The development of behaviorally based public school consultation services.
A single agency can grow from one classroom to a district-wide BCBA training hub by stacking small, visible wins.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Coffey et al. (2005) tell the story of one community agency that built a full consultation shop inside public schools. They started with one kid, one teacher, one classroom. Over time they added intern slots, post-doc tracks, and district-wide training days.
The paper is a narrative review. It walks through each growth step and the hurdles they hit.
What they found
The agency moved from single-case help to a system that trains new BCBAs while serving entire districts. They kept services behavioral, data-based, and school-friendly.
No single outcome number is given. The win is the roadmap itself.
How this fits with other research
Winett et al. (1991) warned that community settings often reject ABA. F et al. show one way past that wall: embed staff, collect quick wins, then scale.
Twyman (2025) later turned the same story into a tidy loop: pilot, adapt, scale. The 2005 paper is the lived version of that loop.
Torres et al. (2025) copied the model on a Caribbean island. They also paired direct service with local training and creative funding, proving the steps travel.
Why it matters
If you consult in schools, use this paper as a checklist. Start small, track data the teachers can see, and build a student pipeline early. Offer practicum hours on site so the district helps you stay. Each small win buys space for the next classroom, then the next school.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This article describes the development of behavioral school care consultation services to public schools within a not-for-profit community behavioral health organization. An overview of the process of behavior consultation is presented. A description of the growth of behavioral school consultation services is outlined in regard to (a) the types of consultation, including individual, school-wide, and district-wide services; (b) trainings in empirically validated assessment and interventions; and (c) the development of an internship and postdoctoral fellowship program. A review of the growth of applied research, particularly in the area of school-wide interventions and its dissemination, also is presented.
Behavior modification, 2005 · doi:10.1177/0145445504273286