Current Funded Projects
In addition to student-led projects, the lab is working on the following.
Equity-centered Comprehensive Behavior Support Implementation Model. This model is the basis for “Advancing Equity."
01
Advancing Equity in the Implementation of Comprehensive Behavioral Health Supports for Youth with or At Risk for Disabilities
(2023-2027)
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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: a/an (a) Team Coaching Protocol, (b) series of online Staff Training Modules, (c) Observation and Feedback Form, and (d) Procedural Fidelity Inventory. This project is in partnership with the Boston Public Schools.
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Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, Special Education Research Grants Program (84.324A)
$1.9 million
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PI: Lindsay Fallon
Co-PI: Brian Daniels (UMASS Boston), Tamika La Salle-Finley (Georgia State), Jen Green (Boston University)
02
Validation of the Assessment of Culturally and Contextually Relevant Supports (ACCReS): Supporting educators of diverse students with or at risk for disabilities
(2017-2021; no cost extension until 12/2023; finalizing dissemination in 2024 and 2025)
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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. Results of the self-assessment can be used to identify professional development needs and strengthen educators' delivery of academic and behavior supports to for youth in Grade PK-12.
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Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, Special Education Research Grants Program (84.324B)
$400,000
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PI: Lindsay Fallon
Mentors: George Sugai (UCONN), Breda O’Keeffe (University of Utah), Takuya Minami (UMASS Boston)
Learn more about the ACCReS under the Dissemination tab above.
Drs. Veiga, Susilo, and Fallon presenting early findings from the ACCReS project in Fall 2019.
Project Beacon will use mixed reality simulations to train Fellows.
03
Project Beacon: Training School Mental Health Providers in Transformative Social Emotional Learning and Advocacy
(2023-2026)
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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 will prepare 50 mental health service providers from diverse backgrounds to work in high-need schools. Specifically, Beacon Fellows will be recruited from regional MSIs and the greater Boston community to enroll in graduate training in either school counseling or school psychology as a cohort at UMASS Boston. The primary goal of Project Beacon is to increase the number of qualified school-based mental health service providers from diverse backgrounds working in the Brockton, Lawrence, and Quincy Public Schools.
Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education's Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program (84.184X)
$5.7 million
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PI: Lindsay Fallon
Co-PIs: Amy Cook, Laura Hayden, Stacy Bender, Tracy Paskiewicz, Tim Poynton (UMASS Boston)
04
Transforming Boston Access to Mental Health (BAMH)
(2023-2026)
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Transforming Boston Access to Mental Health in Schools (BAMHS)
(2024-2026)
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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.
Funding Source: Boston Public Health Commission's Improving Youth Behavioral Health Outcomes in Boston through Behavioral Health Workforce Expansion Grant
$2.8 million
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PI: Amy Cook
Co-PI: Lindsay Fallon
PI Dr. Amy Cook presenting her research in Bogotá, Colombia in May 2023.
Dr. Lawson, Staci Ballard, and Dr. Fallon presenting preliminary findings from qualitative analyses at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists in February 2023.
05
Managing Resistance
Determining strategies for managing resistance in academia
(2021-2024)
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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.
Funding Source: UMASS Boston College of Education and Human Development's Racial Justice Committee Fund
$4,000
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PI: Stacy Bender
Co-PI: Kerrie Wilkins-Yel, Lindsay Fallon (UMASS Boston)