A significant proportion of students in the US struggle with social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) needs (Ghandour et al., 2019). If untreated or treated inadequately, SEB problems can cause various short- and long-term negative outcomes, such as academic failure, disruption to peers’ and their own learning, poor relationships with peers and educators, and increased exposure to exclusionary disciplines (e.g., suspension).
Unmet SEB needs also contribute to longstanding disparities for students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. As a result, educators worldwide consistently rank SEB problems among their top concerns. Often, evidence-based practices (EBPs) are used infrequently or not adopted at all in schools. Even if adopted, about 50-75% of EPBs were implemented with low fidelity or quality.
Implementation science focuses on the factors, strategies, and processes to translate EBP research effectively and efficiently into routine practices in schools (Williams & Beidas, 2019). In schools, the implementation of EBPs is never an event but an iterative process that requires deliberate attention to factors and strategies that either obstruct or enable the implementation of EBPs (Lyon & Bruns, 2019).
This practice brief focuses on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR; Damschroder et al., 2022), to support the implementation of EBPs. The CFIR emphasizes the social-ecological system by using “contextual domains” to categorize factors based on their level of influence on the implementation of EBPs. Learn how to implement evidence-based practices to best support your students struggling with social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) needs.