ArticlePublisher preview available

School-Based Supports and Interventions to Improve Social and Behavioral Outcomes with Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Youth: A Review of Recent Quantitative Research

Authors:
Lindsay M. Fallon at University of Massachusetts Boston
Lindsay M. Fallon
Emily R. DeFouw at University of Southern Mississippi
Emily R. DeFouw
Sadie Cathcart at University of Massachusetts Boston
Sadie Cathcart
Talia S. Berkman
Talia S. Berkman
Talia S. Berkman
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
Show all 7 authorsHide
Read publisher preview
Download citation
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract and Figures

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 and behavioral outcomes in school. Results from a literature review conducted nearly a decade ago indicated that there was, at that point, a paucity of empirical research related to considering students’ culture (e.g., race, ethnicity) and supporting school behavior. The purpose of this study is to replicate and expand the previous review to summarize the characteristics of the most recent school-based quantitative research addressing interventions to promote social and behavioral outcomes for racially and ethnically minoritized youth. We screened 1687 articles for inclusion in the review. Upon coding 32 eligible research studies, we found that intervention and implementer characteristics within these studies varied, but noted strong intervention effects in studies that included established evidence-based practices, adapted interventions, as well as new practices piloted with student participants. Results inform recommendations to continue to study interventions that promote positive social and behavioral outcomes for racially and ethnically minoritized students to disrupt a long history of subjection to exclusionary discipline disproportionately.
Figures - available from: Journal of Behavioral Education
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
A preview of this full-text is provided by Springer Nature.
Learn more
Content available from Journal of Behavioral Education
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Behavioral Education (2022) 31:123–156
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-021-09436-3
1 3
ORIGINAL PAPER
School‑Based Supports andInterventions toImprove Social
andBehavioral Outcomes withRacially andEthnically
Minoritized Youth: AReview ofRecent Quantitative
Research
LindsayM.Fallon1 · EmilyR.DeFouw2· SadieC.Cathcart1· TaliaS.Berkman1·
PatrickRobinson‑Link1· BredaV.O’Keee3· GeorgeSugai4
Accepted: 18 March 2021 / Published online: 1 May 2021
© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection
may apply 2021
Abstract
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 criti-
cal to promoting students’ social and behavioral outcomes in school. Results from
a literature review conducted nearly a decade ago indicated that there was, at that
point, a paucity of empirical research related to considering students’ culture (e.g.,
race, ethnicity) and supporting school behavior. The purpose of this study is to rep-
licate and expand the previous review to summarize the characteristics of the most
recent school-based quantitative research addressing interventions to promote social
and behavioral outcomes for racially and ethnically minoritized youth. We screened
1687 articles for inclusion in the review. Upon coding 32 eligible research studies,
we found that intervention and implementer characteristics within these studies var-
ied, but noted strong intervention effects in studies that included established evi-
dence-based practices, adapted interventions, as well as new practices piloted with
student participants. Results inform recommendations to continue to study interven-
tions that promote positive social and behavioral outcomes for racially and ethni-
cally minoritized students to disrupt a long history of subjection to exclusionary dis-
cipline disproportionately.
* Lindsay M. Fallon
lindsay.fallon@umb.edu
1 Department ofCounseling andSchool Psychology, University ofMassachusetts Boston, 100
Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA02125, USA
2 Ohio University, Athens, GA, USA
3 University ofUtah, SaltLakeCity, UT, USA
4 University ofConnecticut, Storrs, CN, USA
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Still, the authors of the review used this as evidence that the framework is a promising approach for reducing disproportionality in school discipline. In a replication of that review, Fallon et al. (2021) examined quantitative studies, including single-case studies, to understand characteristics of interventions used with samples that included culturally and ethnically minoritized youth. They found only about one quarter of studies in the review included interventions that were culturally adapted or designed to be culturally relevant, concluding that more interventions could be implemented that expand the consideration of family voice and building relationships in the classroom. ...
... First is the question of frequency and level of cultural responsiveness. Of the interventions tested on diverse groups of students, just a small portion were culturally adapted or relevant (Fallon et al., 2021), and the only previous review looking evaluating the means of cultural responsiveness (Brown et al., 2018) explored how existing interventions have been culturally adapted, but did not include novel, innovative interventions designed to be culturally responsive in and of themselves. This study seeks to identify what culturally responsive elements have been considered in the development or implementation of interventions in single-case research studies. ...
... As Fallon et al. (2021) articulated in their review, there is room for more behavior intervention studies that incorporate student and family voice in their design and implementation. Even with relatively few studies, the results of this review stem questions for research of culturally responsive behavioral interventions in schools. ...
