Evidence-based practices are strategies supported by research to guide the learning and behavior of students with and without disabilities (Cook, Tankersley, & Harjusola-Webb, 2008). It is important for teachers to use behavioral strategies that have been extensively studied and found to be effective in order to ensure students are given an optimal opportunity to learn. Similar to a physician treating the needs of a patient, teachers should treat, or respond to, their students’ behavior with strategies and approaches that have been shown to work.
Teachers need to feel confident in the ways in which they manage the behavior of the students in their classroom. Implementing strategies that have a substantial amount of research, have yielded positive outcomes, and that have been shown to be effective helps to give teachers the assurance they need when deciding on which strategies to implement. This is especially important for teachers working with students who are considered at-risk or who have an identified disability in which behavior modification must often occur promptly.
Further, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandate that all teachers and educational leaders use both academic and behavioral strategies that have been shown to be effective through rigorous scientific research. All of the strategies shared in this hub are rooted in research and serve to help pre-service and in-service teachers become familiar with several EBPs that have been shown to promote positive behavior change in students.