Jesse Fleming researches positive behavior interventions for special ed students

Jesse Fleming, assistant professor of special education at ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, is the lead author of a research paper published in the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions: Effects of Tiered SWPBIS Fidelity on Exclusionary Discipline Outcomes for Students With Disabilities:

School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a tiered framework that supports the academic, social, and behavioral needs of students. Fleming and his colleagues focused their research on the impact of SWPBIS fidelity on ten exclusionary discipline outcomes for students with disabilities, and identified promising results.

Fleming and his colleagues used a series of two-level linear multilevel analyses to examine the impact of SWPBIS fidelity. Fleming and his colleagues compared the impact of schools that implemented multiple SWPBIS tiers with fidelity to schools that only implemented Tier 1 with fidelity from a sample of 558 schools in 113 districts in California.

Their findings indicate a statistically significant decrease in multiple out-of-school suspension categories as well as referrals to law enforcement for students with disabilities in schools that implemented all tiers with fidelity. The paper also outlines recommendations for using findings to inform school efforts to reduce exclusionary discipline for SWD.

Fleming, who received his PhD in special education and teaching at the University of Virginia, recently joined MLFTC.

Learn more about Fleming’s approaches to special education research and practice in this video interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUfm_pzYR3Y