Moral disengagement is a series of cognitive processes used to disengage moral standards to achieve absolved guilt and permit immoral conduct and has been found to be an important connection to bullying and aggressive behaviors among adolescents. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between moral disengagement and bullying behavior among a group of adolescents from fifth grade to ninth grade (n = 1180, mean age = 12.2, SD = 1.29, 46.5 % female, 80.2 % Caucasian/White, 7.1 % Black/African American, 5.4 % Latino/Hispanic, 2.4 % Asian American, and 1.7 % other) over three semesters. The objectives were to investigate (a) whether moral disengagement was a precursor to bullying behavior, vice versa, or whether the relationship was reciprocal and (b) whether gender and grade predicted moral disengagement and bullying behavior. The results showed that moral disengagement predicted bullying perpetration 6 months later. Also, older students and males utilized more moral disengagement than younger students and females and younger students and males engaged in greater bullying perpetration. Indirect paths linking gender and grade to bullying via moral disengagement at previous time points were identified and implications for bullying prevention are discussed. The findings underscore the importance of examining moral disengagement when studying bullying and across gender and development.

Previous research has suggested that moral disengagement is strongly associated with bullying and bystander behavior. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a 5-week classroom-wide bullying intervention, The Bullying Literature Project-Moral Disengagement Version (BLP-MD), on moral disengagement and bullying among elementary school students. A quasiexperimental design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the BLP-MD. A sample of 84 third grade students (M age = 7.93 years, 53.6% female) from four classrooms and their teachers participated in this study. The results revealed significant time by treatment interactions for decreasing both victimization and moral disengagement in treatment classrooms compared to waitlist control classrooms. The program also resulted in improved perception of peer friendships and was rated as having high social validity for both students and their teachers. How to incorporate the BLP-MD into the general language arts curriculum to decrease moral disengagement and bullying, and promote positive bystanding is discussed.

The published single-case design (SCD) research (N = 19 articles) on self-monitoring and reading performance was synthesized. The following inclusion criteria were used: (a) the study must have been peer-reviewed, (b) implemented an intervention targeting student self-monitoring of reading skills, (c) included data on at least 1 reading outcome, (d) included visual representation of the data, and (f) the study must have used an SCD to assess the topic of interest. A total of 67 participants, 45 males and 22 females, ranging in age from 7:8 -18:7 were included in the current meta-analysis. Ethnicity was reported for 42 students: 23 were Caucasian, 12 were African American, and 7 were Latino/Hispanic. Studies were compared with those meeting What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards and those not meeting standards. The Tau-U effect size (ES) method was the main calculation method used; however, Phi ES estimates are included for comparison purposes. Results indicated that self-monitoring had an overall significant large positive effect on the reading performance of K-12 students, Tau-U = 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.64, 0.93], p < .0001. However, self-monitoring for studies that met WWC criteria yielded a larger overall positive ES, Tau-U = 0.93, 95% CI [0.79, 1.07], p < .0001. Although the current meta-analysis is limited to peer-reviewed SCD studies, the findings provide support for self-monitoring as an evidence-based reading intervention for students in Grades K-12. Furthermore, findings indicate that larger ES values were identified when consolidating studies based on WWC guidelines as compared with consolidating across all studies. (PsycINFO Database Record

Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) utilize direct and indirect methods to collect data on student behavior to generate a functional hypothesis and drive intervention development. School psychologists are trained to conduct FBAs and use them regularly in schools. However, no evidence exists describing the specific practices used by school psychologists when they conduct FBAs. In this study, 199 respondents completed a web-based survey developed using expert review and cognitive pretesting. Most respondents reported their gender as female (87%), were between 30 and 39 years old (50%), and practiced at the Specialist level (57%).Respondents reported receiving training in FBA across multiple sources and utilizing multi-method data collection methods when conducting FBAs. A large amount of variability was observed in the specific instruments used by school psychologists, with a substantial proportion using forms that were not standardized or pre-constructed. Implications for current practitioners, trainers, and researchers are described. K E Y W O R D S functional behavior assessment, school psychologist, school psychology

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