Some of the most consequential moments in schools are too ordinary to appear in formal data. A brief redirection. A check-in after a difficult morning. The tone used when a student asks for help. The way an adult ends a disagreement. These interactions accumulate, but they are difficult to define and study.
The opportunity
The SSCC Practice™ offers one proposed structure for examining these moments: Steady, Scan, Connect, and Close. The practice is currently under systematic evaluation. I am seeking collaborators who are interested in studying not only whether adults like the practice, but how it is understood, implemented, adapted, experienced, and measured.
Possible study areas
Research opportunities include expert content validation; cognitive interviews about the practice language; mixed-methods feasibility studies; scenario-based assessments; implementation-fidelity studies; qualitative studies of adult experience; student-perception studies; equity analyses; cross-role comparisons; and eventually controlled or stepped-wedge evaluations.
Dissertation-sized questions
A doctoral candidate might examine how high school assistant principals perceive the feasibility of SSCC after training; how campus supervisors apply the practice to common scenarios; what barriers teachers encounter during a six-week implementation period; or how students describe dignity, clarity, and adult follow-through in everyday interactions.
What collaboration should protect
Research participation must be voluntary and separate from employment evaluation. Student data require additional protections. The developer’s role and intellectual-property interest must be disclosed. Researchers must remain free to report findings that are mixed, null, critical, or unfavorable.
What I can provide
Potential collaborators can begin with a defined practice, research prospectus, standardized training outline, pocket reference card, proposed theory of change, candidate research questions, and early measurement concepts. These materials require review and adaptation through appropriate academic and institutional processes.
Who I hope to connect with
I welcome conversations with university faculty, doctoral candidates, implementation scientists, school psychologists, educational leaders, MTSS and PBIS researchers, restorative-practice scholars, school-safety professionals, and districts interested in responsible pilot work.
The goal is not to find researchers who will prove SSCC works. The goal is to find researchers willing to ask what is true, what is useful, what is missing, and what must change before stronger claims can be made.
Until next time, keep building safer schools, one relationship at a time.
← Previous: Creating a Practice Is the Beginning, Not the Evidence · Back to all articles · Next: Could SSCC Be Adapted for Students? →