Evans Lab

The Beacon team aims to increase educators’ use of effective practices and system of care procedures (SOC), while also improving outcomes for students.

The Beacon Program includes a two-phase model to help schools strengthen their system of care (SOC). In phase 1, schools assess their current SOC, identify goals for improvement, and participate in targeted professional development and consultation based on their needs. Phase 2 continues support for the SOC and introduces the Beacon software, an education technology tool, designed with school professionals to help educators select, implement and monitor targeted supports for students with emotional and behavioral needs. 

Funding: 

• OHIO Innovation Strategy facilitated the development of this product.
• Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education Institute for Education Sciences awarded to Ohio University (R305A210323). 

The Challenging Horizons Program (CHP) is a school-based training intervention designed to improve the social and academic functioning of adolescents with ADHD. 

The interventions in the CHP program target common areas of difficulty, including academic skills, interpersonal relationships and family functioning. The CHP is delivered during the school week through regularly scheduled sessions with trained staff. Within these sessions, students participate in structured activities that build organization skills, academic and study strategies, problem-solving and interpersonal skills. The program emphasizes repeated skill practice with performance feedback and application in relevant settings.

This structured, practice-based approach is intended to help students strengthen academic habits, improve social interactions and develop skills that support success both in school and in other environments. 

Funding

• National Institute of Mental Health

• Institute for Education Sciences  

The goal of this project is to advance understanding of child and adolescent behavioral health using nationally representative data and validated assessment measures to support research, screening and intervention efforts. 

The Benchmark Project is a nationally representative behavioral health research initiative focused on children and adolescents ages 6–18 in the United States. The dataset includes extensive emotional, behavioral, psychosocial, academic and demographic information collected through youth self-report, teacher-report and parent-report surveys. The project includes the Vanderbilt measures as well as additional validated behavioral health and psychosocial assessments, including school functioning measure and related instruments, allowing researchers to examine attention-related symptoms, emotional and behavioral functioning, academic performance, social functioning and broad developmental outcomes. The Benchmark Project serves as a comprehensive resource for studying child and adolescent mental health, comparing youth, teacher and parent perspectives, and supporting evidence-based research and intervention development. 

The goal of this research is to develop feasible, clinic-based interventions tailored to adolescents with ADHD.

This project examines the real-world challenges faced by adolescents with ADHD and the families who support them, with a particular focus on functional impairments in academics, organization, motivation and family relationships. Drawing from clinical experience and evidence-based practice, the project highlights how adolescents with ADHD is often less about isolated symptoms and more about difficulties managing increasing academic, social and executive functioning demands. It explores the effectiveness and limitations of commonly used interventions including parent management training, structured academic support and targeted behavioral strategies while emphasizing the importance of realistic expectations, family context and developmental timing. The project also underscores the need for practical, parent-focused approaches that balance honesty about ADHD-related limitations with meaningful opportunities for growth, resilience and improved family functioning.