The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Training ... · 26/01/2011 · classroom behaviors among diverse learners. In fact, nearly half of new teachers leave the profession

The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom ManagementTraining: The Methods and Principles That Support

Fidelity of Training Delivery

Carolyn Webster-StrattonUniversity of Washington

Wendy M. Reinke, Keith C. Herman, and Lori L. NewcomerUniversity of Missouri

Abstract. This article focuses on the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Man-agement (IY TCM) intervention as an example of an evidence-based program thatembeds fidelity and adaptation within its design. First, the core features of the IYTCM program along with the methods, processes, and principles that make theintervention effective are described. The importance of fidelity and methods foreffectively measuring fidelity are discussed. In addition, support mechanisms(training, mentoring, consultation, and coaching) necessary to facilitate highfidelity of implementation of IY TCM are highlighted. The goal is to clarify theunderlying principles and supports needed to effectively allow IY group leadersto disseminate the IY TCM among teachers with diverse backgrounds and skills,who work with students with varying developmental, academic, and social-emotional needs. Often fidelity and adaptation are thought of as mutually exclu-sive, but in the IY model they are considered both complementary and necessary.Implications for school psychologists and prevention science are discussed.

Considerable research has demonstratedthat effective teacher classroom managementstrategies promote student interest in learning(Kunter, Baumert, & Koller, 2007), enhanceacademic achievement and school readiness(Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2004), and preventand reduce classroom- disruptive behavior

(Hawkins, Catalano, Kosterman, Abbott, &Hill, 1999; Kellam, Ling, Merisca, Brown, &Ialongo, 1998; Walker, Colvin, & Ramsey,1995). On the other hand, ineffective class-room management practices interfere with stu-dents’ motivation and on-task learning andcontribute to escalating risk for developing

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Educational Sciences, U.S. Department ofEducation, through Grant R305A100342 to the second and third authors. The opinions expressed are thoseof the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education. Thisresearch was also supported through Grant P30 MH066247 to the second and third authors from theNational Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health.

Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Wendy M. Reinke, Department of Educa-tional, School, and Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211; e-mail:[email protected]

Copyright 2011 by the National Association of School Psychologists, ISSN 0279-6015

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disruptive behavior problems (Jones & Jones,2004; Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Hammond,2004). For example, if elementary schoolteachers of children presenting with earlysigns of aggressive/disruptive behavior fail toconsistently provide responsive and nurturingteaching, reinforcement for prosocial behav-ior, or effective proactive discipline, a coer-cive cycle may be established whereby chil-dren’s oppositional and negative behavior isreinforced either by the teacher’s harsh orcritical responses or by giving in to their de-mands (see Reinke & Herman, 2002). As Pat-terson, Reid, and Dishion (1992) have de-scribed, these patterns of negative or coerciveinteractions at school contribute to a cascadeof negative outcomes for children with antiso-cial behaviors including peer rejection, nega-tive school reputations, academic failure, andfurther escalation of their antisocial problems.

Well-trained teachers can help childrenwho are aggressive, disruptive, and uncooper-ative to develop the appropriate social behav-ior and emotional self-regulation that is a pre-requisite for their academic success in school(Walker et al., 1995; Webster-Stratton & Reid,2004; Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Hammond,2004; Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Stoolmiller,2008). However, many teachers simply are notadequately prepared to manage the escalatingnumber of students with behavior problems intheir classrooms; some even enter the work-force without having taken a single course onbehavior management (Barrett & Davis, 1995;Evertson & Weinstein, 2006; Houston & Wil-liamson, 1992). In a recent survey of elemen-tary teachers, teachers reported managing be-havior in the classroom to be their greatestchallenge (Reinke, Stormont, Herman, Puri, &Goel, 2011). When asked about areas in whichthey felt they needed additional training,teachers in this survey stated that the numberone area for which they needed training andsupport was in managing challenging class-room behaviors.

Teachers today are presented with morecomplex classrooms. Increasing numbers ofstudents with English as a second language(National Clearinghouse for English LanguageAcquisition, 2009) and with emotional and

behavioral problems are entering school (Bro-phy, 1996; Conroy, Sutherland, Haydon, Stor-mont, & Harmon, 2009). Increased classroomsizes and the inclusion of students receivingspecial education services in general educationclassrooms present challenges for teachersworking to provide instruction and manageclassroom behaviors among diverse learners.In fact, nearly half of new teachers leave theprofession within five years, many citing stu-dent misbehavior as a primary reason (Inger-soll, 2002). Thus, to fully support teachers’efforts to use effective classroom managementpractices that nurture, encourage, and motivatestudents with varying developmental abilitiesand cultural backgrounds, evidence-basedteacher classroom management training pro-grams are needed that are flexible and adaptiveto the unique challenges faced by teachers.Further, these training programs need to beattentive to the varying backgrounds and ex-periences of teachers, and provide teacherswith additional consultation and support ac-cording to individual classroom needs.

The Incredible Years TeacherClassroom Management (IY TCM)

Program

The IY TCM program (Webster-Strat-ton, 1994) is part of a series of three interlock-ing and complementary IY training programsfor parents, children, and teachers designed toreduce the multiple risk factors associatedwith early-onset conduct problems and emo-tional and social difficulties in children ages3–8 years. The IY training series is groundedin cognitive social learning and relationshiptheories about the development of antisocialbehaviors in children (Patterson et al., 1992)as well as developmental, modeling, and self-efficacy theories (Bandura, 1977, 1982). TheIY TCM program targets key school risk fac-tors that can lead to negative outcomes forstudents, and works to break the negative co-ercive cycle described earlier while strength-ening protective factors. To accomplish this,teachers are trained in evidence-based prac-tices of effective behavior management, pro-active teaching, teacher–child relationship

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skills, parent–teacher collaboration, behaviorplans addressing developmentally appropriategoals for individual students, and ways to pro-mote students’ emotional regulation, socialskills and problem-solving skills.

Research on the IY TCM Program

The IY Series has been the subject ofextensive empirical evaluation over the pastthree decades. All three programs have beenwidely endorsed by various review groups,including the Office for Juvenile Justice andDelinquency Prevention, as one of 11 “blue-print” model violence prevention programs fortreating and preventing disruptive behaviordisorders (Webster-Stratton et al., 2001). Fur-ther, all three programs have been imple-mented and evaluated as prevention programswith high-risk populations (e.g., Head Startand primary grades serving low-income fam-ilies) and as treatment interventions with chil-dren with diagnoses such as oppositional de-fiant disorder and attention deficit hyperactiv-ity disorder, or with developmental delays.Evaluations indicate implementation with highfidelity across a variety of settings and culturalcontexts (see Webster-Stratton & Reid,2010a).

