Lessons Learned from Implementing Self-Regulated Strategy Development with Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Alternative Educational Settings Robin Parks Ennis Clemson University Karen R. Harris Arizona State University Kathleen Lynne Lane University of Kansas Linda H. Mason University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ABSTRACT: Self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) is an evidence-based intervention for use with students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). To date, there are nine studies investigating SRSD in alternative education settings, including self-contained day and residential schools, with 113 students with EBD in grades 3 through 12. A brief synthesis of this body of SRSD research is presented, which represents SRSD implementation in individualized, small-group, and class-wide formats using group and single-case research design methodology. Lessons learned from this research are presented to inform both practitioners and researchers, including guidelines for overcoming the unique barriers to SRSD implementation that students with EBD in alternative education settings may present. Lessons learned include the need for (a) developing strategies for increasing students’ academic engagement, (b) further addressing behavioral and academic needs, (c) overcoming issues of truancy and transience, (d) promoting maintenance and generalization, and (e) increasing teacher buy-in. Future directions for this line of research are also outlined. & Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are a diverse group of students, including those with externalizing (e.g., ag- gression, coercion) and internalizing (e.g., excessive shyness, anxiety, depression) behav- ioral challenges (Achenbach, 1991). Although most often recognized for their behavioral and social excesses and deficits, students with EBD also struggle academically (Walker, Ramsey, & Gresham, 2004). Specifically, many students with EBD underperform in the core academic areas of reading, writing, and mathematics (Nelson, Benner, Lane, & Smith, 2004). Read- ing and writing are keystone skills, with reading being essential to accessing all learn- ing and writing serving as the primary method by which students both communicate and ‘‘show what they know’’ (Graham, 2006; Tindal & Crawford, 2002). Because of their academic and behavioral needs, the rate at which students with EBD are placed into alternative education (AE) settings, such as separate schools or residential facili- ties, has risen steadily over the past decade (Aron, 2006; National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). Typically, AE settings are nontraditional schools that aim to address complex student needs not met in a typical school, special education setting, or vocational education setting (U.S. Department of Educa- tion, 2002). In these settings remediation is focused on one of two programmatic struc- tures: (a) a problem-solving model concentrat- ing on academic, social, and emotional success or (b) a disciplinary-based program emphasizing remediation of violent and dis- ruptive behavior (Kochhar-Bryant, 2005; Lehr, 2004). Regardless of the setting or program- 68 / November 2014 Behavioral Disorders, 40 (1), 68–77