Performance Indicators in Math: Implications for Brief Experimental Analysis of Academic Performance

Brief experimental analysis (BEA) can be used to specify intervention characteristics that produce positive learning gains for individual students. A key challenge to the use of BEA for intervention planning is the identification of performance indicators (including topography of the skill, measurement characteristics, and decision criteria) that meaningfully relate to longer term success in the learning environment. This study investigates the utility of various curriculum-based assessment and measurement estimates of mathematics performance for predicting functional outcomes (i.e., retention of learned skills over time and faster learning of related content in the future). All children in grades 2–5 at the participating school participated in protocol-based computational fluency-building intervention 4 days per week for an entire school year. Specific criteria were applied each week to systematically increase intervention difficulty classwide according to a pre-established sequence of computational skill objectives. Three measurements were routinely obtained. Each week children completed a timed probe of the skill for which intervention was currently occurring and a timed probe of previously mastered skills from the sequence of computational skill objectives. Each month, all children completed a timed probe of mathematics skills representing computational skills that students were expected to master by year’s end at each grade level. At all grade levels, learning a skill that appeared early in the hierarchy or sequence of skills related positively to learning of future related and more complex computational skills. Fluency criteria were specified that predicted retention of the skill over several months.     

Introduction to the Special Series: Clinical Applications of the Inhibitory Learning Model

Exposure therapies (ETs) are treatments of choice for a number of mental health disorders, particularly anxiety and associated conditions, and problems due to avoidance. Exposure has received broad empirical support as a primary intervention. Recent efforts have focused on improving the efficacy and acceptability of exposure-based treatments. As proposed by Craske etal. (2014), strategies to improve ETs based on the inhibitory learning model have shown notable promise. However, surveys suggest that clinicians continue to avoid ETs, or implement them in a manner that interrupts their efficacy. In this special series, articles focus on specific inhibitory learning strategies in exposure, and their adaptation to multiple patient populations. The aim of the special series is to critically assess the research support for inhibitory learning approaches to exposure, and provide guidance for clinicians to implement these strategies in everyday practice.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: The Influence of Cultural and Linguistic Variables on Student Behavior and Academic Performance

Although focus on linguistic and cultural variables in education has been a priority at the federal level, few empirical papers reporting experimental analyses of the influence of these variables have been published. The goal of this special issue is to highlight recent experimental analyses of cultural or linguistic variables on student behavior or academic performance and to illustrate the challenges in translating an applied behavior analytic approach across languages and cultures. The special issue is comprised of studies that address three issues relevant to behavioral education: (1) comparative effects of providing academic instruction or addressing challenging behavior of children with intellectual and developmental disorders in English or their home language of Spanish, (2) delivering effective instructional practices with students from diverse racial and cultural groups, and (3) considerations regarding the translation of applied behavior analysis in education for adoption in a different language and culture.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Toward an Explicit Technology for Generalizing Academic Behavior

This special issue of the Journal of Behavioral Education was designed to call attention to a much needed area of academic intervention research: generalization programming. Although the occurrence of generalized responding across items, settings, tasks, and time is clearly recognized as a goal of intervention, less research has been devoted to the technology through which such generalization may occur. This introductory article revisits the concept of generalization and the methods that may be used to facilitate generalization.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: The Social Psychology of Academic Achievement: Progress and Prospects

Social Psychology of Education -     

Special Series Introduction: Confronting the Challenge of Clinical Decision Making in Evidence-Based Practice

This special series addresses the often ignored problem that many clients seen by practicing clinicians do not benefit from empirically-based practices as neatly as research may suggest. The authors in this series have considered the process of decision making in evidence-based practice, looking from differing viewpoints, and considering treatment setting and ethical issues. They present suggestions for clinicians to adapt treatment to the needs of clients while adhering to the robust research on psychotherapy processes and cognitive behavioral therapy.