The IY TCM group-based training pro-gram has been evaluated by the developer inthree randomized control trials as well as bysix independent investigators. Across these tri-als, research findings indicated that indepen-dent observers reported that trained teachersuse less harsh discipline and criticism, providemore nurturing and praise, demonstrate moreconsistency and confidence, and build higherlevels of positive classroom climate than con-trol teachers (Raver et al., 2008; Webster-Stratton et al., 2004). Children in classroomswith trained teachers were observed to be sig-nificantly less aggressive with peers and morecooperative with teachers (Webster-Stratton etal., 2001; Webster-Stratton et al., 2004). Inaddition, these children exhibited more socialcompetence, emotional self-regulation, andschool readiness skills, and less conduct prob-lems in comparison to children in controlclassrooms (Webster-Stratton et al., 2001;

Webster-Stratton et al., 2004; Webster-Strat-ton et al., 2008). Further, teachers’ reports ofparent bonding and involvement in schoolwere significantly higher for trained than un-trained teachers (Webster-Stratton et al., 2001;Webster-Stratton et al., 2008). Independent in-vestigators have replicated many of these find-ings in low-income, high-minority Head Startclassrooms in Chicago (Raver et al., 2008) andNorth Carolina (Williford & Shelton, 2008), inlow-income counties in Michigan (Carlson,Tiret, Bender, & Benson, 2011), in Wales withSure Start (Hutchings, Daley, Jones, Martin,Bywater, & Gwyn, 2007), in Jamaica withteachers of 24 preschools in inner-city areas ofKingston (Baker-Henningham, Walker, Pow-ell, & Gardner Meeks, 2009), and as a stand-alone self-administered training program withpreschool teachers receiving consultation(Shernoff & Kratochwill, 2007).

Fidelity of IY TCM Program Delivery

An important topic around the deliveryof EBPs is the fidelity with which these pro-grams are implemented in the field. Fidelity,also referred to as treatment integrity, is anoverarching term defined as the degree of ex-actness with which the delivery of a programadheres to, or reproduces, the original trainingprogram model features with the goal of rep-licating original research outcomes (Schoen-wald & Hoagwood, 2001). Fidelity can beconceptualized in three dimensions: (1) treat-ment adherence, or trainer delivery of coreprogram content and intervention dosage(number of hours of training) in the recom-mended sequence, (2) interventionist compe-tence, or the IY trainer’s skill level of usingthe training methods, processes, and learningprinciples employed in the original programmodel, and (3) treatment differentiation, orimplementation of the program for the popu-lation for whom the program was designed(Gresham, 2009; Power et al., 2005). In addi-tion to the three dimensions outlined here,Power and colleagues (2005) note that partic-ipant responsiveness, or the level of partici-pants’ engagement in the intervention, is animportant component to treatment fidelity. In

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other words, fidelity encompasses both thequality and quantity of EBP training delivery.

Why Does Fidelity Matter?

Convincing evidence exists that highprogram delivery fidelity is predictive of sig-nificant positive outcomes across a number ofdifferent EBPs, notably parent training pro-grams (Eames et al., 2009; Henggeler, Schoe-nwald, Liao, Letourneau, & Edwards, 2002;Wilson & Lipsey, 2007). On the other hand,poor program fidelity, including reduced pro-gram dosage (number of hours of training andpoor sequencing) and poor quality delivery,has been shown to predict little or no change,challenging the view that some exposure toprogram components is better than no expo-sure. Research shows that higher programdoses of several EBPs produce superior out-comes to partial dosage (Borduin et al., 1995;Lochman et al., 2009). Analyses of dose–re-sponse effects for the IY parent program hasshown a positive association between numbersof parent sessions attended and the effect sizeof program outcomes (Baydar, Reid, & Web-ster-Stratton, 2003). Moreover, prior researchon the process of IY program delivery hasindicated that quality of program deliverymethods and processes were related to effectsize of outcomes (Eames et al., 2009; Scott,Carby, & Rendu, 2008). For several EBPsincluding the IY parent program, research hasshown that by adding consultation and super-vision for trainers after the original training,fidelity of program delivery is enhanced(Henggeler et al., 2002; Lochman et al., 2009;Raver et al., 2008; Webster-Stratton, Reid,Hurlburt, & Marsenich, in prep). Taken to-gether, these findings lend support to the as-sertion that higher dosages and quality deliv-ery lead to more robust effects. Sadly, to date,very few randomized control trials of evi-dence-based teacher classroom managementtraining programs exist where training fidelityprocess, methods, and dosage have been mea-sured, let alone comparisons made to short-ened versions of these programs. In fact, arecent review of school-based interventionstudies reported that the majority of published

studies do not include data on any dimensionof treatment fidelity (Sanetti, Gritter, & Do-bey, 2011). Consequently, we have a poorunderstanding of what aspects of treatmentimplementation are important for outcomes(Perepletchikova, Treat, & Kazdin, 2007). Totruly understand the effect of EBPs on studentoutcomes, it is imperative that researchersmeasure the dose, content, and processes ofdelivery for these programs.

For the remainder of this article, wefocus on the IY TCM program as an exampleof an EBP that embeds fidelity and adaptationwithin its design. First, we briefly describe thecore features of the IY TCM program alongwith the methods and processes that make theintervention effective. Second, we highlightthe dissemination support mechanisms (train-ing, mentoring, consultation, and coaching)necessary to facilitate high fidelity of imple-mentation of IY TCM. The goal is to clarifythe underlying principles and layered supportsneeded to effectively disseminate the IY TCMprogram to teachers with diverse culturalbackgrounds and skills who work with stu-dents with varying developmental, academic,and social-emotional needs. Often fidelity andadaptation are thought of as mutually exclu-sive, but in the IY model they are consideredboth complementary and necessary. Finally,we discuss implications for school psycholo-gists and future research.

IY TCM Training Methods andDelivery Principles

The IY Series is frequently misunder-stood as a fixed-dosage, inflexible, curricular-driven EBP. Instead, the IY Series is betterunderstood as a set of principle-driven, dy-namic interventions that were developed inapplied settings and that are flexibly adaptedto each cultural context for children with vary-ing developmental abilities based on ongoingdialogue and collaboration between partici-pants and training group leaders (see Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2010a; Webster-Stratton,2009; Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2008). Thebig ideas or principles, and the video-basedvignettes and participant books (Webster-


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Stratton, 1999), give structure to the programs,but flexible implementation gives voice to theparticipants and helps ensure that the contentfits the context of their lives. Figure 1 providesa diagram of the reciprocal interaction be-tween group leaders and participant experienc-es/backgrounds, which allows IY TCM to betailored to the specific needs of group mem-bers with high fidelity. By using a principle-driven framework and flexible delivery strat-egies, the IY interventions have proven toaffect parent, child, and teacher behaviorsacross a wide range of settings with culturallydiverse groups of participants in repeated andrigorous evaluation studies (Webster-Stratton& Reid, 2010b).

