The conceptual elements of strong interventions in school settings

A conceptual model of strong school-based interventions is presented. Strong interventions are ecological in nature, naturalistic in scope, contain elements from the research base that are predictive for success, and incorporate the constructs of social validity in a practical manner. The latter concept relates to the ideas of treatment acceptability and socially important outcomes, and is important for insuring treatment integrity. While there exists a robust research data base for effective school interventions, generalization to regular school settings without the overriding influence of researcher/consultant is difficult. Thus, all of these concepts must be practically utilized if strong interventions are to be applied to school problems. Suggestions and implications for school psychology practitioners are discussed.