George Sugai, Ph.D.

Emeritus Professor University of Connecticut

  • Storrs CT

George Sugai, Ph.D., has expertise in positive behavior support in schools

Contact

University of Connecticut

View more experts managed by University of Connecticut

Biography

George Sugai is Emeritus Professor in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. In 2019 he retired as Carole J. Neag Endowed Chair and Professor with tenure in School of Education at University of Connecticut. His research and practice interests included school-wide positive behavior support, behavioral disorders, applied behavior analysis, organizational management, and classroom and behavior management, and school discipline. He ha been a classroom teacher, program director, personnel preparer, and applied researcher. Currently, he is senior advisor for the OSEP Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.

Areas of Expertise

Behavioral Sciences
Function-based Behavior Support
School and Classroom Behavior Management
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
Applied Behavior Analysis
Positive Behavior Supports
School Climate and Culture
Multi-tiered Support Systems

Education

University of Washington

Ph.D.

Special Education

1980

University of Washington

M.Ed.

Special Education

1974

University of California, Santa Barbara

B.A.

Biological Sciences

1973

Affiliations

  • Association for Positive Behavior Supports, Member
  • Association for Behavior Analysis, Member
  • Council for Exceptional Children, Member
  • Council for Children with Behavior Disorders, Member

Social

Media

Media Appearances

How Some Schools Restrain Or Seclude Students: A Look At A Controversial Practice

NPR  radio

2019-06-15

The Education Department has been funding the development of a program called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS. It's a framework designed to help schools improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities and emotional and behavioral disorders. According to George Sugai, one of PBIS's senior advisors, the program provides strategies that are designed to reduce the need for restraint and seclusion.

Sugai, who's an emeritus professor of special education at the University of Connecticut, also says it's important to note that seclusion and restraint shouldn't be used as the sole intervention for students with challenging behavior. Instead, he encourages teachers to seek more therapeutic responses to students, such as having conversations about why they behaved in certain ways.

View More

At Betsy DeVos’s federal school safety commission meeting, lessons from first-graders on friendships and fist bumps

Washington Post  print

2018-05-31

“You’ve got to focus on teaching social skills just like you would academics,” said George Sugai, a University of Connecticut professor of special education who studies Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports.

He said schools that have faithfully and consistently implemented the program — which includes interventions for students who misbehave — have seen results. If schools implement the strategy, “you’re likely to see decreases in referrals for major infractions. You’re likely to see decreases in bullying,” Sugai said.

View More

Zeroing in on Zero Tolerance

National Public Radio  radio

Zero tolerance policies send a strong message to students but at what cost? This hour, we examine how over time, these policies have led to suspensions and expulsions for minor issues -- and can have drastic effects on a student’s future.

View More

Show All +

Articles

Reopening schools requires doing less, better

CT Viewpoints

George Sugai and Sandra Chafouleas

2021-04-07

For educators, families, and communities, April is bringing a welcome sign of hope to a year of unchartered challenges as political unrest, COVID-19, social and racial disparities, and violence have disrupted and dismantled our schools’ traditional approach to education. The appointment of Miguel A. Cardona as the 12th Secretary of Education and the passing of the American Rescue Plan of 2021 does make it feel like spring, in fact, has sprung. The possibility of equitable school environments for our nation’s children appears tangible, however, recovery must attend to more than filling holes with intent to return to a “new normal.”

View more

Implementing Effective Educational Practices at Scales of Social Importance

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review

Robert H. Horner, George Sugai, and Dean L. Fixsen

2017

Implementing evidence-based practices is becoming both a goal and standard across medicine, psychology, and education. Initial successes, however, are now leading to questions about how successful demonstrations may be expanded to scales of social importance. In this paper, we review lessons learned about scaling up evidence-based practices gleaned from our experience implementing school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) across more than 23,000 schools in the USA. We draw heavily from the work of Flay et al. (Prev Sci 6:151–175, 2005. doi:10.1007/s11121-005-5553-y) related to defining evidence-based practices, the significant contributions from the emerging “implementation science” movement (Fixsen et al. in Implementation research: a synthesis of the literature, University of South Florida, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, The National Implementation Research Network (FMHI Publication #231), Tampa 2005), and guidance we have received from teachers, family members, students, and administrators who have adopted PBIS.

View more

Assessing Teachers’ Behavior Support Skills

Teacher Education and Special Education

Diane Myers, George Sugai, Brandi Simonsen, Jennifer Freeman

2017

In this article, the authors provide an overview of empirically supported practices and techniques for monitoring and assessing teachers’ use of effective behavior support practices. They focus on how teacher preparation programs, administrators, and supervising teachers provide pre-service teachers with helpful feedback on their teaching performance. In addition, they describe a behaviorally based conceptual model for assessing teachers’ fluent and sustained use of empirically supported classroom behavior support practices and provide recommendations for enhancing the preparation of pre-service educators.

View more

Show All +