IY TCM is recommended to be deliv-ered in six full-day workshops spread outmonthly over the school year by trainers(called “group leaders”) to groups of teachers.The IY TCM program utilizes self-reflectiveand experiential learning, group support andproblem solving, and specific training meth-ods that teach instructors important classroommanagement skills along with helping teachersmanage their own self-regulation and stress. Itis recommended that, between each trainingworkshop, an IY TCM coach visits teachers’classrooms to model skills and support teach-ers’ efforts, and meets individually with teach-ers to help them generalize the principleslearned and refine behavior plans specific totheir classroom. Part of using the IY TCM

program model successfully is for group lead-ers to understand how to tailor the programaccording to the individual needs of eachteacher. Group leaders can achieve flexibleapplications of the manual when there is un-derstanding of the program at multiple levels,including the program model, content, trainingmethods, and delivery learning principles builtinto the program to promote a culturally anddevelopmentally responsive structure for di-verse populations. Thus, fidelity to the IYTCM employs a model not unlike the partner-ship-based framework outlined by Power andcolleagues (2005), in which the group leadersincorporate the core components of the inter-vention with responsive strategies targetingthe identified needs of the teachers and theindividual students in their classrooms.

Evidence of the success of the IY im-plementation and adaptation processes comesfrom the high attendance rate by teachers inprior IY TCM studies in varied contexts. Inone study (Herman, Borden, Reinke, & Web-ster-Stratton, 2011), 159 preschool throughsecond-grade teachers agreed to participate inthe trainings as part of a multicomponent in-tervention for children in their classrooms whohad been diagnosed with a disruptive behaviordisorder. Every teacher in the study attendedevery training session in exchange for continu-ing education credits and no payment. Like-wise, in the first year of an ongoing trial beingconducted by the second and third authorswith general education teachers in an urbansetting with high rates of poverty and a pre-dominately African American student body(98% of students in two of the schools wereAfrican American), all 17 teachers attended alltraining sessions. Meals were provided, butteachers were not paid for their attendance nordid they receive continuing education credit.

IY TCM Training Methods

The core IY TCM training methods usedto support effective classroom behavior man-agement skills include having trained groupleaders who (1) facilitate supportive and col-laborative teacher group processes and prob-lem-solving interactions, (2) use video vi-

Figure 1. Reciprocal interaction be-tween Incredible Years Teacher Class-room Management group leaders andparticipants.


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gnettes chosen to model effective teacher in-teractions with students representing a varietyof developmental abilities and ages, (3) struc-ture role-play and practices for teachers toself-reflect and have experiential learning, us-ing the newly acquired classroom manage-ment skills, (4) set up small-group break-outsessions for behavior planning, (5) assignclassroom practice assignments betweenmonthly workshops, and (6) weekly IY TCMcoach visits to classroom teachers to supportgeneralization of skills and enhance learning.These training methods are used across the sixworkshop sessions.

First, a key part of the transportability ofIY is that it is delivered in groups. Not only isthis approach more cost-effective than individ-ual consultation, but it also allows traininggroup leaders to capitalize on dimensions ofgroup processes that facilitate teacher cooper-ative learning (Brown & Palincsar, 1989;Eames et al., 2009), motivation, and self-effi-cacy (Bandura, 1982). Moreover, the approachattempts to build social networks amongteachers and reduce the isolation and stigmathat they commonly experience, especiallythose who are struggling with classroom man-agement (Abdallah, 2009). The group leadersencourage group participant collaboration,problem solving, and the sharing of their suc-cesses in tackling difficult problems as well astheir mistakes and feelings of guilt, anger, anddepression involving persistence of misbehav-ior from their students. These discussionsserve as a powerful source of support. Anotheradvantage of the group is that it allows thegroup leader to capitalize on the collectiveknowledge and wisdom of all the teacher par-ticipants. Teachers learn as much from eachother as they do from the group leader.

Second, the IY TCM program uses cog-nitive social learning, modeling, and self-effi-cacy theory (Bandura, 1977), which contendsthat observation of a model can support thelearning of new skills. As applied to teachertraining in behavior management skills, IYTCM uses video-based modeling, which in-volves showing participants culturally diverseteachers using effective behavior managementskills with diverse children representing a

wide social and emotional developmentalspan. Third, IY TCM uses role-play, and ex-periential and self-reflective learning. Role-play and performance-based practice of unfa-miliar or newly acquired behaviors and cog-nitions has been shown to be effective inproducing behavioral changes (Twentyman &McFall, 1975). Role-play practices help teach-ers anticipate situations more clearly, drama-tizing possible sequences of behavior andthoughts that occur in the everyday classroomsetting. This allows teachers to apply behav-ioral and cognitive principles to situations thatare specific to their individual situations.Fourth, IY TCM uses small-group break-outsessions to simulate strategies regarding be-havior plans and to engage teachers. Thus, IYTCM employs a partnership learning philoso-phy (Knight, 2010). Partnership learning usesstrategies to allow the teachers to expressthemselves with a reciprocal approach tolearning between the teachers and the groupleaders. Lastly, IY TCM uses weekly class-room practice assignments and coaching tohelp transfer what is learned in the monthlygroup workshops to practice in the classroom.Learning about a skill or creating a behaviorplan during the workshop group discussion isone thing, but implementing it with real stu-dents in the actual classroom setting is another(see Fixen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, & Wal-lace, 2005). Teachers bring the successes andchallenges they have faced in implementingthe strategy or behavior plan in the classroomto the next workshop. Thus, the between-workshop practice assignments serve as pow-erful experiential learning opportunities andstimuli for discussion, review, and refinementof strategies and further role-plays in subse-quent workshops (see Knight, 2010).

IY Principles

Programs must be flexible enough toallow for some adaptations for the given cul-tural contexts of participants, as well as theskill level and degree of experience of theindividual teachers. The core teaching meth-ods described earlier support trained groupleaders in doing this effectively. In addition,


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the IY Series encompasses a set of underlyingdelivery principles that allow for the content tobe tailored to the specific audience and thespecific needs of each teacher attending thegroup trainings (see Figure 1).

