Scott Stage

Bio

Scott Stage is an Associate Professor and has been the Director of the School Psychology Program since 2014. He joined the NC State University School Psychology faculty in 2008. He was a school psychology faculty at the University of Washington for 13 years prior to joining NC State University. He has been a Health Service Provider, licensed Psychologist since 2001. He received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Colorado in 1981. He received a M.A. in Special Education from the University of Northern Colorado in 1984 with endorsements in teaching students with learning disabilities and emotional disturbance. He earned a M.S. and Ph.D. in school psychology from Florida State University in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He completed a combined internship at the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida and Leon County Public Schools in Tallahassee, Florida in 1990.

He received federal funding from the Office of Special Education Programs to research functional behavioral assessment and positive behavioral support for students with emotional disturbance. He was a co-investigator on the Check, Connect, & Expect school-wide behavior support intervention program funded by the Institute of Education Sciences and the University of Nebraska’s Three Tier Behavior Intervention Model funded by the Office of Education Programs.

Projects

Dr. Stage is currently working on three different research projects with his students: (a) Using the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Civil Rights data https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/data.html to assess the over-representation of students of color exposed to exclusionary discipline practices and their under-representation in college preparatory course work in our nation’s public schools. (b) Using data collected from the Future of Families Childhood Wellbeing Study https://ffcws.princeton.edu/ to assess the effects of adverse childhood experiences on developing children, youth, and adults’ mental health and well-being conceptualized through ecological systems theory. (c) Conducting several mixed methods research syntheses of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.

Funded Research

Co-Investigator with Principal Investigator: Cheney, D. & Stage, S.A. University of Washington Behavior Research Center. Funded by the U. S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, October 2004-2008 ($4,300,000).

Research Design and Statistical Consultant for The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Behavior Center. Principal Investigators: Ron Nelson and Mike Epstein. Funded by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, January 2002-2007 ($5,000,000).

Principal Investigator of Examining the validity of functional behavioral assessment: Listening to teachers, parents, and students with emotional disturbance. Co-Investigators: Doug Cheney and Rick Neel. Funded by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, January 2001-2005 ($539, 000).

Project Evaluator and Trainer for Washington’s assessment & intervention program for students with emotional disturbance: Project WAIS-ED, Principal Investigator: Doug Cheney, Funded by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, September, 1998-2002 ($600, 000).

Project Evaluator and Trainer for the Student responsive service delivery system. Awarded by the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington State, 1998-2001 ($400, 000).

Graduate Advising

Dr. Stage’s Student-Initiated Research Lab

Dr. Stage’s research laboratory was started through student-initiated research interests that included a wide-range of topics pertinent to school-aged children and adolescents at-risk for exposure to excessive disciplinary practices, social alienation, segregated school education, unreliable or invalid assessment practices, and academic and/or behavioral interventions for students with disabilities.

What the students have studied:

• The effect of accommodations for students with disabilities on grades and state-mandated tests
• Racial disparities in exclusionary discipline and college readiness at the school level
• What determines the time spent in an alternative school for students with disabilities?
• The validity of office discipline referrals using Poisson-based data analysis
• The treatment mechanism of the Check, Connect & Expect school-wide behavior intervention
• Peers’ cognitive attributions and empathy towards students with autistic spectrum disorder
• The construct validity of some typical measures of autism; or, “I know it, when I see it”

Responsibilities

Dr. Stage provides leadership and course scheduling with the Program’s curriculum and Department administration. He manages the communication with the American Psychological Association (APA) for the PhD program and the documentation for the Masters of Science/ Certificate of Advanced Studies (MS/CAS) School Psychology Program with the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). In addition to the Program Director’s responsibilities, he is also the Director of Clinical Training. He writes required letters of recommendation for the PhD students seeking internship through the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) or APA-accredited internships or internships accredited under the Council of Directors of School Psychology Programs (CDSPP). He also writes letters of recommendation for all our MS/CAS students who are seeking practica and internships. Dr. Stage provides coaching and guidance for all the students seeking internships.

Area(s) of Expertise

Dr. Stage received federal funding for research projects involving functional behavioral assessment and positive behavioral support for students at-risk for or with emotional disturbance. He has been a co-investigator with federally funded grants assessing school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports, as well as state grants supporting this work and response-to-intervention for academic interventions. He employs both quantitative and qualitative methods in research synthesis and uses Poisson-based distribution statistical methods with student count data, which does not adhere to traditional parametric statistical methods. Clinically, he worked for seven years in residential and/or closed treatment settings prior to entering academia and provides University-based supervision to the Ph.D. students in clinical setting as a health service provider licensed psychologist.