Classroom Management & Behavior

Steve Gruenert, PhD, has been at Indiana State University since 2002 teaching educational leadership courses and doing research in the field of school culture and climate.

Students do not put up walls to avoid relationships, but to see who cares enough to break the walls down. Research shows that building relationships with students increases engagement, motivation, test scores, and grade point averages while decreasing absenteeism, dropout rates, and discipline issues.

Glen Pearsall is a former teacher leader at Eltham High School in Victoria, Australia, and board member of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. His work specializes in engaging instructional practice, positive classrooms, and workload reduction for teachers.

Barbara Boroson, LMSW, has been an autism educator for more than 25 years. As a clinical social worker, she specialized in working with students on the autism spectrum and went on to become a school administrator.

Calli Lewis Chiu, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). Before joining CSUF in 2018, she was an assistant professor at California State University, Bakersfield, and Shippensburg University.

Dr. Ripley is currently teaching in the departments of elementary and secondary education at the University of Alberta and has over 35 years of experience at the elementary, junior high/middle school, high school, college, and university levels.

Karla McCarty, EdD, has over 25 years of experience in K-12 education as a chief academic officer, director of district wide programs, school counselor, and teacher.

Ann-Bailey Lipsett is a special education specialist and DIR/Floortime practitioner with twenty years of experience working with children, families, and schools.

Brandie M. Oliver, PhD, is an associate professor at Butler University teaching in the Masters in School Counseling program and a frequent presenter for local, state and national education conferences. Her specific areas of interest include social-emotional learning, trauma-responsive education, suicide prevention and intervention, comprehensive school counseling, restorative practices, and ensuring work is done through a lens of equity and cultural responsiveness.

Chavez Phelps, PhD, is an assistant professor of school psychology at Indiana State University. There he directs the Hoosier Whole Child Resilience Initiative, which offers professional development and technical support to schools and other community agencies that support youth with trauma-related behavior and emotional needs.