Translating research into practice

Former college football player Chad Rose never intended on being a special education teacher. After graduating with an elementary education degree from the University of Saint Francis in Indiana, he planned on teaching third graders and coaching high school football.

“Due to the bell schedule between elementary and high school, it was impossible for me to teach younger students and coach football,” Rose says. “Luckily, a local high school was looking for a special education teacher and football coach. From there, I fell in love with serving youth with disabilities.”

Rose says many students in his first class had a history of violent, aggressive and other challenging behaviors. He quickly realized that he needed more classroom management skills and tools, which prompted him to enroll in graduate school.  

“During that time, I realized that our practices and programs to support students with intensive behavioral needs were lacking, and I knew that there had to be another way to improve the lifelong outcomes of this subset of youth.”

Now Rose, an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development’s Department of Special Education at the University of Missouri, has been making huge strides in helping educators recognize and prevent bullying.

What is your main research focus? 

I developed the Mizzou Ed Bully Prevention Lab with a primary mission of reducing bullying among school-aged youth through skill-based interventions. Over the past decade, my team and I have expanded our focus to:

• Support school districts and state education agencies by evaluating policies and ensuring they are compliant with state and federal regulations while being substantive enough to positively impact youth. 
• Conduct trainings and professional development for districts, schools, parents and communities that are grounded in sound science and evidence-based practices. 
• Evaluate interventions grounded in teaching and the reinforcement of social and communication skills as vehicles for reducing the prevalence of bullying and supporting lifelong social and functional outcomes for school-aged youth.

What brought you to Mizzou?

Every time I step on campus, it is not lost on me how lucky I am to be a faculty member at Mizzou. I am in awe of the amazing research happening in the Department of Special Education. My colleagues are true trailblazers who are working to improve math, science and literacy skills among youth; identify early childhood risk factors; provide schools with evidence-based support; and establish innovative approaches to serve youth with autism and other behavior-oriented disabilities. While my colleagues are incredibly humble, they are changing what we know about supporting youth with disabilities, and I’m thankful to be associated with such amazing scholars and individuals.

Please describe some current projects.

• My team and I are concluding a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), where we, along with our collaborators at the University of North Carolina and University of Florida, developed and evaluated an interactive bullying prevention professional development for teachers, with an emphasis on prevention among youth with disabilities. 
• Most recently, we have started exploring the development of social relationships within an online context to determine if it is possible for youth to develop friendships in online spaces, and how these friendships compare to those cultivated in physical spaces. While my team and I have expanded our research focus, the heart of our work is grounded in evidence-based bullying prevention, with an emphasis on those who are most vulnerable.

Do you collaborate with other faculty?

I am collaborating with a number of colleagues across campus and at other institutions to further understand the complexities of bullying and youth behavior across physical and electronic environments.

• I am working with Christi Bergin, research professor, and Nicole Brass, postdoctoral fellow, in educational, school and counseling psychology; and Aaron Campbell, assistant professor in special education, on a federally funded project evaluating an ECHO model for supporting the development and understanding of prosocial behaviors for cohorts of middle school teachers. 
• Sam von Gillern, assistant professor of learning, teaching and curriculum, and I received funding through MU’s Rural Education Initiative to support English language arts teachers using artificial intelligence and digital citizenship curricula. 
• Grant Scott, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and I are in the preliminary stages of developing an augmented reality program, coupled with artificial intelligence, designed to support the initial development of teachers’ classroom management skills. 

What do you enjoy most about running the Mizzou Ed Bully Prevention Lab? 

My favorite thing about serving as lab director is the cultivation of leaders in education with specific skills and knowledge related to bullying prevention. We designed the lab to be a space where MU students could learn about research and applied skills beyond those learned in their courses. 

Over the past 10 years, almost 100 undergraduate and graduate students have been members of the lab. These students have influenced state-level policy, parental safety tools on social media platforms, research in bullying prevention, teacher and community professional development and the translation of research into practice.

Do you have an example of how your work has positively changed a school's culture?

Early in my career, my team and I helped a school implement and evaluate whether commercially developed social and communication skill interventions could reduce the schoolwide prevalence of bullying. After our research showed that these skill-based strategies decreased bullying, the curriculum was implemented throughout the entire school district. It was reassuring to know that our efforts and focus on social and communication skill development were improving outcomes for youth. Ultimately, this success story set the course for the work that we are doing now.

What do you love the most about your work?

Although there are many aspects of my job that I really enjoy, the thing that I love most is pushing the boundaries in research. I love thinking differently about complex issues related to bullying prevention and trying to view them through a different lens. That “breakthrough” feeling is something that all scholars seek. The moment when something clicks, something just makes sense, is a feeling that is unmatched. Luckily, the University of Missouri and the Department of Special Education have fostered a culture that makes this type of critical thinking and research possible.

What advice do you have for early career faculty members conducting research?

The most important advice I ever received was to find my passion. I was told that passion is that thing that keeps you up at night – that thing that drives you. If you are passionate about the work, then you will attract passionate collaborators, you will be willing to put in the time, and you will find opportunities that align with your career goals.