A Systematic Review of Single-Case Research Examining Culturally Responsive Behavior Interventions in Schools
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2023
  • J Behav Educ
Cultural responsiveness, or building on the strengths of the learning histories and social contingencies of students, is an important feature of instruction to engage students and ensure they feel represented in their classrooms. This systematic literature review examined which single-case designs have been used to study culturally responsive behavior interventions, the settings in which they have been tested, and the elements of cultural responsiveness present among them. This review included 12 studies that used experimental single-case design, demonstrated consideration of student culture in their design, and examined the effect of the intervention on student behavior. Studies were coded for their inclusion of culturally responsive elements in design or implementation, the size of student intervention groups, and the conditions used as a comparison to determine effectiveness of culturally responsive intervention. The most common culturally responsive elements were those that used knowledge of student identities and student input in intervention design; however, input from families or the community were infrequently used. Interventions were delivered across a spectrum of group sizes, including in whole classrooms, small groups, and with individual students. Only two studies directly compared non-adapted intervention with culturally responsive intervention within a multi-treatment design. This review has implications for how practitioners may evaluate behavior interventions for use in their classrooms and for the design of future studies to evaluate potential additive and equity-enhancing effects of culturally responsive behavior interventions.
View
... Thus, in such instances, a greater need for and reliance on various TA strategies may be warranted. Other factors, such as the differences in the length or intensity of the delivery of an EBI (Codding et al., 2022;Fallon et al., 2022) can also impact implementation capacity and, thus, TA needs. The aforementioned studies and other related work highlight how factors relating to EBI resources, other infrastructure supports, and their complexity can contribute to a provider's capacity to deliver a program with fidelity, which may relate to how much TA is needed. ...
Unpacking Technical Assistance (TA) Strategies Within a State-Level Prevention Support System: A Mixed-Method Study in Determining Types and Amount of TA
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2024
  • EVAL HEALTH PROF
The research-practice gap between evidence-based intervention efficacy and its uptake in real-world contexts remains a central challenge for prevention and implementation science. Providing technical assistance (TA) is considered a crucial support mechanism that can help narrow the gap. However, empirical measurement of TA strategies and their variation is often lacking. The current study unpacks the black box of TA, highlighting different TA strategies, amounts, and their relation to intervention characteristics. First, we qualitatively categorized interactions between TA providers and implementers. Second, we explored how characteristics of implementing organizations and the intervention related to variations in the amount of TA delivered. Using data spanning six years, we analyzed over 10,000 encounters between TA providers and implementers. Content analysis yielded four distinct strategies: Consultation (27.2%), Coordination Logistics (24.5%), Monitoring (16.5%), and Resource Delivery (28.2%). Organizations with prior experience required less monitoring and resource delivery. Additionally, characteristics of the intervention were significantly associated with the amount of consultation, monitoring, coordination logistics, and resource delivery provided. The specific features of the intervention showed significant variation in their relation to TA strategies. These findings provide initial insights into the implications of intervention characteristics in determining how much of which TA strategies are needed to support implementations in real-world settings.
View
Effective Classroom Management in Middle Level Schools: A Qualitative Study of Teacher Perceptions
Article
  • Sep 2023
This focus group study examined general education and special education teachers' perceptions of effective classroom management practices in middle school to foster student engagement and learning.
View
A Teacher Self-Assessment of Culturally Relevant Practice to Inform Educator Professional Development Decisions in MTSS Contexts
Article
Full-text available
  • Aug 2022
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. This multi-study article describes how the Assessment of Culturally and Contextually Relevant Supports (ACCReS) was developed with the purpose of assessment driving intervention for teachers in need of support to engage in culturally responsive practice. Items for the ACCReS were created via a multi-step process including review by both expert and practitioner panels. Then, results of an exploratory factor analysis with a national sample of teachers ( N = 500) in Study 1 yielded three subscales. A confirmatory factor analysis conducted with a separate sample of teachers ( N = 400) in Study 2 produced adequate model fit. In Study 3, analyses with another final sample of teachers ( N = 99) indicated preliminary evidence of convergent validity between the ACCReS and two measures of teacher self-efficacy of culturally responsive practice. Data from the ACCReS can shape the content of educator intervention (e.g., PD) and promote more equitable student outcomes for youth.