Principle 1: Collaboration andRelationships Are Essential to TeacherLearning

The IY TCM model is active and col-laborative. In a collaborative relationship, thegroup leaders do not set themselves up as“experts” dispensing advice about how teach-ers should teach more effectively. Rather,teachers function as experts regarding theirown students, classroom, school, and commu-nity in determining their goals. Collaborationimplies a reciprocal relationship and trainingbased on using equally the group leaders’ andthe teachers’ knowledge, strengths, and per-spectives (see Knight 2010; Webster-Stratton& Herbert, 1994). The collaborative groupleader actively solicits the teachers’ ideas andfeelings, learns about their classroom, and in-volves them in the reflective learning processby inviting them to share their experiences,discuss their thoughts and or ideas, and engagein problem solving. Another aspect of the col-laborative process is having the group leaderwork with teachers to adapt concepts andskills to their particular circumstances. The IYgroup leaders and coaches recognize and valuecultural differences and the diversity ofteacher and student backgrounds. A collabor-ative group leader works carefully to processdifferent theoretical frameworks and help eachteacher use the content in a way consistentwith his or her teaching style and beliefs. Thisclimate of trust creates a safe place for teach-ers to reveal challenges they face and risk newapproaches. Further, at the end of each train-ing workshop, teachers complete a brief eval-uation form. This provides the group leaderswith immediate feedback about how eachteacher is responding to the group leaders’styles, group discussions, practices, content,and video vignettes presented in the work-shop. When a teacher is dissatisfied or havingtrouble with a concept or workshop method,

the group leader will personally contact thatteacher to resolve the issue or, if the difficultyis shared by others, bring it up in a subsequentworkshop.

Principle 2: Start With TeachersChoosing Goals and Self-MonitoringProgress

Collaboration implies that teachers ac-tively participate in setting goals and the train-ing agenda. In the initial workshop, teachersare asked to share some of their experiences aswell as their goals for the training program andfor specific students they want to address. Thisinitial discussion often produces immediategroup rapport as teachers realize they haveshared difficulties and are working towardsimilar goals. These initial long-term goalssupport the development of short-term goalsbetween workshop meetings. This principleensures that the goals are congruent withteacher values and suit the backgrounds orabilities of the students in their classrooms.The use of goal setting has been shown tosupport transfer of skills into practice in work-place settings (Reber & Wallin, 1984; Rich-man-Hirsh, 2001).

Teachers complete self-reflection inven-tories regarding their use of the ideas dis-cussed on the topic and determine their goalsfor the subsequent month. At the followingworkshop, teachers reflect on their progresstoward achieving their goals and share theirown personal observations of their use of theteaching strategies. In addition, between work-shop sessions, the teachers work directly withan on-site IY TCM coach who helps supportteachers in meeting these goals in the actualclassroom. In a recent cohort, teacher-deter-mined goals included improving and strength-ening relationships with particular students,increasing positive contact with parents, in-creasing collaboration with the parents of at-risk students, using planned ignoring as a re-sponse to minor misbehavior, and supportingspecific students to develop self-regulationskills. For students who demonstrate excep-tional challenges, the teacher and IY TCMcoach problem solve, tailoring strategies to


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address the challenge by creating an individualbehavior plan. In a recent cohort of teachers,the coach worked with teachers to use clearlimits, praise and encouragement, and social-emotional coaching with a student whosemother was incarcerated; positive forecastingand incentives with a student with significantlanguage delays and disruptive behavior; andsocial-emotional coaching combined with in-creased parent contact with a student withpoor peer relations and disruptive behavior.During workshop meetings, the group leaders

draw upon the goals and skills that eachteacher is working toward, allowing groupmembers to see the similarities in some of thechallenges they face. This promotes cohesionas well as attention to individual goals, therebymaking the program relevant to each teacher.

Principle 3: The IY Teaching PyramidIs a Road Map for Content

The Teaching Pyramid serves as theroad map for delivering program content (see

Figure 2. Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management training pyramid.


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Figure 2) and is used to help teachers concep-tualize effective and supportive classroom en-vironments. The bottom of the pyramid de-picts behaviors and activities that should beliberally applied as teachers form the founda-tion for development of other skills and be-haviors. The base of the pyramid includesbuilding positive relationships with studentsand parents, proactive strategies, and specificacademic, persistence, social, and emotionalcoaching methods. A basic premise of themodel is that a positive relationship founda-tion precedes discipline strategies, and atten-tion to positive behaviors should occur farmore frequently in effective classroom envi-ronments than attention to negative behaviors.Only when a positive foundation is in placewithin the classroom will strategies higher upon the pyramid be effective. All of the trainingelements are principles, however, and are ne-gotiated with each teacher in terms of howthey are implemented in a given classroom.That is, how a given teacher conveys warmth,defines and communicates expectations, andchooses consequences is up to that teacher toensure that it fits with their personalities andperceived needs of the class. Teachers areencouraged to use their professional judgment,including their knowledge of their classroomand their students, to make decisions abouthow the principles on the pyramid are enactedin their class. The pyramid is also the founda-tion for flexible adherence to program princi-ples. For example, after a presentation of thepyramid to teachers in a recent trial in schoolswith many students facing risk for negativeoutcomes, one teacher commented, “We arethe base for our students.” This concept reso-nated with the other teachers at the trainingand became their rule for understanding andapplying IY in their schools.

Principle 4: Build Participants’Confidence and Self-Efficacy

Teachers will only be successful in im-plementing new practices if they believe thatthey can do it and if they believe doing so willproduce desired changes (see Han & Weiss,2005). The partnership between the teachers

and IY TCM group leaders and coaches em-powers teachers in their ideas and enhancestheir ability to cope with challenges. Bandura(1977, 1982, 1989) suggested that self-effi-cacy is the mediating variable between knowl-edge and actual behavior. Teacher self-effi-cacy and increased self-confidence are accom-plished in this program through the goal-setting, self-reflection inventories, experientiallearning, mutual support, and collaborationmentioned earlier. Workshop group leadersand coaches facilitate this by celebratingteachers’ success at achieving their goals,strengthening their knowledge base, and in-creasing their autonomy, instead of creatingdependence on the group leaders or coach.There is further reason for this model: Becausethe IY program wants teachers to adopt aparticipative, collaborative, empowering, self-reflective approach with the students and fam-ilies with whom they work, the group leadersmodel this approach for them in all of theirinteractions with teachers.

