Lindsay M. Fallon

• PhD, BCBA-D
• Professor (Associate) at University of Massachusetts Boston

International literature indicates that adolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB) is associated with their academic and social-emotional development. Teachers are a central source of social influence on adolescents’ school-specific SWB. However, little is known about the multilevel associations between adolescents’ and their teachers’ school-specifi...

International literature indicates that adolescents' subjective well-being (SWB) is associated with their academic and social-emotional development. Teachers are a central source of social influence on adolescents' school-specific SWB. However, little is known about the multilevel associations between adolescents' and their teachers' school-specifi...

Single-case design research studies have historically used external observers to collect time series data that may be used to evaluate intervention effectiveness; however, single-case interventions implemented in educational settings may use the person implementing the intervention (e.g., teacher) to collect data in order to maximize feasibility. T...

Exclusionary discipline is a racialized mechanism through which schools systematically remove racially and ethnically minoritized youth from the learning environment. Although the development of Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) and linked behavior support plans have been identified as an alternative practice, school psychologists often do not...

This brief report describes findings from a single case withdrawal design study which explored the impact of training and emailed video prompts to promote a teacher’s implementation of a culturally responsive teaching plan in a therapeutic school. Data collectors gathered implementation data as well as observed students’ academic engagement and dis...

Existing literature has established the effectiveness of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) for improving school-level student behavioral and academic outcomes. Implementation of SWPBIS in uncontrolled settings is often suboptimal, leading to lackluster outcomes. Researchers have developed and validated several impl...

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) was introduced over 30 years ago and remains an educational framework used to guide instruction today. Although research has evidenced its utility and positive impact, little is known about available tools to guide practitioners in assessing and monitoring their implementation of CRT practices. This systematic r...

Training in school-based consultation may encompass instruction on various consultation models, aims, and work with various partners. However, it is unclear how trainers currently structure coursework and the extent to which social justice is embedded in class. Therefore, we conducted a systematic replication of Hazel et al. (2010) analyses of cons...

International literature indicates that adolescents' school-specific subjective well-being (SWB) is associated with their academic and social-emotional development. Teachers can be a central source of social influence on adolescents' school-specific SWB, but the cross-level associations between teachers' and students' school-specific SWB remains un...

Research supports the use of engaging young students in shared reading opportunities beyond the school setting to scaffold children’s social emotional and academic development. This article describes an exploratory mixed-methods case study examining the application of the Storybooks and Social Hooks (SASH) curriculum, which uses dialogic reading st...

Racism is enmeshed within the fabric of U.S. public education, making it critical to identify and dismantle. One way to do this is to provide professional development (PD) to teachers targeting antiracism to build awareness, decenter whiteness, and advance racial equity in schools. This systematic review is a synthesis of antiracism PD studies, sum...

Existing literature has established the effectiveness of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) for improving school-level student behavioral and academic outcomes. But the real-world implementation of SWPBIS is often inadequate, which leads to lackluster outcomes. Researchers have identified amendable implementer-level...

Existing literature has established the effectiveness of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) for improving school-level student behavioral and academic outcomes. But the real-world implementation of SWPBIS is often inadequate, which leads to lackluster outcomes. Researchers have identified amendable implementer-level...

Emerging literature has highlighted the importance of discerning general and strategic organizational context (OC) factors (e.g., leadership and climate) and their interaction effect on individual implementation behaviors (e.g., attitudes toward evidence-based practices; EBPs) in youth mental healthcare. This study aimed to examine how leadership a...

This document is intended to promote equity and social justice in the writing process by supporting authors’ engagement in self-reflection and bias monitoring as they develop manuscripts for publication. The document is intended to serve as a companion to our Tips for Reviewers, which was previously developed to promote a more equitable peer review...

Creating Compassion is an empathy-focused creative arts curriculum designed to provide short-term, low-cost, high-quality social–emotional learning (SEL) to communities and settings with limited resources. The present study sought to determine whether Creating Compassion was effective for increasing displays of prosocial behaviors and broad SEL ski...