View
National Analysis of the Disciplinary Exclusion of Black Students with and without Disabilities
Article
Full-text available
Objective The objective of this study was to determine the current national results regarding school discipline for Black students. There are decades of data demonstrating the discriminatory discipline faced by Black children and adolescents in America’s K-12 public education system. Yet, there is limited research focusing exclusively on Black students with disabilities and no publically available research documenting the analysis of Black students with and without disabilities at the national level. Method The method was a quantitative analysis using rates and weighted risk ratios. Results The results indicated that ∼10% of Black students received a suspension, compared with 2.5% for all other racial/ethnic groups. For students with disabilities, ∼23% of Black students received a suspension, compared with ∼9% for Hispanic and White students with disabilities, almost 6% for Asian students with disabilities, and 21% for Native American students with disabilities. Risk ratio results vary by comparison group. Conclusions Black students with and without disabilities continue to be grossly overrepresented in exclusionary discipline compared to their proportion within the population. Implications for research, policy, and practice are provided.
View
Classroom Management for Ethnic–Racial Minority Students: A Meta-Analysis of Single-Case Design Studies
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2018
Diversification trends of U.S. schools make clear the need for evidence-based practices supporting ethnically–racially diverse students. Yet, there are significant hindrances to readily identifying and summarizing findings generated from diverse classroom contexts. The current meta-analytic review was designed to address this gap in the classroom management literature. This review includes single-case design studies conducted in majority ethnic–racial minority classrooms (≥50%) that included a direct comparison of baseline to treatment for behavior management strategies implemented at the whole class level. A total of 22 studies spanning from 1973 to 2014 met eligibility criteria for this review, including 838 students and 46 K−12 classrooms. Results indicate that classwide management approaches applied in diverse classrooms are heavily behavioral and highly effective in improving student behavior (Mτ = |.92|, MHedges’s g = 2.52). Overall, interventions that included an individual or group contingency consistently demonstrated large effects and were the most frequently used strategies. However, other interventions displayed comparably high results but were less frequently studied. Findings further revealed significant gaps in the quality and diversity of research completed to date. Specifically, half of the studies did not include cases that met What Works Clearinghouse design standards for demonstrating methodological rigor. There were also few studies that included minority populations other than African American, and there was limited variation in educational settings and intervention designs. Of some concern was the heightened frequency of response cost procedures included in interventions for diverse classrooms, possibly running counter to recommendations that emphasize reinforcement-based strategies.
View
Examining Dimensions of Treatment Intensity and Treatment Fidelity in Mathematics Intervention Research for Students at Risk
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2018
To prevent academic failure and promote long-term success, response-to-intervention (RtI) is designed to systematically increase the intensity of delivering research-based interventions. Interventions within an RtI framework must not only be effective but also be implemented with treatment fidelity and delivered with the appropriate level of treatment intensity to improve student mathematics achievement. The purpose of this systematic review was to explore the mathematics intervention research for students at risk of mathematics failure by examining intervention characteristics related to treatment fidelity and intensity. Results from 66 math intervention studies conducted from 2004 to 2015 were summarized. The majority of studies monitored treatment fidelity and provided details of some aspects of treatment intensity (i.e., dose, group size). However, interventionists’ characteristics, implementation characteristics, and treatment design were less frequently reviewed. Implications for future research and educational practices are discussed.
View
Journal Article Reporting Standards for Quantitative Research in Psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board Task Force Report
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2018
Following a review of extant reporting standards for scientific publication, and reviewing 10 years of experience since publication of the first set of reporting standards by the American Psychological Association (APA; APA Publications and Communications Board Working Group on Journal Article Reporting Standards, 2008), the APA Working Group on Quantitative Research Reporting Standards recommended some modifications to the original standards. Examples of modifications include division of hypotheses, analyses, and conclusions into 3 groupings (primary, secondary, and exploratory) and some changes to the section on meta-analysis. Several new modules are included that report standards for observational studies, clinical trials, longitudinal studies, replication studies, and N-of-1 studies. In addition, standards for analytic methods with unique characteristics and output (structural equation modeling and Bayesian analysis) are included. These proposals were accepted by the Publications and Communications Board of APA and supersede the standards included in the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2010).
View
HIGH SCHOOL PBIS IMPLEMENTATION: STUDENT VOICE
Technical Report
  • Sep 2019
This brief discusses the importance of student voice, describes the unique features of high school settings that can make it challenging to include students, and offers strategies to address these barriers. https://www.pbis.org/resource/high-school-pbis-implementation-student-voice
View
Incorporating feasibility protocols in intervention research
Article
  • Feb 2021
  • J SCHOOL PSYCHOL
In this paper, we review some dimensions of feasibility research. Feasibility research focuses on the intervention process and addresses questions about whether and how an intervention can be evaluated and implemented. Feasibility studies are implemented prior to conducting an outcome-focused pilot study or full-scale evaluation to test the effectiveness of an intervention. We propose a feasibility framework that includes 10 possible dimensions to evaluate in a feasibility trial, including (a) recruitment capability, (b) data collection procedures, (c) design procedures, (d) social validity, (e) practicality, (f) integration into existing systems, (g) adaptability, (h) implementation, (i) effectiveness, and (j) generalizability. Among these dimensions we offer some priorities that researchers can consider in establishing feasibility. Although feasibility investigations can advance evidence-based practice in psychology and education, we review current challenges for researchers to consider when incorporating a feasibility protocol into their intervention research agenda.
