Ann C. Schulte

Cognitive‐Behavioral Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After a Single‐Incident Stressor

OBJECTIVE To test the efficacy of a group-administered cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy (CBT) protocol for pediatric posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a single-incident stressor. METHOD After a school-wide selection-to-treatment procedure conducted in two elementary and two junior high schools, children and adolescents with DSM-IV PTSD by structured interview were entered into an 18-week, group-administered CBT protocol using a single case across time and setting experimental design. Assessments of PTSD, anxiety, depression, trait anger, locus of control, and disruptive behavior were conducted at baseline, posttreatment, and at 6-month follow-up. RESULTS Experimental control across time (staggered start date) and setting (school and age) was demonstrated. Fourteen of 17 subjects completed treatment. Of these, 8 (57%) no longer met DSM-IV criteria for PTSD immediately after treatment; 12 (86%) of 14 were free of PTSD at 6-month follow-up. On intent-to-treat analyses, treatment produced a robust beneficial effect posttreatment on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale-Child and Adolescent Version, with additional improvement accruing at follow-up (p < .001). Improvements of a similar magnitude were seen for depression (p < .001), anxiety (p < .001), and anger (p < .005). Locus of control remained external from pre- to posttreatment but became strongly internal at follow-up (p < .001). CONCLUSION More clinical trials are required to confirm that CBT is a safe, acceptable, and effective treatment for PTSD in children and adolescents.

When Assumptive Worlds Collide: A Review of Definitions of Collaboration in Consultation

Within the consultation literature, the terms collaboration and collaborative have been used to describe many different aspects of consultant-consultee interaction. Six implicit views of collaboration present in the consultation literature are described. Examples of how different underlying views of collaboration have fueled disagreements about consultation process and the data available to support collaboration are provided.

Using High-Stakes Tests to Derive School-Level Measures of Special Education Efficacy

Many states now use large-scale testing programs as a major mechanism in their educational accountability efforts. With the mandated participation of students with disabilities in large-scale testing programs, it is possible to use large-scale testing results to examine special education efficacy at the school level. We used special and general education reading outcomes from 6 elementary schools in 1 school district to compare and contrast measures of a schools performance over time in serving children with disabilities. Three different methods were contrasted: (a) percentage of students in special education reaching grade-level proficiency in reading each year, (b) percentage of students in special education exceeding expected growth in reading each year, and (c) longitudinal growth and percentage of students reaching grade-level proficiency in 5th grade. We discuss the results in terms of deriving a measure of school special education performance that is both accurate and useful for school personnel.

Growth and gaps in mathematics achievement of students with and without disabilities on a statewide achievement test.

This study estimated mathematics achievement growth trajectories in a statewide sample of 92,045 students with and without disabilities over Grades 3 to 7. Students with disabilities (SWDs) were identified in seven exceptionality categories. Students without disabilities (SWoDs) were categorized as General Education (GE) or Academically/Intellectually Gifted (AIG). Students in all groups showed significant growth that decelerated over grades as well as significant variability in achievement by student group, both at the initial assessment in Grade 3 and in rates of growth over time. Race/ethnicity, gender, parental education, free/reduced lunch status, and English language proficiency were also significant predictors of achievement. Effect size estimates showed substantial year-to-year growth that decreased over grades. Sizeable achievement gaps that were relatively stable over grades were observed between SWoDs and students in specific exceptionality categories. Our study also demonstrated the importance of statistically controlling for variation related to student demographic characteristics. Additional research is needed that expands on these results with the same and additional exceptionality groups.

Once, Sometimes, or Always in Special Education: Mathematics Growth and Achievement Gaps

This study used a statewide longitudinal sample to examine mathematics achievement gaps and growth in students with and without disabilities and to examine the impact of different methods of determining disability group membership on achievement gaps and growth. When disability status was determined on the basis of special education placement each year, the achievement gap was larger across grades than when the subgroup of students with disabilities (SWDs) was defined more broadly, including students who had exited special education or who were in special education anytime between Grades 3 and 7. Regardless of the identification criteria, the SWD subgroup showed lower average achievement and slower growth than students without disabilities. The results suggest that the present way of identifying the SWD subgroup in reporting achievement outcomes may be biased and that even students who exit special education continue to be at risk for lower mathematics achievement.

Prevention and Response to Intervention: Past, Present, and Future

This chapter traces the incorporation of prevention constructs and research into RTI. It begins by tracing the history of prevention, describing early efforts to apply prevention constructs to mental health and academic achievement that led to the development of prevention science in the 1990s. The history concludes with a summary of new developments in prevention science in the last decade. The historical overview is followed by specific examples of how prevention shaped many aspects of RTI as it evolved into its contemporary form. The chapter closes with a discussion of where RTI meets or fails to meet the standards of evidence within prevention science and suggests next steps for improving RTI research and practice.

Teacher Perceptions of School Consultant Social Influence Strategies: Replication and Expansion

ABSTRACT The goals were to (a) replicate the findings of previous research with regard to the Consultee/Teacher Version of the Interpersonal Power Inventory (IPI), and (b) advance the literature by examining IPI scores about a current consultation relationship. Sample 1 included 99 elementary school teachers (44.4% Hispanic) who completed the IPI. Results replicated Erchul et al. Sample 2 (N = 37; 45.9% Hispanic) represented a subset of Sample 1 who participated in a consultation project and completed the IPI about influence in their current consultation relationship. The results advance the literature by offering evidence for convergent and predictive validity of the IPI soft power bases. Teachers who reported being influenced by soft power strategies experienced greater change in their behaviors and their students’ behaviors than those who reported being not influenced by such strategies. Implications for research and practice in school consultation are discussed.

The Interaction of Learning Disability Status and Student Demographic Characteristics on Mathematics Growth

This study examined mathematics achievement growth of students without disabilities (SWoD) and students with learning disabilities (LD) and tested whether growth and LD status interacted with student demographic characteristics. Growth was estimated in a statewide sample of 79,554 students over Grades 3 to 7. The LD group was significantly lower in achievement in each grade and had less growth than the SWoD group. We also found that student demographic characteristics were significantly related to mathematics growth, but only three demographic characteristics were statistically significant as interactions. We found that LD-SWoD differences at Grade 3 were moderated by student sex, while Black race/ethnicity and free or reduced lunch (FRL) status moderated LD-SWoD differences at all grades. These results provide practitioners and policy makers with more specific information about which particular LD students show faster or slower growth in mathematics. Our results show that simply including predictors in a regression equation may produce different results than direct testing of interactions and achievement gaps may be larger for some LD subgroups of students than previously reported.

Modeling the Time-Varying Nature of Student Exceptionality Classification on Achievement Growth.

Our purpose was to examine different approaches to modeling the time-varying nature of exceptionality classification. Using longitudinal data from one state’s mathematics achievement test for 28,829 students in Grades 3 to 8, we describe the reclassification rate within special education and between general and special education, and compare four alternative growth models for students with and without disabilities with different specifications of disability classification as time-variant (TVC) or time-invariant (TIC) covariates. Although model fit statistics were inconsistent in endorsing a single model, we found that the TIC results were generally preferable to the TVC; however, the choice of model specification may rest on the purpose of the researcher and goals of representing the influence of covariates on growth.