Nicolette M. Grasley-Boy

Overview

Nikki Grasley-Boy is a national expert in schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS), classroom management, and research methodologies. As a Senior Research Associate with the Special Education Policy and Practice (SEPP) team, she focuses her research on implementing effective and efficient professional development for classroom management skills and evaluating multi-tiered systems of support for behavior using both advanced statistical methodologies and applied single-case research. A former special educator and educational consultant, Grasley-Boy combines her content knowledge in special education and behavioral interventions with her quantitative methodological expertise to provide a unique lens for rigorously evaluating educational policies, systems, and interventions.

Grasley-Boy has expertise in special education; classroom management; SWPBIS; and research methodologies, including group and single-case designs. She is also skilled in applying advanced statistical techniques in education research, including multilevel modeling and structural equation modeling. She currently works on multiple projects within the SEPP team as a content and evaluation expert, including federally funded grants from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Education Innovation and Research program’s Early-Phase and Expansion competitions.

Grasley-Boy began her career as a special educator, serving students across grades K–12 in public and alternative school settings. She then worked as a Training and Consulting Specialist at the Devereux Center for Effective Schools, where she provided behavioral consultation and worked as an SWPBIS coach for urban schools, alternative day schools, and residential treatment settings. Prior to joining WestEd, she held a position as a Postdoctoral Researcher and later Assistant Research Professor at the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas, where she served as an in-house quantitative methodologist on federally funded educational research projects while pursuing her own research interests.

Education

• PhD in special education, University of Florida
• MEd in special education, Vanderbilt University
• BS in special education and elementary education, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

Select Publications

Grasley-Boy, N. M., Gage, N. A., Lombardo, M., & Anderson, L. (2023). Re-examining the reliability and validity of the SWPBIS Tiered Fidelity Inventory. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 25(4), 215–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/10983007231167606

Grasley-Boy, N. M., Gage, N. A., Reichow, B., MacSuga-Gage, A. S., & Lane, H. (2023). A conceptual replication of targeted professional development to increase teachers’ behavior-specific praise. School Psychology Review, 52(1), 72–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1853486

Grasley-Boy, N. M., & Gage, N. A. (2022). The lunchroom behavior game: A single-case design conceptual replication. Journal of Behavioral Education, 31, 595–613. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-020-09415-0

Grasley-Boy, N. M., Gage, N. A., Lombardo, M., & Anderson, L. (2022). The additive effects of implementing advanced tiers of SWPBIS with fidelity on disciplinary exclusions. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 24(3), 183–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/10983007211011767 Grasley-Boy, N. M., Gage, N. A., & Lombardo, M. (2019). Effect of SWPBIS on disciplinary exclusions for students with and without disabilities. Exceptional Children, 86(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402919854196

Honors, Awards, and Affiliations

2023 E.G. “Ted” Carr Initial Researcher Award, Association for Positive Behavior Support

2020 Outstanding Graduate Research Award, University of Florida College of Education

2020 Doctoral Degree Stipend Award, Midwest Symposium for Leadership in Behavior Disorders

2019 John Umbreit Doctoral Research Award, Council for Children With Behavioral Disorders