View
Exploring Disproportionate Discipline for Latinx Students With and Without Disabilities: A National Analysis
Article
  • Oct 2020
The Latinx population is the largest group of racially and ethnically diverse students in the United States. Although disproportionality in school discipline has been documented for Latinx students, findings related to such disparities have been inconsistent. We examined disciplinary exclusion practices involving students with and without disabilities who are Latinx across the United States using risk ratios (RR) and weighted mixed-effect models. We leveraged data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data set for the 2015 to 2016 academic school year, which included data from more than 94,000 schools. The CRDC is collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights every 2 years. All U.S. public schools are required to submit data to the CRDC. Results suggest that Latinx students with and without disabilities were statistically significantly more likely to receive exclusionary discipline than White students, but less likely than Black students. Implications for research and practice are provided.
View
The School Discipline Dilemma: A Comprehensive Review of Disparities and Alternative Approaches
Article
  • Oct 2018
In recent decades, K–12 school discipline policies and practices have garnered increasing attention among researchers, policymakers, and educators. Disproportionalities in school discipline raise serious questions about educational equity. This study provides a comprehensive review of the extant literature on the contributors to racial, gender, and income disparities in disciplinary outcomes, and the effectiveness of emerging alternatives to exclusionary disciplinary approaches. Our findings indicate that the causes of the disparities are numerous and multifaceted. Although low-income and minority students experience suspensions and expulsions at higher rates than their peers, these differences cannot be solely attributed to socioeconomic status or increased misbehavior. Instead, school and classroom occurrences that result from the policies, practices, and perspectives of teachers and principals appear to play an important role in explaining the disparities. There are conceptual and open empirical questions on whether and how some of the various alternatives are working to counter the discipline disparities.
View
Evaluation of the Olweus Bully Prevention Program in an Urban School System in the USA
Article
  • Jun 2018
This study evaluated the Olweus Bully Prevention Program (OBPP) in urban middle schools serving a mostly African American student population. Participants were 1791 students from three communities with high rates of crime and poverty. We evaluated the impact of the OBPP using a multiple-baseline experimental design in which we randomized the order and timing of intervention activities across three schools. We assessed the frequency of violence and victimization using self-report and teachers’ ratings of students collected every 3 months over 5 years. Initiation of the OBPP was associated with reductions in teachers’ ratings of students’ frequency of aggression, with effects emerging in different years of implementation for different forms of aggression. Whereas reductions in teachers’ ratings of students’ verbal and relational aggression and victimization were evident during the second implementation year, reductions in physical aggression did not appear until the third year. Effects were consistent across gender and schools, with variability across grades for relational and verbal aggression and victimization. In contrast, there were no intervention effects on students’ reports of their behavior. Positive outcomes for teachers’, but not students’ ratings, suggest the intervention’s effects may have been limited to the school context. Variation in when effects emerged across outcomes suggests that changes in physical aggression may require more sustained intervention efforts. The intervention was also associated with increases in teachers’ concerns about school safety problems, which may indicate that teachers were more attuned to recognizing problem behaviors following exposure to the OBPP.
View
School Strictness and Disproportionate Minority Contact: Investigating Racial and Ethnic Disparities With the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”
Article
  • Apr 2018
There are racial and ethnic disparities associated with school discipline practices and juvenile justice contact. In addition, research suggests that stricter school discipline practices and disproportionate minority contact for minority youth are relatively more prevalent in urban areas. What remains unknown, however, is the relationship between race and ethnicity, school discipline practices, and juvenile justice referrals across urban, rural, and suburban schools. Therefore, this study draws from the Texas Education Agency’s Public Education Information Management System to investigate the relationship between school discipline practices and juvenile justice contact with a focus on racial and ethnic disparities in urban, rural, and suburban schools. Findings indicate that both stringent and lenient school discipline practices have effects on juvenile justice referrals as well as racial and ethnic disparities across distinct school locations; however, there are important and distinctive nuances that are presented and examined.
View