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

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 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.

A Teacher Self-Assessment of Culturally Relevant Practice to Inform Educator Professional Development Decisions in MTSS Contexts

“…Culturally relevant and responsive practice have been linked to gains across behavioral (Fallon, Cathcart, et al, 2018), academic (Powell et al, 2016), and social-emotional (Castro-Olivo, 2014) domains, leading to positive long-term outcomes (e.g., higher achievement test scores, increased graduation rates; Cammarota & Romero, 2009). Although there is a dearth of research on the prevalence of culturally responsive practice in the classroom, recent reviews (Fallon et al, 2021a, 2022) synthesized the extent to which culturally responsive academic and behavioral practices have been implemented to promote outcomes for racially and ethnically minoritized youth.…”

“…Specifically, item stems were added to specific practices recommended in the systematic review (Fallon et al, 2012). For instance, the practice “greet students daily” (which was associated with the recommendation to increase positive interactions), became “Each day, I personally greet all of my students.” To ensure items reflected current literature, two follow-up systematic reviews were conducted (targeting instructional and behavioral support, respectively), extending the years of publications reviewed to 2020 (Fallon et al, 2021a, 2022). These subsequent reviews confirmed themes and recommendations found in the original study (e.g., include students’ culture in instruction, partner with families).…”

Unpacking Technical Assistance (TA) Strategies Within a State-Level Prevention Support System: A Mixed-Method Study in Determining Types and Amount of TA

“…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.…”