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Implementing Effective Educational Practices at Scales of Social Importance

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Abstract

Implementing evidence-based practices is becoming both a goal and standard across medicine, psychology, and education. Initial successes, however, are now leading to questions about how successful demonstrations may be expanded to scales of social importance. In this paper, we review lessons learned about scaling up evidence-based practices gleaned from our experience implementing school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) across more than 23,000 schools in the USA. We draw heavily from the work of Flay et al. (Prev Sci 6:151–175, 2005. doi:10.1007/s11121-005-5553-y) related to defining evidence-based practices, the significant contributions from the emerging “implementation science” movement (Fixsen et al. in Implementation research: a synthesis of the literature, University of South Florida, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, The National Implementation Research Network (FMHI Publication #231), Tampa 2005), and guidance we have received from teachers, family members, students, and administrators who have adopted PBIS.

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Acknowledgements

Development of this paper was supported by the Office of Special Education Programs U.S. Department of Education (H326S980003 and H326K120005). The authors extend appreciation to Dr. Karen Blase for editorial feedback on initial drafts of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

    Robert H. Horner

  2. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    George Sugai

  3. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Dean L. Fixsen

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  1. Robert H. Horner
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  2. George Sugai
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  3. Dean L. Fixsen
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Correspondence to Robert H. Horner.

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Conflict of interest

The three authors each serve as principal investigators on federal technical assistance grants targeting large-scale implementation of evidence-based practices. The first two authors direct OSEP Grant H326K120005, and the third author directs OSEP Grant H326S980003.

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For the results reported in this paper, no formal consent of human participants was required.

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Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Education, and such endorsements should not be inferred.

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Horner, R.H., Sugai, G. & Fixsen, D.L. Implementing Effective Educational Practices at Scales of Social Importance. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 20, 25–35 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-017-0224-7

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