For instance, coaching, praise, and re-ward methods are used liberally with teachersby the leaders and coaches. This reinforces theteachers and serves as a model for using thesestrategies with students. Group participantsare also encouraged to praise one another.Group leaders pull out important workshopcontent from the ideas and comments gener-ated by teachers in the group meeting throughthese teachers’ own language. For instance,during a recent session the group leader asked,“What are you thinking that helps you staycalm?” The teacher replied, “I think to myself,‘By staying calm, I am a positive model to mystudents for how to solve problems.’” Thegroup leader highlighted that this teacher cameup with the principle that children learn bywatching others (modeling principle) andwrote this principle, which can be appliedacross multiple situations, on a poster for re-view in subsequent sessions.

Principle 5: Address Cognitions,Emotions, and Behaviors

A common barrier to effective imple-mentation of new practices for teachers is their


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own internal dialogues about themselves, theirworld (e.g., their students, workplace, peers,supervisor), and their future. Quite often,teachers are unaware of their self-dialogue.There is a clear link between thoughts, behav-iors, and emotions (Bandura, 1989). For in-stance, teachers who have worked for monthswith a challenging student without successmay have developed very negative views ofthe student that, in turn, influence their inter-actions with this student and perhaps even theparent(s). For these reasons, throughout the IYTCM intervention, attention is given to theseself-defeating thoughts and the emotions andbehaviors they engender. These thoughts areelicited during role-play practices and discus-sions of challenging students. This use of role-play practice and discussion allows the contentfor learning these skills to be specific to theemotional challenges faced by teachers in thegroup. An example of this is a teacher who didnot believe she could work effectively with astudent she found to be particularly challeng-ing, and about whom she confessed, “I justdon’t like him.” Aware that she was put off bythe student and avoided interactions with him,she doubted her ability to overcome her aver-sion to him in order to implement proactivestrategies. Through role-play, one teacher inthe group whispered encouraging statementsto help her communicate in a sincere, enthu-siastic, and positive manner as another groupmember took the role of the offending student.During follow-up visits with the IY TCMcoach, the teacher reviewed her use of thestrategy. Ultimately, the teacher not only in-creased her positive interactions with the stu-dent, but she reported that she had grown tolike him. She noted an increase in his taskengagement and participation in class. As aresult of her experience in the program, shefelt more confident in her ability to be effec-tive with challenging students.

Principle 6: Use Experiential and Self-Reflective Learning Methods

Factors found to increase transfer oflearning to real world settings include activelearner participation in the training and the

learner perceiving the training as relevant toreal world conditions (National ResearchCouncil, 1991). Therefore, IY TCM places amajor emphasis on experiential learning ratherthan simply didactic instruction. First, teachersobserve group leaders and video models dem-onstrating effective implementation of teach-ing practices. Next, they are given the oppor-tunity in the group discussions to reflect onwhich practices fit best with their style andclass. This is followed by demonstration andpractice of the observed skills in front of theentire group where role-playing teachers re-ceive feedback and are empowered for theirideas. In addition, small-group practices areset up where teachers practice with their peersand are given feedback about their perfor-mance. Again, this principle allows for tai-lored delivery of the program with high fidel-ity because the content and practice opportu-nities incorporate specific challenges faced byteachers in their classrooms. As an example,teachers at a recent training expressed concernabout the use of ignoring as a strategy withsome of their students. The group leaders theninvited a teacher whom they had observedusing ignoring effectively in her classroom todemonstrate the skill as applied to workingwith a particularly challenging student. Therole-play was especially effective becausemany of the teachers were from the samebuilding, and thus familiar with the student.

Principle 7: Contextualize the LearningProcess

Generalization, or the ability to applyspecific skills in the training to one’s ownunique situation, and to extrapolate from cur-rent concerns to future classroom challenges,is enhanced when teachers are exposed to avariety of classroom situations and approachesto solving problems (Fixen et al., 2005). TheIY TCM program works to increase general-ization of skills by choosing a variety of vi-gnettes and by group leaders using probingquestions that are specifically relevant to theteachers in the group. Group problem solvingfurther helps support this process, making thecontent applicable for those teachers in the


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training as well. For instance, IY TCM usesgroup problem solving when the group leadercompiles a list of behaviors that teachers wantto encourage or discourage, and asks the groupto come up with as many ideas for handlingthese behaviors as they can. Members of thegroup gather ideas for challenges they face inthe classroom by learning from others. Gener-alization is also enhanced by “principles train-ing”—pointing out or having a group memberstate the underlying principle that can be ap-plied across multiple situations (e.g., modelingprinciple). These principles are listed on aposter and brought to each session to facilitatecontinued applications of the principle. Thegroup leaders can highlight teacher contribu-tions by linking the principle with the groupmember’s name who stated the principle andrecording it in his or her own words. Forexample, “Kevin’s modeling principle: “Bystaying calm I am a positive model for mystudents on how to solve problems,’” or“Trisha’s fun principle: “By making learningfun, my student will want to learn because wealways want to repeat something that is fun.”

Dissemination Process Within a School

Identification of an evidence-basedteacher classroom management program for aparticular age group and providing high-qual-ity training workshops for teachers is only thefirst step in successful promotion of a teach-er’s effective classroom management skills.An earlier article (Webster-Stratton & Her-man, 2009) reviews in detail seven strategiesor steps for effective school dissemination toassure high program fidelity and a sustainableplan. The first step for a school is to carefullyselect two to three teachers to participate in athree-day training workshop to enable them tobecome group leaders who can deliver thesix-day teacher training workshops throughoutthe year. These group leaders should be pro-vided with sufficient consultation, support,and video reviews of their workshops fromaccredited IY coaches or mentors to ensurequality delivery of the training to teachers (seeFigure 3). Next, it is highly recommended thatthey submit videos of the workshops they con-

duct, protocol checklists, teacher attendancelists, and teacher evaluations for accreditation/certification as group leaders. Those whoachieve accreditation as group leaders are theneligible to be nominated by IY mentors toparticipate in additional trainings to becomeaccredited IY peer coaches. Peer coaches pro-vide coaching to participating teachers on sitein their classrooms and can assist mentors inthe training of group leaders in the delivery ofthe six-day workshops by supporting small-group break-out sessions and student behaviorplanning.

Mentoring Group Leaders and Coaches

IY mentors have a long-term active pro-fessional relationship with group leaders; pro-vide further modeling and encouragement ofself-reflective practice; understand the under-lying theories and research regarding cogni-tive, affect, and behavior change and can ex-plain these to group leaders; and have theknowledge of dissemination strategies relatedto fidelity delivery of evidence-based pro-grams. Mentors are expected to provide expertknowledge to group leaders and coaches asneeded and to use a collaborative learningprocess focused on group leader or coachneeds and goals (Webster-Stratton & Herman,2010). Mentors are selected by IY trainersfrom accredited IY peer coaches who have hadextensive experience training and coachingteachers. They have received additional train-ing to provide authorized three-day trainingworkshops to group leaders who will deliverthe six-day training workshops to the teachers.

