Teachers’ Characteristics and Ratings for Evidence-Based Behavioral Interventions

The vast majority of schools today are not prepared to support children’s social behavior needs. One challenge is that teachers may not be knowledgeable of evidence-based practices that can be utilized with children. This study explored teachers’ agreement ratings for evidence-based and nonevidence-based behavior management practices for children with emotional and behavior needs, and whether specific teacher characteristics (educational level, amount of education and training using behavioral interventions, and position as a special or general educator) yielded differences in ratings. A survey was developed based on an extensive review of the literature in this area. The survey questions that were the main focus for this study were taken from an Institute for Educational Sciences practice guide. A total of 363 teachers of early childhood and elementary-age students served as participants. Overall, special educators had higher ratings for evidence-based practices and lower ratings for nonevidence-based practices than general educators’ ratings. Special educators also reported more confidence in their interventions. Graduate level of education was associated with lower ratings for nonevidence-based practices than undergraduate level. Teacher-rated level of training and education implementing behavior interventions was not associated with agreement with evidence or nonevidence-based practices. These findings are discussed. & Research-based interventions to prevent or ameliorate emotional and behavioral problems are available and could be utilized by school professionals (Greenberg, Domitrovich, & Bumbarger, 2001; Hoagwood et al., 2007). With the current emphases on prevention and using evidence-based practices in schools it is critical to investigate teachers’ knowledge of evidence-based practices and characteristics of teachers associated with knowledge. For the prevention of behavior disorders, it is critical that teachers’ use effective practices for working with children with behavior problems. However, teachers, who are critical primary prevention interventionists, have reported both a lack of preparation and knowledge of interventions for supporting children with social behavioral needs (Reinke, Stormont, Herman, Puri, & Goel, 2011). The purposes of this study are to further investigate teacher knowledge of specific evidence-based practices and to determine if specific teacher characteristics are associated with agreement ratings for evidence-based and nonevidencebased behavioral interventions. One teacher characteristic that has been documented as an important variable associated with ratings and use of evidence-based behavioral supports is educational level. For example, in research with preschool teachers, teachers with graduate-level education backgrounds rated behavior supports for children with behavior problems as more important than teachers with a high school level education (Stormont, Lewis, & Covington, 2005). Recently, teachers’ level of education has also been found to be associated with researchers’ independent ratings of severity of behavior problems in the classroom (Kim & Stormont, in press). Teachers with lower educational levels had more severe observed behavioral problems for children in their classroom than those with higher educational levels. However, other research has not documented that early childhood teachers’ educational level was associated with stronger classroom management practices (Early et al., 2006). Overall, there is limited research with teachers of elementary aged students and their use of evidence-based behavioral practices for children with behavioral needs (Zentall & StormontSpurgin, 1995). The majority of available research with educational level has focused on the impact this variable has on academic practices (Early et al., 2006; Early et al., 2007). It is also critical to evaluate knowledge of evidence-based behavioral practices for different types of educators. There has been a clear Behavioral Disorders, 37 (1), 19–29 November 2011 / 19 emphasis on increased collaboration between general and special educators to support children with diverse learning characteristics and special needs (Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, Soodak, & Shogren, 2011). However, little research has explored whether special educators have more knowledge and skills of evidence-based practices to support children with behavioral needs than general educators (Martinussen, Tannock, & Chaban, 2011). Given the importance of accountability for all students and the current focus on tiered systems of support for identifying children who need more academic and behavioral support, it is important to know if specific personnel may be better suited to support other professionals in implementing effective practices for children. Special education teachers often have specialized training in data collection and in conducting functional behavioral assessments, which are key evidence-based strategies for supporting children with behavioral problems (Misra, 2006). General educators have identified many needs for additional training, including behavioral management and assessment (Buell, Hallam, & Gamel-McCormick, 1999). If special educators do have more knowledge of such practices, then they could be utilized when making decisions regarding school-wide and classroom level practices. However, the limited literature on special and general educators’ feelings of preparedness to support inclusion, social skills development, and evidence-based practices does not clearly support the notion that special educators are indeed in a role to provide this support (Buell et al., 1999; Jones, 2009; Misra, 2006; & Pavri, 2004). For example, research on general and special educators’ feelings of preparedness to support children with social behavior needs did not find that special educators reported more preservice education than general educators, and the vast majority of both types of educators reported a need for additional training (Pavri, 2004). Also, recent research found that 41% of special educators (compared to 76% of general educators) reported they had no training in the area of supporting children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Martinussen et al., 2011). Finally, perception of preparedness in the area of using behavioral interventions is another important characteristic to assess. Prior research has found that previous educational experiences, especially for early childhood educators, may be lacking in rigor (e.g., reading magazine articles) and not associated with greater knowledge of children’s behavioral needs (e.g., Stormont & Stebbins, 2005). In terms of professional development needs, it is important to know if teachers’ perceptions of education and training in behavioral supports predict higher agreement ratings with evidence-based practices. More specifically, if teachers perceive they have substantial education and training in this area, does that predict greater support for actual evidence-based practices? This is a critical area of need as more schools are trying to build capacity to meet the needs of children in their schools, including those with or at risk for behavior disorders.