We conduct research aimed to promote student learning by utilizing efficient, effective, and culturally affirming behavioral supports for youth and vested partners. Our scholarship is primarily applied and behavior analytic in nature, aligned with the UMB College of Education and Human Development commitment to anti-racism and community-engaged research.
UMB Supports and Intervention for Learning (SAIL) ⛵️ Lab
Fall 2026
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🍎 Dr. Fallon will not be accepting a student in the AY2026-2027 admissions cycle to start in Fall 2027. Please consider applying to the doctoral program to work with another faculty member, though. We have a shared mentorship model and students are welcome to join the UMB-SAIL Lab in subsequent academic years.
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⛵️ Welcome, Lindsay P. to the UMB-SAIL lab! Lindsay most recently was in the UMB School Psychology M.Ed./Ed.S. program and is a Project Beacon Fellow!
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📈 Congrats to recent graduate lab member, Andrea, for starting her post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric neuropsychology at Mass General Brigham's Salem Hospital! Go, Andrea!
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🤠 Several lab members will be presenting conference sessions at both the Advancing School Mental Health Conference in Nashville in December 2026, as well as the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists in Charlotte this coming February 2027. Congrats to all with accepted proposals!
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🎉 Lab member Ryan, lab alumni Dr. Lawson, and Dr. Fallon were recognized with the Article of the Year (Honorable Mention) from School Psychology Review for McKenney et al., 2025 at NASP 2026.
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🙌 We celebrate our lab's recent publications:
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Lawson, T., Knox, J., Gaona, M. & Fallon, L. M. (2026). Listen up!: Black students’ perceptions of culturally responsive teaching practices. Multicultural Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2026.2723861
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McKenney, E. L. W., Lawson, T., Heidelburg, K., Fallon, L. M., McPherson, E. C., Rodriguez-Harris, D., Sunda, R., Charpentier, J., Sipior, C., & Williams, S. (2026). Micro-level advocacy toward socially just multi-tiered systems of support: Action steps. Journal of School Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2026.101559
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Hernández, J., Corredor, J., Fallon, L. M., & Bustamante Barreto, A. (2026). The adaptation and initial validation of a culturally responsive teaching scale for use with Colombian teachers. Contemporary School Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-026-00609-3
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Grapin, S. L., Fallon, L. M., Newman, D. S., Goldie, P. D., Ali, R., Cohen, E., Laenen, D. P., Grinshpun, S., & Lasd, D. (2026). Interest in multicultural and social justice research topics, epistemologies, and methodologies among school psychology journal editorial board members. School Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2026.2657787
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Cook, A. L., Kausel, J., Day, L., Sreekala, R., Ali, R., Romo, M., Hall, A. Fallon, L. M., & Murphy, K. M. (2026). Using mixed reality simulations to foster multicultural and social justice skill development in consultation. School Psychology Training and Pedagogy, 42(1), 31-43.
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Fallon, L. M., Ali, R., Daniels, B., Stobbe, R., Wang, A., Bagepalli, R., Anderson, M., La Salle-Finley, T., Green, J. G. & Ervin, A. (2026). Promoting equity-centered Tier 1 supports in an MTSS framework. Exceptional Children, 93(1), 79–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251413965
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Knox, J., Ash, T. L., Fisher, A. E., & Fallon, L. M. (2026). A quantitative content analysis examining barriers to diversity training implementation in schools. School Psychology, 41(3), 293-303 https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000729
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Fallon, L. M., La Salle-Finley, T., Norman, G. N., Laenen, D., Romero, E., Adams, J., Clay, K., Wollin, T., Anderson, M., Sunda, R., & Ervin, A. (2026). “We all can learn from one another”: Student, caregiver, and educator perspectives to strengthen culturally responsive practice within multi-tiered systems of support for behavior (MTSS-b). School Psychology Review, 55(5), 691–706. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2025.2601508
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Lab Holiday Brunch in December 2025
Lab member Jacqueline Osborn presenting at the College of Education and Human Development's Research Extravaganza in April 2026
Celebrating Project Beacon graduates at the College of Education and Human Development Award Ceremony, May 2026
CSDE's Camp Shriver was awarded $20k from Arbella Insurance at the $20k for 20 Non-Profits Luncheon in November 2025
Project Beacon was featured in NASP's Communiqué in the November 2025 Issue!
Lab member Juan, Rachel and Audra enjoying the sun on campus!
Current and Past Projects
This four-year study is a Development and Innovation (Pilot) project to develop Advancing Equity (AE), a training and coaching intervention to center equity in the design and implementation of Tier 1 multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) for social-emotional-behavioral (SEB) health. AE will consist of four components: Team Coaching Protocol, a series of online Staff Training Modules, an Observation and Feedback Form, and a Procedural Fidelity Inventory.
This project is to develop and validate a teacher self-assessment, the Assessment of Culturally and Contextually Relevant Supports (ACCReS). The ACCReS assesses the extent to which educators use evidence-based culturally and contextually relevant academic and behavioral practices, make data-based educational decisions, and have access to training/support systems to promote the use of these practices. (Please note that this project ended in 2024, however manuscripts related to data collection continue to be disseminated.)
Project Beacon is an innovative training partnership between the Brockton, Lawrence, and Quincy Public Schools (three high-need local education agencies) and University of Massachusetts Boston (UMASS Boston; a minority serving institution [MSI]). This partnership was designed to prepare 50 mental health service providers to work in high-need schools.
Project BAMH and BAMHS will support efforts to recruit, retain, train, and place over 240 students in behavioral health positions in the City of Boston. Transforming BAMH/BAMHS will prioritize preparing youth-facing practitioners with cultural, linguistic, racial, and other minoritized identities to serve Boston communities.
Managing Resistance
The purpose of this project is to understand how Faculty of Color engaged in racial justice work at urban serving institutions to navigate institutional- and individual-level resistance to anti-racism efforts. Qualitative interviews are currently being coded for dissemenation.
Resources
A Message from Dr. Fallon
Thanks for your interest in the lab's work! To share a bit about my mentorship style, I value a collaborative, supportive approach that endeavors to build students' skills and carve out a clear path for them moving forward. I try to have clear guidance and expectations while being available to answer questions and problem-solve when barriers arise. I strive to encourage my mentees to find balance between personal and professional responsibilities and goals. I appreciate that the lab is fantastic at encouraging one another and being there to support each other.
