Throughout the United States, schools have faced one of the most important challenges presented to the field of education: how to provide services to a diverse range of students with disabilities that are universal, evidence-based, and least restrictive. Each state within the United States has a unique set of obstacles that need to be addressed in order to ensure each student is given an educational experience that meets their needs. This is especially true in the state of Ohio. Not only has the percentage of students with disabilities in Ohio been steadily above the national average, but Ohio also services students with disabilities in inclusive settings at higher rates (Ohio Department of Education, 2019). Further, student populations are becoming more diverse with varying ethnical backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, academic needs, and life experiences being brought into the classroom.  

Ohio, specifically, has seen higher rates of children living in poverty, rising rates of homelessness, and more children requiring academic remediation (Children’s Defense Fund, 2010). With more students with disabilities being included in the general education classroom (NCES, 2016), and with such diverse student needs, both general education and special education teachers are experiencing increased rates of challenging behavior. Research suggests that teachers feel especially unprepared to manage disruptive behavior posed by students with disabilities (Oliver, Wehby, & Reschly, 2011). Such teachers may experience large losses of instructional time (Hamre et al., 2013), burnout (Pas, Bradshaw, Hershfeldt, & Leaf, 2010), and increased likelihood of leaving the field (Marvel, Lyter, Peltola, Strizek, & Morton, 2006), ultimately hindering the students they serve. In response to these challenges, teachers more often request help with behavior and classroom management than any other area (Scott, 2017). Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that general and special education teachers be prepared to manage behavior in the classroom during their pre-service preparation program prior to entering the field as in-service teachers.  

In addition to relying on a co-teaching model to address the behavioral challenges teachers face within the inclusive classroom, schools are now validating the need to incorporate the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. Currently, 57% of traditional schools in Ohio are exploring or are in the initial phase of implementing an MTSS framework, while 34% have a full MTSS program running (Ohio Department of Education, 2019). The MTSS framework is designed to meet the needs of students with and without disabilities, as well as students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, through a universal design for learning. It further supports students behaviorally by incorporating the principles of School Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS). Within SWPBS, teachers are charged to use EBPs, specifically those that are proactive and culturally responsive (Skiba, 2012) in nature. This is especially important for Ohio schools as students with disabilities disproportionately experience increased rates of discipline practices, such as restraint (62.1%) and seclusion (69.5%; Ohio Department of Education, 2019). Not only do these punishment-based practices have an immediate impact on students, but researchers have also found direct correlations between these exclusionary discipline practices and student interactions with juvenile justice systems, coining the term of school-to-prison-pipeline (Fabelo, Thompson, Plotkin, Carmichael, Marchbanks, & Booth, 2011). Even with research showing the negative impact of exclusionary discipline practices on students and with the MTSS framework requiring teachers to rely on proactive EBPs, a lack of these research-supported strategies being used in the classroom continues to be reported (Mitchell, Hirn, & Lewis, 2017).  

In response to this need, some universities have adopted an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program in order to provide teachers with effective behavior management practices. Although ABA programs can effectively prepare pre-service teachers, not all universities are equipped to house such a program, nor can all undergraduate students fit this additional coursework into their pre-service programming. With a vast body of research showing that teacher use of evidence-based behavior management practices improves students’ challenging behavior and academic outcomes (Gage, Scott, Hirn, & MacSuga-Gage, 2018; Reinke et al., 2014), even those teacher candidates who do not pursue an ABA track need to be equipped to apply such EBPs. Therefore, it is essential that both general and special education teachers be fluent in EBPs rooted in ABA in order to effectively manage their diverse classrooms.  

Although many texts exist that describe these EBPs, research has shown that modeling has stronger implications for skill acquisition and maintenance (Hagermoser Sanetti, Williamson, Long & Kratochwill, 2010). However, there is a dearth of accessible curricular media in which faculty at IHE can rely on to demonstrate these powerful EBPs. Often pre-service dual majors are left to simply read about and discuss these strategies, without ever seeing examples of implementation. Therefore, this project was developed in order to provide meaningful professional development for several in-service teachers to enhance their classroom management competencies, and to create an instructional media tool for faculty within IHE to use when teaching behavior management EBPs and for school leaders to use when providing professional development for their teaching faculty. All of the EBPs within the project are grounded in ABA theory and practice, which research has shown to be effective and applicable for a diverse range of students (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). 

Dr. Emily Sobeck and Dr. Megan Reister from Franciscan University, with funding through the Ohio Dean’s Compact on Exceptional Children, worked closely with four schools and nine teachers to develop this online hub for IHE faculty and PreK-12 school personnel to use when teaching classroom behavior management strategies. The CBM TOOL includes real video clips of teachers implementing 8 evidence-based practices within their classrooms in real time. Additionally, the CBM TOOL also provides discussion questions, learning task ideas, relevant research articles, research to practice discussion videos from the teachers who implemented the strategies, strategy overview documents, and fidelity checklists