Centre for Research in School-based Prevention (CRISP)
Co-directors: Amy Briesch and Robert Volpe
Team Projects
Social Emotional Behavior Screening Project
Our current project centers on the development and evaluation of screening tools to support the early identification of students’ social, emotional, and behavioral needs. By focusing on brief, reliable, and valid measures, we aim to provide teachers with practical tools that can be embedded within everyday classroom practice. This work is designed to help schools move toward more proactive approaches, ensuring that students in need of additional support are identified early and connected with appropriate interventions.
Direct Behavior Ratings
Our team has conducted extensive research on Direct Behavior Ratings (DBRs) as a method for assessing student engagement and disruptive behaviors in real time. This work examined the reliability of both single- and multiple-item DBR scales and demonstrated how DBRs can provide schools with efficient, feasible approaches to monitoring student behavior. Findings from this line of research continue to inform best practices for classroom-based assessment.
COEDD Tool
The Classroom Observation of Engagement, Disrespect, and Disruptive Behavior (COEDD) is an observational tool developed by our co-directors to capture key aspects of classroom behavior and teacher responses. Current projects involve using the COEDD in video-based classroom observations to better understand patterns of student engagement and classroom management.
ITRF Internalizing Project
The Integrated Teacher Rating Form (ITRF) is designed to identify students at-risk for emotional and behavioral problems. Our ongoing project focuses on evaluating the structure and reliability of the updated ITRF, with particular attention to how it measures internalizing behaviors in early elementary school students. This work, in collaboration with researchers at University of Massachusetts, Boston, contributes to ensuring that the tool is both psychometrically sound and practically useful for educators.
News and Events
CRiSP at NASP’25
Kaveri Sehgal, a School Psychology doctoral student and member of the CRiSP lab, presented her research project, along with Dr. Volpe, at the Annual Convention of the National Association of School...
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CRiSP at NASP 2025
David Gertz, a School Psychology doctoral student and member of the CRiSP lab, presented his research at the Annual Convention of the National Association of School Psychologists, 2025.