The same methods and principles usedby group leaders to train teachers are usedwhen mentors train group leaders and coaches.Moreover, the trainings engage participants onmultiple levels of awareness through role-playand practices, including awareness of theirown skills as a teacher or group leader, andunderstanding the experiences of the students,parents, and their peers. These processes areeasier experienced than described, meaningthat group leaders are trained in the methodsand processes that they will use in the IY TCMprogram, and then train teachers to use these


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with students. Further, group leaders are pro-vided ongoing consultation, video reviews,and clinical supervision to ensure high levelsof fidelity to the content, methods, and deliv-ery principles (see Webster-Stratton & Her-man, 2010, for full description of certificationprocess). See Figure 3 for how this supportiveinfrastructure can be set up in schools or ed-ucational districts.

How Do You Measure EBP Fidelity?

It has been common practice to monitorprogram delivery adherence by collectingtraining checklists wherein implementerscheck off whether they have delivered specificcontent for the training session, showed par-ticular video vignettes, and asked participantsto do particular classroom activities. Althoughthese checklists are easy to complete, they arelimited as with any self-reports (checklist orLikert scales) by subjective bias, and they do

not always correlate with independent evalu-ations or observations by supervisors (Dane &Schneider, 1998; Leithwood & Montgomery,1980). They also lack information about spe-cific training delivery methods and processesused by trainers, as well as consumer feedbackand satisfaction level. Without supervision ormonitoring of quality assurance, it is not clearwhat trainers may be omitting or altering, orthe quality of their actual delivery of theprogram.

Process skills and training methods arecritical to assessing fidelity delivery of IYprograms. The mentor, coach, and groupleader interpersonal skills, training methods,and processes used are as important in deliv-ering this training program as their knowledgelevel and coverage of the specific content rec-ommended. For this reason, fidelity of the IYprogram is assured not only by session check-lists, peer and self-evaluations, weekly session

Figure 3. Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management support infra-structure.


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evaluations by participants, and recording ofparticipant attendance, but also by indepen-dent video review of group leader trainingworkshops with standardized observationalmeasures of delivery methods and processes.All of these elements of fidelity must be com-pleted for group leaders to become certified oraccredited as group leaders in the IY pro-grams. Observational and report measures offidelity for the IY TCM program and accred-itation requirements are well articulated andcan be found on the IY Web site: http://www.incredibleyears.com/Certification/process_GL.asp

Adapting IY TCM With High Fidelity

The IY TCM program is in use across avariety of cultures and populations. Currently,the IY TCM program is being implementedwith Head Start teachers and with elementaryschool teachers in kindergarten throughGrade 3 in the United States, in the UnitedKingdom in both urban and rural settings, andwith preschool and elementary teachers in Ire-land, New Zealand, Norway, and Jamaica. Thefollowing provides a brief overview of howthe IY TCM program can be tailored to meetthe needs of teachers with varying educationalbackgrounds, skills, and experiences, and toteachers and students from diverse back-grounds. Table 1 provides a summary of howIY TCM can be flexibly delivered to matchteacher characteristics with student needs.

Tailoring IY TCM for Teachers WithLess Knowledge of Effective ClassroomPractices

Teachers enter the field with variabletraining in effective classroom practices andknowledge of child development (Rogers &Freiberg, 1994). Therefore, tailoring the IYTCM program to effectively support teacherswith less experience and less knowledge ofeffective classroom practices will improveoutcomes. For instance, teachers of Head Startgenerally have a lower level of education andless background in education, behavior man-agement strategies, or child development thanelementary school teachers (Epstein, 1999;

Hindman, Skibbe, Miller, & Zimmerman,2010). Also, new teachers just entering thefield often have less experience and find man-aging classroom behavior and working withfamilies to be a greater challenge than moreseasoned teachers (Veenman, 1984). Givendiscrepancies in prior teacher training, someadjustments to the pacing, level of support,and amount of time needed to deliver thecontent may be necessary when implementingIY TCM with teachers with less experience orknowledge of effective practices for managingstudent behavior or collaborating with fami-lies. Several of the training methods and de-livery principles allow for tailoring IY TCMwith high fidelity to meet the needs of theseteachers.

Because the teachers in the group set thegoals and training agenda, the workshop con-tent can be administered at a slower pace,allowing for mastery of key skills before mov-ing onto the next topic. IY TCM is capable ofthis adjustment because the manual allows forgroup leaders to select from a variety of po-tential activities, including vignettes, role-plays, break-out activities, and questions tofacilitate discussion. The group leaders moni-tor the understanding of teachers in the groupand can use additional vignettes and practiceactivities as needed before switching topics.Typically, a fraction of the vignettes and ac-tivities outlined in the manual would be used.However, when working with a group ofteachers needing more support, the groupleaders can use more of these vignettes anddiscussions to ensure that the teachers havemastered the skills before moving forward.Moreover, the training can be extended be-yond the six workshops if necessary. In be-tween workshops, the IY TCM coach woulddevote more time to ensure generalization. Foran inexperienced teacher, the coach wouldlikely use more live modeling of skills todemonstrate the new behavioral principle inthe actual classroom setting and have theteacher practice while the coach is present,allowing for immediate feedback. Both thegroup leaders and coach would collaboratewith the teachers to create realistic goals to


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Table 1Adapting the IY TCM with Fidelity

Core IY Components (Required) IY Adaptations (With Fidelity)

Program Protocols for 5–6 monthlyworkshop topics

Cover all program topics and protocols, but increase thefocus or dose of intervention according to teacherneeds, goals, and backgrounds (e.g., spend more timeon relationship building in classrooms where teachersare more critical and there are more disruptivechildren; do more role-play practices for teachers onchallenging negative thoughts and self-regulationstrategies).

Core vignettes selected by appropriateage range as indicated on protocol

Choose additional vignettes for topics that provide newknowledge for teachers or address a student with aspecific challenging behavior (e.g., persistencecoaching methods for a child with ADHD).

Role-play practices Increase number of practices according to issues teachersraise or for strengthening learning in unfamiliar topics.

Program dosage (minimum 5 days) Increased dosage may be needed to adequately cover thematerial, because it may take some teachers longer tomaster material owing to the risk level of thepopulation or the baseline skills and training of theteachers. The 6th workshop day is essential whenteachers are not delivering a social and emotionalskills curricuIum to children.