When students require support to improve outcomes in a variety of domains, educators provide youth with school-based intervention. When educators require support to improve their professional practice, school leaders and support personnel (e.g., school psychologists) provide teachers with professional development (PD), consultation, and coaching. T...

Emerging literature highlighted the importance to discern the general and strategic types of organizational context (OC) factors (e.g., leadership and climate) and explore their interaction effect on individual implementation behaviors (e.g., attitudes toward evidence-based practices; EBPs) in youth mental healthcare. This study aimed to examine th...

Background The education sector is one of the most common and accessible settings for universal prevention programs for youth mental health. But it suffers from suboptimal implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). Although the organizational context (OC) contains crucial implementation factors, successful implementation ultimately resides...

A considerable body of literature has explored the impact of individual and structural racism on the work of school psychologists; however, less research has focused on White privilege specifically. Moreover, much of school psychology’s current scholarship on White privilege has focused on issues in training and practice, with relatively less liter...

School discipline disproportionality has long been documented in educational research, primarily impacting Black/African American and non-White Hispanic/Latinx students. In response, federal policymakers have encouraged educators to change their disciplinary practice, emphasizing that more proactive support is critical to promoting students’ social...

Teachers’ perceptions of high cultural responsiveness in the classroom may be related to positive behavioral outcomes (e.g., higher academic engagement, lower social risk), but little research has explored this possibility. This article addresses this research gap by building upon findings from a preliminary paper in which these relationships were...

The purpose of this statement is to reflect upon progress made during the past year in promoting anti-racism, social justice, and equity as committed to by leaders from the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation and School Psychology International. Action steps from 2021 are reviewed, and priorities for 2022 are identified.

For decades, racially and ethnically minoritized youth have been subject to unequal distributions of access and opportunity in school, leading to inequities in academic outcomes. Educators require knowledge and skills to provide relevant instruction and create a more supportive, effective classroom environment. This systematic review includes 24 qu...

Despite widespread implementation of multitiered systems of support for behavior (MTSS-B), evidence of racial discipline disproportionality persists. We argue MTSS-B must prioritize racial equity and healing in schools. We first discuss how discipline has centered Whiteness, providing a brief history of relevant events and sociopolitical forces tha...

The health, economic, and social challenges associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) present a range of threats to students’ well-being, psychoeducational experiences, and outcomes, spurring fears for a “lost generation.” In this article, we present COVID-19 as a large-scale multisystemic disaster causing massive disruptions and losses,...

Daily report card (DRC) intervention provides a structured method for increasing communication between teachers and parents regarding student behavior; however, limited research has investigated the effectiveness and acceptability of DRC intervention with preschool students. Additionally, effectiveness of DRC intervention is enhanced when parents p...

Results from research indicate writing is a critical skill linked to several academic outcomes. To promote improvements in writing quantity and quality, intervention might target increasing students' academic engagement during time designated to practice writing. The purpose of this study was to implement an evidence-based classwide behavioral inte...

The Assessment of Culturally and Contextually Relevant Supports (ACCReS) was developed in response to the need for well-constructed instruments to measure teachers’ cultural responsiveness and guide decision-making related to professional development needs. The current study sought to evaluate the presence of differential item functioning (DIF) in...

It is important to explore the relationship between teachers' perceptions of their cultural responsiveness as well as students' classroom behavior and risk, as these relationships may impact decisions about equitable access to school behavioral health supports. This paper includes two studies conducted with teachers in two large suburban school dis...

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to many students receiving remote instruction. As educators support students’ learning and behavior from a distance, school psychologists can utilize their consultation skills to offer educators implementation support to ensure interventions implemented are maximally successful. Although the effectiveness...

Although social-emotional learning is associated with long-term success in school and careers, it is often a missing link in U.S. public education. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the need for social-emotional supports for children. In this time of crisis, educators have also sought new ways to make connections and reimagined how students mig...

The work of school psychologists is rooted in social justice and aims to preserve the rights, opportunities, and well-being of all children within the educational environment. In pre-service training, this requires that relevant knowledge and skills are taught explicitly and fostered carefully. At the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Bosto...

