We report a randomized, wait-list controlled trial assessing the effects of school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS). An effectiveness analysis was conducted with elementary schools in Hawaii and Illinois where training and technical assistance in SWPBS was provided by regular state personnel over a 3-year period. Results document that the training and technical assistance were functionally related to improved implementation of universal-level SWPBS practices. Improved use of SWPBS was functionally related to improvements in the perceived safety of the school setting and the proportion of third graders meeting or exceeding state reading assessment standards. Results also document that levels of office discipline referrals were comparatively low, but the absence of experimental control for this variable precludes inference about the impact of SWPBS. Implications for future research directions are offered.

Effective school-based programming for students with behavioral difficulties continues to challenge educators. Consensus is growing that prevention and early intervention must be prioritized, agencies must collaborate, and family—school partnerships must be improved so that effective interventions are actually implemented. This article explores how the school-based wraparound approach and a school-wide systems approach to positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) work together to create more effective school environments and improved outcomes for students with or at risk of behavioral challenges. Complementary aspects of these wraparound and PBIS approaches are described, and future directions for research and practice are explored.

More than 1,000 Illinois schools are implementing schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) to enhance outcomes for students and staff. Consequently, Illinois established layered support structures to facilitate scaling up SWPBS. This paper describes the development of this infrastructure and presents the results of HLM analyses exploring the effects of implementing SWPBS, with and without fidelity across time, on student behavior and academic outcomes (office discipline referrals, suspensions, and state-wide test scores in reading and math) for a sample of 428 Illinois schools implementing SWPBS. Results indicate that (a) most schools implemented with fidelity and maintained or improved student performance across time and (b) implementation fidelity was associated with improved social outcomes and academic outcomes in math. Study limitations and implications are discussed.

Scaling of evidence-based practices in education has received extensive discussion but little empirical evaluation. We present here a descriptive summary of the experience from seven states with a history of implementing and scaling School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) over the past decade. Each state has been successful in establishing at least 500 schools using SWPBIS across approximately a third or more of the schools in their state. The implementation elements proposed by Sugai, Horner, and Lewis (2009) and the stages of implementation described by Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, and Wallace (2005) were used within a survey with each element assessed at each stage by the SWPBIS coordinators and policy makers in the seven states. Consistent themes from analysis of the responses were defined and confirmed with the surveyed participants. Results point to four central areas of state “capacity” as being perceived as critical for a state to move SWPBIS to scale (administrative leadership and funding, local training and coaching capacity, behavioral expertise, and local evaluation capacity), and an iterative process in which initial implementation success (100–200 demonstrations) is needed to recruit the political and fiscal support required for larger scaling efforts.

As multitiered systems of support (MTSS) for improving student emotional/behavioral (EB) functioning are being scaled up nationally (Horner et al., 2014), there is a critical need to define how these approaches meet the needs of students presenting internalizing EB problems such as depression, anxiety, and trauma-related concerns. Contributing to the improvement of MTSS is the systematic joining of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) and school mental health (SMH) services. A recently defined interconnected systems framework (ISF; Barrett, Eber, & Weist, 2013) provides explicit guidance on doing this work, and a national workgroup for ISF is exploring its implementation in sites around the country. The theme of improving prevention and intervention for youth with internalizing issues is a significant emphasis in this effort. However, many schools and collaborating partners from the mental health and other youth-serving systems struggle to develop multitiered programs for youth with internalizing challenges. The underlying tenets and approaches for addressing internalizing problem behavior differ from those that focus on improving more distinct externalizing behaviors such as noncompliance, disruptiveness, rule violation, aggression, attention problems, and acting out. The overall goal of this article is to build from important prior reviews (e.g., McIntosh, Ty, & Miller, 2014) and lessons being learned as the ISF is implemented in sites across the country to improve multitiered promotion/prevention, early intervention, and intervention for students presenting internalizing problems. Within MTSS efforts, school staff and community collaborators (as in the ISF) continue to struggle to implement programs for youth with internalizing problems. Objectives of this article are to review background factors limiting attention to internalizing issues within MTSS and to present recommendations for moving the field forward in improving practice, research, and policy on these issues, with particular attention paid to the ISF and its critical role in this agenda. There are three sections to the article.