No abstract

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 districts. Study 1 investigated the relationship between teachers' (n = 20) ratings on a measure of cultural responsiveness, the Assessment of Culturally and Contextually Relevant Supports (ACCReS), and students' classroom behavior. Results indicated that higher ACCReS scores significantly predicted lower classwide disruptive behavior. Study 2 investigated the relationship between teachers' (n = 30) ratings on the ACCReS and ratings of their students' risk on the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener. For social behavior, higher ACCReS scores predicted teachers perceiving lower social risk; however, identification as a Black student and a student with a disability predicted higher risk. Findings are preliminary, yet implications include recommendations for high-quality professional development to promote teacher cultural responsiveness. Such support could guide teachers to create educational environments in which fewer discipline referrals for behavior occur, teachers perceive less social risk, and access to school behavior supports is more equitable.

Understanding how to intensify an intervention is critical to implementing responseto-intervention (RtI), a tiered, problem-solving framework to deliver evidence-based interventions per student needs. Research and practice guidelines provide conflicting recommendations for delivering math interventions (i.e., treatment intensity) within RtI. The present study used an adapted alternating treatment design to examine the impact of varying the session length, or number of minutes per intervention session, on student outcomes (i.e., digits correct per min, DCPM). Four female first-grade students identified in the frustrational range (i.e., less than 14 DCPM) for subtraction computation received a packaged intervention (i.e., Cover-Copy-Compare and Schema-Based Word Problem Instruction). The math intervention during the shortest (i.e., 10-min) session length led to similar improvements compared to two of the recommended session length conditions (i.e., 20-40 min) for three out of four students. Following the 5-week intervention, all four students reached an instructional level (i.e., 14-31 DCPM) for the intervention targets, similarly, across all three session length conditions. Implications for research on treatment intensity, math interventions, and RtI are discussed.

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 evidenced. Specifically, we present two interrelated follow-up studies. Study 1 examined the relationship between teachers’ ( n = 20) ratings on a measure of cultural responsiveness, the Double Check Self-Refection Tool, and students’ observed classroom behavior. Results from multilevel modeling indicated that higher Double Check scores significantly predicted higher academic engagement and lower disruptive behavior for 454 students observed. Study 2 investigated the relationship between teachers’ ( n = 30) ratings on the Double Check Self-Refection Tool and ratings of 622 students’ risk on the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS). Results indicated higher Double Check scores were associated with lower ratings of students’ social and emotional risk. Findings also indicated identification as a Black student and a student with a disability predicted teachers’ perceptions of higher risk, consistent with previous research. As results remain preliminary, implications include recommendations for additional research and high-quality professional development to promote teachers’ cultural responsiveness.