Key group teaching/learning methods(goal setting and monitoring,behavioral practice, principlebuilding, values exercises, culturaland developmental awareness, useself-reflective inventories, reviewclassroom workshop assignments)

Increased teacher practice developing scripts for newconcepts and cognitions, more explicit rationale andtheories provided for teachers with less experienceand/or training in behavior management; adaptclassroom activities when needed according toteachers’ goals or student needs.

Alliance-building techniques withteachers (collaborative learning,group problem solving, teacherbuddy calls, group leader supportcalls, praise and celebrations forteachers)

All standard alliance-building techniques apply, but mayneed increased efforts for stressed teachers by givingmore support, praise, using more incentives, andspending longer to build a trusting relationshipbetween group leaders and teachers.

Additional Recommended Components for Particular Situations (Not Required)

IY TCM Coaches � Core model doesnot require coaches, although it isstrongly recommended forchallenging situations, child caresettings and Head Start.

For teachers with difficult students and classrooms orteachers with little formal teacher training, provide anIY TCM coach. Coach visits classroom weekly forminimum of 1 h visits to model skills and supportteachers; plus, coach meets individually with teachersto review goals and behavior plans and, as needed,practice management skills.

Parent Training � Core model doesnot train teachers in how to trainparents in IY school readiness andreading skills

For schools addressing high-risk populations, it ishelpful to include some workshops for parents;coaches or counselors and teachers can partner todeliver the IY School and Reading Readiness Programfor parents.


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enable success in the classroom, hence sup-porting teacher self-efficacy and confidence.

Tailoring IY TCM for Teachers ofStudents With Challenging Behaviors

On occasion, some teachers may findthat they have greater numbers of studentswith challenging behaviors in their classroom.Similarly, these teachers may need additionalsupports to transfer the skills learned duringthe IY TCM workshops to the classroom. Sup-plementary video vignettes that demonstratestudents with more severe problem behaviorsare available and can be easily incorporatedinto the workshop. The group leaders may useworkshop time, allowing the group to developa behavior support plan for a student present-ing with a particularly challenging behavior.This group problem-solving process is sup-portive of the teacher who will use the planand helps other teachers generalize the infor-mation to students in their classrooms. The IYTCM coach would then work closely with theteacher to support implementation of behaviorsupport plans for specific students. In addition,a teacher may wish to use the IY TCM self-study manual and materials as a way to guideadditional self-learning for skills in workingwith particularly challenging students (seeShernoff & Kratochwill, 2007).

Tailoring IY TCM to Teachers andStudents From Diverse CulturalBackgrounds

The collaborative nature of the groupsand permitting the teachers to set their own

goals based on their backgrounds and experi-ences with their students and families allowsIY TCM to be tailored for implementationwith a variety of cultural backgrounds. First,the group leaders respect and affirm culturaldifferences, modeling this during the group.The group leaders start the program in allcases by providing an orientation to the IYTCM program content and topic schedule,giving teachers a chance to ask questions todetermine if the program will address theirspecific needs and goals. Then, teachers deter-mine their own personal goals. Group leadersacknowledge, respect, and affirm cultural dif-ferences through the collaborative process bywhich they learn about the teachers, their cul-ture, values, classroom practices, attitudes,and goals.

Another way that the IY TCM programattends to cultural diversity and sensitivity isby showing teachers video vignettes that rep-resent the culture and backgrounds of the stu-dents they teach. Group leaders can selectvignettes to provide more diverse models andexamples of ways to interact successfully withchildren to promote optimal social, emotional,and academic competence. The effect ofshowing culturally diverse models is thatteachers come to realize the universality ofeffective teaching principles. However, evenmore important than surface-level cultural ad-aptations are the deeper structural deliveryprinciples that ensure cultural sensitivity andrelevance (Resnicow, Soler, Braithwaite,Ahluwalia, & Butler, 2000). This includes theability of the group leaders to be collaborative

Table 1Continued

Additional Recommended Component for Particular Situations (Not Required)

Child Social and Emotional SkillsCurriculum � Core model does notrequire use of IY Child DinosaurCurriculum training

For schools addressing high-risk populations, considertraining for teachers to implement the classroom ChildDinosaur Social, Emotional and Problem SolvingCurriculum after receiving basic TCM training.

Note. IY TCM � Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management; ADHD � attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.


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and responsive in the delivery of the program.Furthermore, group leaders understand thatthere are possible cultural barriers to teachersusing some of the practices in the IY TCMprogram. These barriers are openly discussedand efforts are made to reframe the programcontent or adjust for cultural and attitudinalbarriers.

Future Research

There are a number of areas for futureresearch with IY TCM. First, comparing thedelivery of the IY TCM program with shorterand longer program dosage to see what effectthis reduction in this component of programfidelity has on the effect size of teacher class-room management outcomes is needed. Futureresearch may employ an assessment of currentclassroom practices to allow for tailoring ofcontent needs to a teacher’s areas of growth.Second, comparing fidelity of delivery of theIY TCM group leader methods, processes, andprinciples and its effect on teacher classroommanagement outcomes and student outcomeshas not been directly assessed. Current studiesare underway that are assessing the major di-mensions of fidelity of treatment (e.g., dosage,core content coverage, quality of group leader,and engagement of participants), which mayhelp shed light on this particular researchtopic. Third, comparing IY TCM training ofteachers with and without individual class-room coaching to determine whether between-workshop coaching for teachers enhancesteachers’ classroom management skills and re-sults in improved student outcomes is needed.Further, gathering data on the content ofcoaching sessions, and what is and is not nec-essary to promote effective teacher change,would inform the field. Fourth, comparing theself-administered version of the IY TCM pro-gram with the group-based version of deliveryto determine the advantages of group teachersupport and practices over the cost-effective-ness of a self-study model is required. Fifth,determining the use of the IY TCM trainingfor teachers working with different child pop-ulations, such as children with developmental

delays and/or severe behavior problems, isneeded to identify areas of adaptation for usewith specific populations. Finally, determiningthe advantages of adding the IY parent or childprograms alongside the TCM interventionneeds to be understood in terms of the amountof gain that is achieved in effect sizes byadding one or both of these components.

