Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Psychology (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Marlene Sotelo-Dynega

Second Advisor

Mark Terjesen

Third Advisor

Raymond DiGiuseppe

Abstract

Social-emotional and behavioral difficulties are among the most common impairments for childhood and adolescence. These challenges negatively affect school outcomes for students, often leading to absenteeism, higher dropout rates, grade retention, and lower grades. The importance of providing school-based social-emotional interventions cannot be overstated. Using a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework is a way to proactively identify students in need, monitor their progress, and continuously improve their individualized interventions to support their growth. The current study used an electronic survey to understand school psychologists’ knowledge, practices, and attitudes towards implementing a MTSS framework for social-emotional learning (SEL). Further, school psychologist demographic characteristics (i.e., years of experience and education level) were considered as predictors of knowledge, practices, and attitudes towards the implementation of MTSS for SEL. Overall, results suggested that school psychologists are knowledgeable about MTSS and the systems that support it, including SEL, positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS), and response to intervention (RTI). Further, school psychologists had highly favorable views about implementing MTSS and SEL. However, implementation practices did not meet best practice standards. School psychologists reported many barriers to implementation, including their own lack of time due to competing responsibilities and teachers’ lack of time, skills, and knowledge to support social-emotional interventions in the classroom. High levels of barriers were correlated with less frequent implementation. To enhance MTSS practices for SEL, it is paramount to identify ways to minimize and circumvent barriers. Limitations affecting the findings of this study include the brevity of the survey and the inherent drawbacks of convenience sampling. Future studies are needed to address more nuances of the variables explored in this research study through random sampling. It is also suggested that these variables be investigated with other school personnel members because the fidelity of the MTSS approach relies on the entire multi-disciplinary team (e.g., teachers, administrators, etc.).

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