The impact of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) on students’ classroom behavior has been studied for 50 years. What is less established is the impact of the GBG on students’ academic progress. With emerging research in curriculum-based measurement for written expression (WE-CBM), it may be possible to observe changes in students’ writing output while pl...

Training psychologists to engage in advocacy and social justice is critical to professional development. Scholars recommend a variety of methods to accomplish this training. One approach is to offer goal-driven instruction that aligns with a clear mission, a safe and supportive environment for constructive dialogue, and the opportunity to engage in...

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities may benefit from home-based interventions to promote positive, prosocial behavior. Frequently, a practitioner (e.g., behavior analyst) provides training and support to parents to achieve behavior change. When this occurs, progress-monitoring data pertaining to both tr...

Treatment fidelity data are critical to evaluate intervention effectiveness, yet there are only general guidelines regarding treatment fidelity measurement. Initial investigations have found treatment fidelity data collected via direct observation to be more reliable than data collected via permanent product or self-report. However, the comparison...

Although there are many definitions of a high-need (or high-risk) school, typically researchers and policy makers agree it is a setting in which a vast percentage of students are (a) living in economic disadvantage, (b) from racially diverse backgrounds, (c) identified as having a disability, or (d) underperforming academically. Many teachers in hi...

Tier I interventions are implemented on a school-wide or class-wide level and are intended to limit the development of problem behaviors. This chapter describes the preventive focus and emphasis on efficiency of these strategies, provides specific progress monitoring assessments, and introduces general issues related to classroom management. The ap...

Children experiencing behavioral challenges often receive interventions and supports across a variety of settings (e.g., home, school). Treatment fidelity data are critical to intervention decision-making, yet there has been more research related to assessing treatment fidelity in school settings than in home environments. Understanding the extent...

Treatment fidelity assessment is critical to evaluating the extent to which interventions, such as the Good Behavior Game, are implemented as intended and impact student outcomes. The assessment methods by which treatment fidelity data are collected vary, with direct observation being the most popular and widely recommended. The current study prese...

Collecting treatment integrity data is critical for (a) strengthening internal validity within a research study, (b) determining the impact of an intervention on student outcomes, and (c) assessing the need for implementation supports. Although researchers have noted the increased inclusion of treatment integrity data in published articles, there h...

Teachers struggle to maintain high levels of treatment integrity, which are associated with efficient improvements in student outcomes. To address this challenge, school psychologists can provide implementation support, such as prompts or performance feedback, to increase teachers' treatment integrity when it is low. Implementation prompts are an e...

Disproportionality in disciplinary actions for certain racial groups has been well documented for several decades. In an effort to support all students, specifically those who are culturally and linguistically diverse, many have called for adopting a multitiered system of support framework that is considerate of student culture and school context....

Although high levels of intervention implementation are more likely to lead to improved student outcomes, educators struggle to maintain high implementation levels over time. School psychologists might provide research-supported, consequence-oriented supports (e.g., performance feedback) to promote educators' implementation, yet these are reactive...

To evaluate students’ responsiveness to an intervention, both student outcome and implementer treatment integrity data are needed. Teachers are often asked to self-report treatment integrity data. However, when self-report responses are compared with those from a direct observer, it is apparent that teachers commonly overestimate the extent to whic...

In consultation, school psychologists may offer educators direct training to support the implementation of classroom interventions aimed to improve student outcomes. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review of single-case design research studies during which educators received direct training to implement a classroom...

For evidence-based interventions to be effective for students they must be consistently implemented, however, many teachers struggle with treatment integrity and require support. Although many implementation support strategies are research based, there is little empirical guidance about the types of treatment integrity, implementers, and contexts t...

As public schools in the U.S. are becoming increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), there has been an effort to generate empirical support for culturally responsive practices in schools to promote a variety of positive outcomes for children (e.g., behavioral health, mental health, academic achievement). School psychologists can ass...

The research base for Check-in, Check-out (CICO), a targeted behavioral intervention within a schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports framework, is growing. However, little has been written about its application in therapeutic alternative programs. To extend the literature base, the current article describes a study conducted usin...

