Sustainability of effective practices in schools is a critical area for research in any domain. The purpose of this article is to describe and evaluate the validity and reliability of a recently developed research instrument designed to evaluate schools’ capacity to sustain school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) efforts at the universal tier. The School-Wide Universal Behavior Sustainability Index–School Teams (SUBSIST) was created to assess factors (of the context, implementer practices, and outcomes) that enhance or prevent sustainability of SWPBS. Content of the web-based survey was identified through literature review, and initial validation analyses included ratings of content validity by an expert panel (n = 21) and assessment of internal consistency, test–retest reliability, interrater reliability, and concurrent validity (with SWPBS fidelity of implementation data) through a pilot study (n = 25). Results indicated strong psychometric properties for assessing sustainability. The authors discuss the results in terms of future research in enhancing SWPBS sustainability.

Based on challenges with the traditional model of school psychology, response to intervention (RTI) has been advanced as a model of special education eligibility decision making and service delivery that may address the drawbacks of the traditional models of assessment and result in improved outcomes for students. In this article, the RTI model is described, and the research base describing its rationale and outcomes is reviewed. Finally, a description of how RTI has been and can continue to be adopted and researched in Canada is provided. RésuméBasé sur les défis avec le modèle traditionnel de Psychologie en Éducation, la réponse à l'intervention (RTI) a été avancée comme un modèle d'éligibilité pour prise de décisions et de livraison de service de l'enseignement spécialisé qui peut adresser les désavantages des modèles d'évaluations traditionnels et qui en résulte dans les issues améliorées pour les étudiants. Dans cet article, le modèle de RTI est décrit, et la recherche qui décrit son raisonnement et les issues est examinée. Enfin, une description de comment RTI a été et peut continuer d'être adopté et évalué est fourni.

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Low literacy is a challenge facing Indigenous communities across North America and is an identified barrier to school success. Early literacy intervention is an important target to reduce the discrepancies in literacy outcomes. The Moe the Mouse® Speech and Language Development Program (Gardner & Chesterman, 2006) is a cultural curriculum created to improve the early language skills of students aged three to five, but its effectiveness in improving early literacy skills has yet to be assessed. An enhanced Moe the Mouse® program, created by the first author, integrates explicit instruction in phonological awareness into the Moe the Mouse® program. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the two programs. One hundred Kindergarten students at six elementary schools participated in this study. A quasiexperimental pre-post cluster design with three conditions was used. Before and after the program, phonological awareness skills of the students were assessed. Across the intervention, statistically significant differences were found in relation to phonological skills. After the intervention, a statistically significantly smaller proportion of students from the enhanced Moe the Mouse® program fell in the “At Risk” category for later reading difficulties when compared to the other conditions. Additionally, both programs were rated by teachers as socially valid and culturally responsive.

Despite an increasing need for culturally relevant curricula, what is considered culturally responsive and how it is assessed is under-researched. The present study examined the perceived cultural responsiveness and effectiveness of an early intervention program designed to teach early language skills and expose students to Indigenous culture, the Moe the Mouse