Lesson 1

Using the WWC Practice Guide in School Psychology Practice

Before examining the seven individual recommendations, this lesson focuses on how school psychologists can use the Teacher-Delivered Behavioral Interventions in Grades K–5 practice guide during classroom consultation and problem solving.

School Psychology K–5 Consultation Teacher-Delivered Support

Why This Guide Matters

A Teacher Resource With Clear Value for School Psychologists

School psychologists are frequently asked to help when classroom behavior interferes with learning. Teachers may describe students as off-task, disruptive, unmotivated, impulsive, or difficult to redirect. The consultation question quickly becomes: What should we try?

The What Works Clearinghouse practice guide provides seven low-intensity, teacher-delivered behavioral interventions for K–5 classrooms. These strategies can provide a useful starting point before assuming that every classroom concern requires an intensive individualized intervention.

School psychology connection: The psychologist's role is not simply to hand a teacher a strategy. Consultation involves helping define the concern, select an appropriate level of support, plan implementation, and evaluate whether the strategy actually produces meaningful change.

Scope

Know When to Use the Resource

A Good Starting Point Classroom concerns that may respond to relatively low-intensity changes in teacher practice, such as participation, engagement, calling out, following routines, or responding to expectations.

Not a Complete Substitute Severe, persistent, dangerous, or highly individualized behavior may require additional assessment, individualized intervention, and involvement from additional personnel.

The guide should therefore be viewed as a decision-making resource rather than a rigid intervention cookbook. Student needs, classroom context, implementation feasibility, and professional judgment still matter.

The Psychologist's Role

Turn the Recommendation Into a Consultation Process

1. Define the Concern Translate broad descriptions such as “disruptive” into observable behaviors and relevant classroom situations.

2. Select the Level of Support Decide whether a low-intensity teacher-delivered strategy is a reasonable starting point.

3. Support Implementation Help the teacher translate the recommendation into a practical procedure that can actually be implemented.

4. Examine Response and Fidelity Determine both whether student behavior changed and whether the intervention was implemented as intended.

Using the Practice Guide

Don't Stop at the Recommendation Title

Each section of the WWC guide contains information that can be used during consultation. When a recommendation appears relevant, review the full section with the teacher or intervention team.

Recommendation

Identify the classroom practice most relevant to the concern.

Implementation

Review how the strategy is intended to be used in actual classrooms.

Examples & Tools

Use the guide's examples, planning tools, forms, and classroom resources.

Evidence

Review the evidence rating and supporting research for the recommendation.

Follow-Up

Plan how implementation and student response will be monitored.

Open the WWC Practice Guide →

Interactive Activity 1

Practical Consultation Triage for Behavioral Interventions

Decide whether the WWC guide is a reasonable starting point for each consultation request.

Case 1: A third-grade teacher reports frequent calling out during whole-group instruction. She wants a classroom strategy she can begin using consistently this week.

Case 2: A student engages in severe aggression several times per week despite multiple classroom interventions. Staff are concerned about safety.

Case 3: A second-grade class has difficulty beginning independent work without repeated teacher prompting. The teacher wants a preventative classroom-level strategy.

Case 4: A student has received consistent classroom interventions for several months with little improvement. The team needs to understand the individual variables maintaining a persistent behavior.

Interactive Activity 2

Build the Consultation Plan

Work through a consultation one decision at a time.

Decision 1 of 3

A fourth-grade teacher tells you:

“I've tried praising Ethan, but it doesn't work. He still barely participates during independent work.”

What should you do first?

You learn that the teacher occasionally says “good job” when she notices Ethan working, but there is no agreed-upon target behavior and praise occurs inconsistently.

What is the most useful next consultation step?

The teacher agrees to implement the strategy consistently for two weeks.

What should be planned before ending the consultation?

Interactive Activity 3

What Would You Ask Next?

Strong consultation often begins with the right question. Identify what information the school psychologist should obtain before recommending a classroom intervention.

Scenario 1:
A teacher tells you, “Maya is constantly off-task during math.”

What is the most useful question to ask first?

Scenario 2:
A teacher says she has been using precorrections before transitions, but the student's transition behavior has not improved.

What information would be most useful next?

Scenario 3:
A teacher is willing to try a classroom strategy but says, “I can't realistically do something every two minutes while I'm teaching.”

What should the psychologist explore?

Scenario 4:
A strategy has been implemented for two weeks and the teacher reports that the student's behavior seems somewhat better.

What should the consultation focus on next?

Optional Applied Practice

Different Students, Different Problems

Apply the consultation principles from this lesson to a more complex case. This activity is optional and does not affect lesson completion.

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Across the Seven Recommendations

Keep These Principles in Mind

Student Context Matters Consider cultural, linguistic, social, and individual experiences when interpreting behavior.

Relationships Matter Classroom behavioral support occurs within relationships among students, educators, and caregivers.

Acceptability Matters An intervention must be workable for the teacher and appropriate for the student and classroom.

Intensity Can Change Some students need more frequent or individualized support than others.

Teachers May Need Coaching Evidence-based practices still require implementation support.

Data Matter Review both implementation fidelity and student outcomes.

Lesson Summary

Key Takeaways

The WWC guide focuses on low-intensity, teacher-delivered behavioral interventions for K–5 classrooms.
School psychologists can use the resource to strengthen consultation, intervention planning, implementation, and follow-up.
The recommendations are a starting point for professional decision-making, not a substitute for individualized assessment when more intensive intervention is indicated.
Effective consultation includes attention to feasibility, fidelity, and student response.

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