Implications

To enhance teacher engagement andmaximize outcomes among individuals fromdiverse backgrounds and experiences, pro-grams must be flexible enough to allow forsome adaptation. Prevention scientists devel-oping interventions and school psychologistsand practitioners implementing evidence-based interventions in schools must be awareof the important balance between adaptationand implementation with high fidelity. The IYTCM uses a principle-driven approach thatprovides a guide to gaining this balance.Given that culture is not static and that rele-vant cultural dimensions are virtually limit-less, it is not realistic to develop and rigor-ously evaluate a new, culturally adapted inter-vention for each of these dimensions as theychange over time. Consider that race, ethnic-ity, nationality, socioeconomic status, religion,marital status, family constellation, geogra-phy, gender, age/developmental status, andneighborhood (among other cultural factors)all interact to influence responsiveness to in-terventions. When we appreciate this fact, ev-ery intervention truly needs to be adapted tothe unique cultural context of every individu-al’s life. The only reasonable way for this tooccur is for adaptation to be built explicitlyinto the design of an intervention. This isconsistent with Castro et al.’s (2004) call forhybrid interventions that are adjustable tomatch differing cultural contexts. For over 30years, the IY Series has incorporated a princi-ple-driven collaborative and experientially re-flective approach to guide effective adaptationand dissemination of effective parenting andteaching practices.

In addition, the need for an infrastruc-ture to support those providing training and


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implementing interventions through supervi-sion and consultation, as well as ongoing on-site coaching, to support behavior change inreal-life settings is an important facet of inter-vention science. These support systems areoften neglected or left unmentioned. Withoutproper training and ongoing support and su-pervision, evidence-based interventions areunlikely to be implemented with fidelity, min-imizing the potential outcomes for childrenand families. In fact, these supports should beconsidered an integral part of the intervention.Implications for prevention and interventionscience include the need for more transpar-ency in the supports required to adequatelyand effectively implement school-basedinterventions.

Lastly, intervention development mustbe thought of as an ongoing process ratherthan an end point given that new data gatheredfrom ongoing research and clinical practicecan inform improvements to the intervention.For instance, the IY Series implementationmanuals (including leader manuals, handouts,books, and resources given to participants),vignettes, and even the suggested number ofsessions have been refined over time based onthese experiences. An important implicationfor prevention science is the understandingthat effective interventions continue to evolveand improve based on internal audits and feed-back. As a parallel, consider that the safetyfeatures of cars continuously improve. Fewpeople, when given the option, would opt todrive the old model without safety additions.Gathering data on what works, eliciting ongo-ing feedback, and actively participating in theimplementation of the intervention across avariety of contexts provides the needed infor-mation to improve interventions and meet theneeds of broader, more diverse populations.For instance, the first author and developer ofIY continues to facilitate groups, mentorgroup leaders, and provide ongoing consulta-tion, effectively bridging the worlds of re-search and practice in a manner that keeps theinterventions relevant, feasible, and sociallyvalid.

Summary

In this article, we have attempted tohighlight the collaborative and systematic pro-cesses and principles that allow the IY TCMprogram to be adapted with high fidelity intraining teachers across school contexts. Manyof these processes and principles have beenpart of the program from the outset, whileothers evolved iteratively with our researchand repeated applications of the program overtime and across settings. We suspect contin-ued refinements will occur as our experiencewith the program expands and as the sciencebehind it improves. Our most important lessonto date is that the principles and processes thatsupport dissemination cannot be afterthoughts;rather, they need to be essential, foundationalaspects of interventions if they are to be suc-cessfully transported. Only dynamic interven-tions with identifiable, nonreducible, and mea-surable elements will be broadly disseminatedwith high fidelity to meet the needs of anincreasingly diverse teacher and student pop-ulation in schools.

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Date Received: January 26, 2011Date Accepted: September 15, 2011

Action Editors: Elise Cappella, Wendy M.Reinke, and Kimberly E. Hoagwood �

Carolyn Webster-Stratton is Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington andfounding director of the University of Washington Parenting Clinic. She has spent morethan 30 years researching ways to help prevent and treat aggressive behavior in youngchildren, as well as developing and researching programs to promote children’s social andemotional competence. Dr. Webster-Stratton, a licensed clinical psychologist and nursepractitioner, has conducted nine randomized trials evaluating the impact of parent, teacherand child training programs for reducing young children’s behavior problems and pro-moting their social, emotional and academic ability. She has developed evidence-basedprevention and treatment programs that have been translated into 8 languages and arebeing used by teachers and mental health specialists in 20 countries around the world. Inrecent years she has researched the use of her parent, teacher and child training programsas school-based prevention programs delivered in day care centers, Head Start and theearly grades of public schools. Dr. Webster-Stratton received the National Mental HealthLela Rowland Prevention Award from the National Mental Health Association for herinterventions with families. She also has received the prestigious National Mental HealthResearch Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. Currently she iscompleting an NIH research grant evaluating her parent, teacher and child treatmentprograms with young children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. In addition sheis completing another NIH grant evaluating the dissemination process of delivering herprograms to child welfare agencies in California serving low income populations. Inaddition to her research, she has published books for teachers, parents and children.

Wendy M. Reinke, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Education, School,and Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri. She earned her degree in schoolpsychology from the University of Oregon and completed her postdoctoral training inprevention science at Johns Hopkins University. She has advanced training in teacherconsultation and behavior analysis. She received a grant from the U.S. Department ofEducation to support her development and evaluation of a teacher coaching model, theClassroom Check-up, for reducing problem behavior. She has published extensively onsupporting teachers with classroom management and prevention and early intervention ofdisruptive behavior problems in children. She is coauthor of three books, includingMotivational Interviewing for Effective Classroom Management: The Classroom Check-up. She is the founder and codirector of the Missouri Prevention Center. The focus of theCenter is on the prevention and early intervention of aggressive behavior and depressionin children. She is a scientific investigator on several large studies. She is a coinvestigatoron the National Institute of Mental Health–funded Johns Hopkins Center for Preventionand Early Intervention, evaluating strategies to enhance fidelity and increase familyengagement of school delivered evidence-based interventions. She is also the principalinvestigator on an Institute of Education Sciences grant to evaluate the efficacy of theIncredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Training program, evaluating whetherthe intervention can increase teacher use of effective classroom management strategiesand improve student social and academic outcomes.


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Keith C. Herman is an Associate Professor in Department of Education, School, &Counseling Psychology at MU. He is the Founder and Co-Director of the MissouriPrevention Center. He has advanced training and experience in school-based consultation,assessment, and research through the University of Oregon. He was also trained by Dr.Webster-Stratton as a certified IY parent, child, and teacher training group leader.Previously he was a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine andis a co-investigator for the Johns Hopkins Center for Prevention and Early Intervention.He has an extensive grant and publication record including over 40 peer-reviewedpublications in the areas of prevention and early intervention of child emotional andbehavior disturbances and culturally-sensitive education interventions.

Lori L. Newcomer is an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Missouri. Hercurrent research interests are the design, implementation and evaluation of multilevelschool-based interventions to promote the development of pro-social behavior, preventthe development of learning and behavior problems for students at risk for emotional andbehavioral disorders (EBD), and function based support for students with EBD. She is atrained facilitator of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program.


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