Academic and Behavioral Strategies in Inclusive Settings for Students With EBD: A Meta Analysis

Abstract

More students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) than ever before spend most of their time in general education. To increase their academic and behavioral success, students with EBD need access to empirically supported interventions and services. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate strategy effectiveness for students with EBD in K–12 inclusive settings. Identified studies were assessed with two approaches for evaluating methodological quality and multiple methods for assessing intervention effects. Results indicated that there is a dearth of empirical support for strategies implemented in general education classrooms for students with EBD though most of the studied reviewed were of high quality with moderate-to-large effects. In addition to the practical findings, the research team compared review methods with findings indicating agreement between expert visual analysis and more structured approaches for visual analysis. For the quantitative metrics, results indicated variable agreement across methods. Implications for research and practice are discussed.