In this replication and extension study, we examined the effects of educators’ participation in practice-based professional learning (PBPL) to design, implement, and evaluate functional assessment-based interventions (FABIs). We randomly assigned school-site teams ( k = 69; N = 342) to cohorts trained by either university or state technical assista...

We provide results from a district-wide survey of 253 certified educators to determine (a) the degree to which they reported implementing components of their school’s comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered (Ci3T) model of prevention in the current year and (b) the areas in which educators might benefit from continued professional learning. The pur...

In this qualitative study we sought to understand the experiences of K-12 school personnel serving on Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-Tiered (Ci3T) leadership teams. We conducted 22 semi-structured interviews and five focus groups across three states and five school districts to determine team members’ perceptions regarding facilitators and barrie...

Special education teacher (SET) burnout is a significant concern, especially for SETs serving students with emotional–behavioral disorders (EBD), as they tend to experience higher burnout than other teachers. Working conditions, especially social support, have the potential to ameliorate burnout, but prior research has not articulated the sources a...

Special education teacher (SET) burnout is a significant concern, especially for SETs serving students with emotional–behavioral disorders (EBD), as they tend to experience higher burnout than other teachers. Working conditions, especially social support, have the potential to ameliorate burnout, but prior research has not articulated the sources a...

Integration of multitiered academic, behavioral, and social-emotional efforts, such as the implementation of a Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-Tiered (Ci3T) model of prevention, is critical for supporting student development across domains of functioning. In particular, universal behavior screening has been shown to predict outcomes across these d...

We report findings from a multistate survey of 720 faculty and staff from 25 elementary schools in five districts across three states and geographic regions participating in an IES Network grant examining integrated tiered systems. In this preregistered study, we replicated and extended previous inquiry examining educators' views of (1) implementat...

We examined changes in burnout across three timepoints in one school year, in a sample ( N = 230) of special educators serving students with emotional-behavioral disorders, in 15 school districts selected through stratified random sampling at the national level. Emotional exhaustion decreased at each timepoint in the school year and personal accomp...

In tiered systems, all school faculty and staff ideally recognize student academic, behavioral, and social achievement as a shared responsibility. In an ideal system, faculty and staff collaborate in a data-informed process to define common student expectations to facilitate success. Adults provide clarity for all students by defining expectations...

Treatment integrity is an important component of rigorous educational research. Information about the extent to which an intervention was implemented as planned provides necessary context for interpreting student outcomes. In the context of increasing use of tiered systems in schools, treatment integrity takes on additional practical importance. Ti...

We examined educators’ sense of efficacy and burnout within comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered (Ci3T) models of prevention implemented in four middle and two high schools. At the time of this study, schools had completed 2 years of implementing Ci3T models as part of a larger district initiative. We examined how educators were faring with a sp...

We report findings of two validation studies of the Student Risk Screening Scale for Early Childhood (SRSS-EC). Although previous exploratory inquiry suggested a two-factor solution, results of Study 1 conducted with 274 preschool-age youth suggested mixed support for a two-factor model, with only one fit index suggesting an adequate fit (increment...

This study examined perceptions of teachers who implemented a tiered system of support, the comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered (Ci3T) model of prevention. We reported findings of four focus groups with a total of 18 elementary teachers who implemented Ci3T for 2 years. While the Ci3T model comprised elements addressing academics, behavior, and...

In this methodological illustration, we examined Tier 2 social skills interventions to support school success for students with or at risk for emotional or behavior disorders. We presented findings examining the usability and feasibility of the Social Skills Improvement System—Intervention Guide and Positive Action Counselor’s Kit, which emphasize...

Content-focused practice-based professional development (PBPD) with active learning is one avenue to support teachers in learning new strategies, practices, and programs. This type of professional development moves away from traditional lectures. In this descriptive study, the authors used a pre–post group design to examine the extent to which a PB...

Schools are adopting tiered systems to prevent and respond to students’ academic, behavioral, and social needs. Foundational to tiered systems is the capacity of educators to implement high-quality classroom management and instructional practices. In this study, school leaders provided professional development to staff as they prepared to adopt a t...

