Key Staff: Brenda Taylor, School District of Philadelphia (Project Director); Kristin Sawka and Barry McCurdy (Project Co-Directors); Jennifer Jeffrey (Project Coordinator); Amanda Lannie, Matthew Wildrick, Ernesto Barnabas

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education

High rates of poverty, widespread crime, family instability and the prevalence of drugs and violence in urban areas impede children's positive social and emotional development and academic achievement. School counselors are instrumental in minimizing the educational implications of such barriers. However, all too often counselors are able to respond only to crises and cases of serious need, lacking the time, resources and support to work toward the creation of a safe learning environment that supports the academic, social, and behavioral needs of all students. This project is funded through the School District of Philadelphia with the Center for Effective Schools as the subcontractor. The purpose of Project REACH is to help counselors to focus on building resources for all children through facilitating the development of a model of school-wide positive behavior support (PBS) at each of nine project schools.

Key Staff: Barry McCurdy, Candice Ritch (Project Co-Directors), Kristin Sawka (Project Coordinator)

Funding Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts

Parent management training (PMT) has been associated with positive outcomes for children with and at risk for disruptive and antisocial behavior. However, despite the impressive outcomes associated with PMT, the process of parent recruitment and attendance at group-based training often serves to thwart parent training efforts, nullifying the potential for positive outcomes. This fact is particularly evident for ethnic minority parents, including African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American parents as well as low income parents who may be additionally exposed to multiple risk factors. PaLS is intended to promote the recruitment and retention of families involved in a school-wide parent training effort by drawing on the services of community-based liaison staff in recruitment and retention efforts.

Key Staff: Kristin Sawka, Barry McCurdy (Project Co-Directors), Amanda Lannie, Steven LaMonica, Matthew Wildrick

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs

The school-wide positive behavior interventions and support (PBIS) model is a systematic approach to promoting prosocial behavior in students while reducing the incidence of disruptive behavior. Schools incorporating PBIS have demonstrated positive outcomes including decreased office discipline referrals, suspensions, emergency removals and expulsions as well as improved working relations among staff. However, replications are needed to test the effectiveness of this model in urban settings where there is increasing evidence of school-based violence and where increasing numbers of students are engaging in chronic and repetitive antisocial behaviors. This model demonstration project is focused on the combined goals of (a) preventing disruptive behavior, (b) promoting positive and supportive individualized interventions for students, (c) adopting a school-wide parent training component, and (d) disseminating a replicable and sustainable model of school-wide PBIS.

Key Staff: Barry McCurdy (Principal Investigator), Candice Ritch (Trainer), Angela Roman, Michele Nebrig

Funding Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts

Successful efforts in preventing antisocial behavior have included training parents in more effective disciplinary practices, focusing on responding to noncompliance at an early age by strengthening the child's ability to follow adult directives and rules. When implemented at the preschool level, these efforts have resulted in improvements in behavior not only at home but in other social settings (McNeil, Eyberg, Eisenstadt, Newcomb, & Funderberk, 1991). However, once the child enters school, there is a need for interrelated and setting-specific prevention/intervention activities that address the antecedents of antisocial behavior found across the contexts of home, school, and peer interactions. The PIP is designed to address the needs of parent and supportive family members as they struggle to cope with the complex issues presented by their children, in particular those who are at risk for behavior disorders. Specific goals of the project include (a) increasing parental involvement in school efforts to prevent antisocial behavior, (b) improving home-school consistency through building parenting skills, (c) improving support systems and access for parents, and (d) developing a model for sustainability.

Key Staff: Barry McCurdy (Principal Investigator), Kristin Sawka (Project Coordinator), Mark Mannella

Funding Source: Philadelphia Mental Health Care Corporation, Safe Students Health Schools

School districts are often at a loss to hire teaching professionals who are proficient in the delivery of emotional support (ES) services. Newly hired, bachelor-level teachers are more often trained in instructional procedures but lack knowledge of, and specific experience with, the specialized procedures necessary to promote a positive learning environment for students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD). As a result, classrooms for students with EBD frequently deteriorate into coercive "battlegrounds" where little effective instruction takes place. Worse yet, the spillover effects of a mismanaged ES classroom can negatively impact all areas of the school environment. The purpose of the SESS project is to design and deliver a training curriculum for ES teachers and to evaluate the impact of the training on student behavior and teacher acceptability.