Prior research has suggested Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) effectiveness is linked to the function of problem behavior. Though effective for students whose misbehavior occurs to gain attention, findings are equivocal for behavior that occurs to escape academic tasks. The purpose of this study was to therefore evaluate a modification to CICO, wherein st...

Behavioral interventions delivered across home and school settings can promote positive outcomes for youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Yet, stakeholders who deliver these interventions may struggle to implement interventions as intended. Low levels of treatment integrity can undermine potentially positive intervention outcomes. One way to...

Given the increased interestand implementation of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) systems in schools in the United States, practitioners and researchers have become interested in how to improve implementation with students and staff from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Fallon, O'Keeffe, and Sugai (2012) reviewed the literature on...

Optimal levels of treatment fidelity, a critical moderator of intervention effectiveness, are often difficult to sustain in applied settings. It is unknown whether performance feedback, a widely researched method for increasing educators' treatment fidelity, is an evidence-based practice. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the current resea...

Performance feedback (PF) is an empirically supported method of increasing teachers' treatment adherence. In the evaluations of PF to date, however, PF was delivered by someone external to the school. The primary purpose of this case study was to provide an exploratory evaluation of the effectiveness and feasibility of PF when delivered by a school...

The number of schools implementing school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) practices nationwide is increasing, but still little is known about the fidelity with which teachers implement SWPBS practices in the classroom. Specifically, data are needed that reflect the consistency with which classroom-based SWPBS practices are implemented, as we...

Implementation, or treatment fidelity, is the link between evidence-based interventions and changes in student outcomes. Although higher levels of treatment fidelity are usually associated with greater student improvements, many educators struggle to implement intervention and practices consistently. To be responsive to this issue, school problem-s...

Measuring an implementer’s treatment integrity, specifically an implementer’s adherence to steps of an intervention, can be done via direct (e.g., observation) or indirect (e.g., self-report) methods of assessment. Direct observation is a widely used and accepted method of data collection in research due to its technical adequacy. However, direct o...

When implementing behavioral interventions in educational settings, some implementers need support to maintain high levels of treatment integrity. Performance feedback has a large body of research supporting it as a strategy for improving teachers’ implementation of classroom interventions. However, in most prior studies, performance feedback has b...

Teachers typically enter the field with limited training in classroom management, and research demonstrates that training alone does not result in improved practice. Typically, researchers have relied on time-intensive training packages that include performance feedback to improve teachers’ use of classroom management practices; however, initial ev...

The present study investigated the effects of an intensive training protocol on levels of paraeducator fidelity to a group contingency intervention used to manage the classroom behavior of students with EBD. A multiple baseline design across classrooms was used to determine whether the training was associated with initial and sustained increases in...

Students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds have historically experienced poor outcomes related to academic achievement, special education, school discipline and climate, and juvenile justice. Differences between home and school cultures likely contribute to these outcomes. Evidence-based practices in schools are promoted to imp...

A review of the literature related to culture and student behavior reveals a number of interesting observations that are not surprising. First, culture is a difficult construct to define and has been defined variably over the years. Second, schools are becoming increasingly diverse, and evidence-based behavior management practices have been impleme...

Although widely recommended, evidence-based interventions are not regularly utilized by school practitioners. Video self-modeling is an effective and efficient evidence-based intervention for a variety of student problem behaviors. However, like many other evidence-based interventions, it is not frequently used in schools. As video creation technol...

The assessment of treatment integrity is important for determining the effectiveness of an intervention. Treatment integrity, a multidimensional construct, can be evaluated in two ways: by session or component. In this study, adherence, quality, and exposure data are estimated using permanent product data from implementation of the PAX Good Behavio...

The effectiveness of an intervention package involving self-management and a group contingency at increasing appropriate classroom behaviors was evaluated in a sample of middle school students. Participants included all students in each of the 3 eighth-grade general education classrooms and their teachers. The intervention package included strategi...

Although treatment integrity data are necessary for assessing the intervention effectiveness and evaluating student progress, treatment integrity is rarely assessed in schools. Research results consistently indicate that without ongoing support, many teachers implement interventions with low-to-moderate and variable levels of treatment integrity. S...