Active supervision is a proactive, low-intensity strategy to minimize challenging behaviors and increase desired behaviors. To examine the evidence base of this strategy, we applied the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Standards for Evidence-Based Practices in Special Education to the body of research exploring the impact of active supervis...

We conducted this systematic review to map the literature and classify the evidence-based status of teacher-directed strategies to increase students’ opportunities to respond (OTR) during whole-group instruction across the K-12 continuum. Specifically, we conducted this review to determine whether OTR could be classified as an evidence-based practi...

We conducted this systematic review to classify the evidence-base status for high-probability request sequence (HPRS) as a strategy to improve students’ behavioral outcomes in general and special education settings across the K-12 continuum. Specifically, the purpose of this review was to determine whether HPRS could be classified as an evidence-ba...

In this replication study, we examined the effect of educators’ participation in a practice-based professional learning series for designing, implementing, and evaluating Functional Assessment-based Interventions (FABI; Umbreit, Liaupsin, Ferro, & Lane, 2007) on their actual knowledge and perceived knowledge, confidence, and usefulness of concepts...

High-probability request sequence (HPRS) is a low-intensity strategy designed to increase student compliance by creating behavioral momentum. Momentum is established by providing three to five requests that a noncompliant student is most likely to do followed quickly by a less preferred request. Herein, we describe a step-by-step process for using...

We report findings of a psychometric study comparing scores from two screening tools: Student Risk Screening Scale–Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE, an adapted version of the Student Risk Screening Scale) and Behavior Assessment System for Children–Second Edition, Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BASC-2 BESS). Participants were 62...

In this article, we examined predictive validity of Student Risk Screening Scale—Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) scores for use with elementary-age students (N = 4,465) from 14 elementary schools. Results indicated elementary school students with high levels of risk according to fall SRSS-IE scores—especially those with externalizing beha...

Increasing students’ opportunities to respond (OTR) is a low-intensity strategy effective in increasing engagement. Building on the work of Haydon and colleagues, we compared two types of OTR, choral and mixed (70% choral, 30% individual), to examine the utility of these strategies in increasing active student responding and accuracy during mathema...

This systematic review investigated one systematic approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating functional assessment–based interventions (FABI) for use in supporting school-age students with or at-risk for high-incidence disabilities. We field tested several recently developed methods for single-case design syntheses. First, we appraised th...

We report results of an exploratory validation study of the Student Risk Screening Scale–Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) applied with the first sample of middle and high school students from nine middle and three high schools from three states. The Student Risk Screening Scale (SRSS) was modified to broaden the scope of this user-friendly...

Instructional choice is a low-intensity strategy that requires little preparation, is easy to implement, and supports content instruction in the classroom. In this study we explored the effectiveness of two types of instructional choice— across-task and within-task choices—implemented classwide during writing instruction by classroom teachers with...

This paper provides outcomes of a study examining the effectiveness of a year-long professional development training series designed to support in-service educators in learning a systematic approach to functional assessment-based interventions developed by Umbreit and colleagues (2007) that has met with demonstrated success when implemented with un...

In this systematic review, we evaluated the evidence-base of self-regulated strategy development (SRSD; Harris & Graham, 1992) for writing with students with and at-risk for emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD). First, we evaluated the quality of studies identified (n = 13) by applying the Quality Indicators for single case (Horner et al., 2005)...

We report findings of a validation study comparing two screening tools: the Student Risk Screening Scale–Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE, an adapted version of the Student Risk Screening Scale) and the Social Skills Improvement System–Performance Screening Guide (SSiS-PSG). Participants included 458 kindergarten through fifth-grade element...

This article addresses some of the key considerations and complexities associated with intervening to address social competence and peer relationships of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in middle and high school settings. First, we provide a brief overview of the social context during adolescence for all students. Next, we highlight...

In this chapter, we begin by exploring the lessons learned from studies of teachers’ expectations for student behavior, being with early inquiry conducted following the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142) of 1975. Next, we explore the expanding knowledge base following reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Educat...