To support students’ academic, behavioral, and social needs, many schools have adopted multitiered models of prevention. Because Tier 3 interventions are costly in terms of time and resources, schools must find efficient and effective Tier 2 interventions prior to providing such intense supports. In this article, we review the literature base on Tier 2 interventions conducted within the context of multitiered prevention models evidencing a Tier 1 behavioral plan. Article selection and coding procedures are described and results are presented. Finally, we summarize our findings of four research questions, reflect on limitations, and offer suggestions for future inquiry.

Perhaps at no other time has teacher preparation been under such scrutiny and held to such high standards. To illustrate, teacher preparation programs are challenged to develop, adopt and consider efficient methods to train teacher candidates to understand and implement evidence-based practices for teaching and supporting students with exceptionalities (Maheady, Smith, & Jabot, 2014). The end goal is for teacher candidates to master a critical corpus of evidence-based practices that will be implemented with fidelity such that future K-12 students will benefit (Brownell, Griffin, Leko, & Stephens, 2011). Although this goal may seem obvious, there is a body of research demonstrating that many teachers emerge from their preparatory programs without sufficient skills needed for success (see Brownell, Sindelar, Kiely, & Danielson, 2010). This is corroborated in part by negative outcomes for many students with exceptionalities across academic and social domains of interest and multiple decades.To address critical training needs, researchers in the field of special education and teacher education are charged with developing and testing interventions to support teacher quality and preservice student learning. However, the field has not been overwhelmed by voluminous 615885E CXXXX10.

Given the critical importance of discrete instructional practices in special education, teacher candidates must be prepared to implement them upon entering the classroom. In preservice teacher education programs, field placements and clinical experiences rarely provide enough opportunities for preservice teachers to gain the proficiency needed to provide effective instruction. In this study, a randomized control research design was used to investigate the effects of a mixed-reality simulation experience compared with traditional classroom practice in the implementation of a system of least prompts. Results suggest that mixed-reality simulation with additional coaching supports significantly improved preservice teachers’ implementation of the prompting sequence. Social validity data collected offer insights into the use of mixed-reality simulation in practice with preservice teachers. Limitations and suggestions for future work are discussed.

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is an empirically supported intervention associated with decreasing problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior. To date, few studies have examined multimedia approaches to FBA training. This paper provides the outcomes of a randomized controlled trial across three university sites and evaluates whether preservice teachers can learn the core features of the FBA process through short multimedia vignettes compared to a traditional method (i.e., in-person lecture with PowerPoint). Based on our previous research, we hypothesized that the multimedia group (n = 97) would outperform the traditional method group (n = 102). Results indicated statistically significant differences in FBA knowledge favoring the students who participated in the multimedia condition, F(1, 198) = 9.61, p = .002, d = 0.45. Findings are discussed along with implications for practice and subsequent research.