School of Education

Education

• Ph.D. in special education, Vanderbilt University
• M.Ed. in special education, College of William and Mary
• B.A. in history, Wake Forest University

Research interests

Emotional/behavioral disorders, intervention development, treatment implementation and fidelity

Google Scholar »

Career highlights

• Panel Member, What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide on School-Based Behavior Interventions
• Panel Member, What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide on Assisting Students Struggling with Behavior in Grades K-5
• Associate Editor, School Mental Health
• Co-developer – BEST in CLASS intervention
• Research faculty – VCU’s Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development
  
  

Recent projects

• Developing and Validating a Technically Sound and Feasible Self-Report Measure of Teachers’ Delivery of Common Practice Elements (2021-2025). Institute of Education Sciences. Social and Behavioral Context for Learning Research Grants. (IES Grant R305A210168, $1,998,953) – Co-Investigator (PIs, McLeod & Cook)
• Effectiveness Replication of BEST in CLASS Intervention for Young Children at High Risk for Delays in Social or Emotional Development. Institute of Education Sciences. Social and Behavioral Context for Learning Research Grants. (IES Grant R324R210005, $4,492,505) – Co-Investigator (PIs, Sumi & Woodbridge)
• Distilling Practice Elements for School-Based Practices and Programs That Improve Social and Behavioral Outcomes. Institute of Education Sciences. Social and Behavioral Context for Learning Research Grants. (IES Grant R305A220261, $1,318,242) – Multiple Principal Investigators (McLeod & Sutherland)
• Friendships and the Academic Skills and Behaviors of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: The Importance of Classroom Social Contextual Factors. Institute for Education Sciences. Early Career Development and Mentoring Program. (IES grant R324B190018, $496,959) – Mentor (PI Granger)
• A Conceptual Replication of BEST in CLASS: An Efficacy Study of BEST in CLASS - Elementary (2018-2022). Institute for Education Sciences. Social and Behavioral Context for Learning Research Grants. (IES grant R305A180182, $3,296,798) – Principal Investigator (along with Conroy, University of Florida)
• Multilevel Determinants of Implementation and Sustainment in the Education Sector (2020-2024). National Institute of Mental Health. (R01 MH124439, $3,122,972) – Multiple Principal Investigators (McLeod & Sutherland)

Recent selected publications

• Washington-Nortey, M., Sullivan, T. N., Sutherland, K. S., Ahmed, R., Crosby, J., & Hitti, S. A. (2025). Suggested supports for improving the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program’s implementation and impact in an under-resourced middle school context. School Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-025-09765-y
• McLeod, B. D., Sutherland, K. S., Broda, M. D., Granger, K. L., Hollins, N., Frey, A. J., Markowicz, K. A., & Dear, E. (2025). Initial development of the Child Responsiveness Scale for early childhood settings. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1177/10634266241271
• Pandey, T., Sutherland, K. S., Gibson, D., & Cormier, D. (2025). Elementary teachers’ attributions for racially minoritized students’ classroom behaviors. Urban Education, 60, 2051-2087. https://doi.org/10.1177/004208592412764
• Granger, K. L., Chow, J., Montesion, A., Sutherland, K. S., & Conroy, M. A. (2025). Teacher’s classroom management self-efficacy and teacher-child conflict as a function of child ordinal behavior ranking. School Mental Health, 17, 90-105. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-025-09741-6.
• Oddo, L. E., McLeod, B. D., Sutherland, K. S., Chow, J. C., Ledford, J. R. & Li, G. W. (2025). A novel approach to research synthesis with the distillation and matching model: Application to the prevention of youth social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Prevention Science, 26, 69-79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-025-01766-
• Granger, K. L., Chow, J., McLean, L., Vallarta, N., Dear, E., & Sutherland, K. S. (2024). The relation between classroom adversity and student’s problem behavior as a function of teachers’ emotional support. Behavioral Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1177/019874292312214
• Dear, E. R., McLeod, B. D., Peterson, N. M., Sutherland, K. S., Broda, M. D., Dopp, A. R., & Lyon, A. R. (2024). A case study of pragmatic measure development of the Treatment Integrity for Elementary Settings self-report measure for teachers. Implementation Research and Practice, 5. https://doi.org/10.1177/26334895231220262
• Washington-Nortey, M., Sullivan, T. N., Ahmed, R., Crosby, J., Farrell, A., Sutherland, K., & Hitti, S. (2024). Middle School Staff’s Perspectives on the Impact of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program on Interpersonal Relationships. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 44(6), 673-706. https://doi.org/10.1177/02724316231199225
• Sutherland, K. S., Granger, K. L., Conroy, M. A., McLeod, B. D., Broda, M., Vallarta, N., & Rosas, A. (2023). Examining the role of student responsiveness in treatment effects of a tier 2 program targeting reductions in problem behavior. Prevention Science, 24, 974-984. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-023-01537-x
• Granger, K. L., Sutherland, K. S., Conroy, M. A., Dear, E., & Morse, A. (2023). Teacher burnout and supporting teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 31, 144-153. https://doi.org/10.1177/10634266221149970
• Sutherland, K. S., Wu, E., McLeod, Washington-Nortey, M., McKnight, K., McLeod, B. D., & Conroy, M. A. (2023). Caregiver and teacher perspectives on home-school partnerships within a tier 2 intervention. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 31, 219-232. https://doi.org/10.1177/10634266221130053
• Washington-Nortey, M. Granger, K., Sutherland, K., Conroy, M., Kaur, N., Hetrick, A. (2023). Sustaining BEST in CLASS: Teacher-Reported Evidence-Based Practice Use with Students at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. School Mental Health, 15, 470-483. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09561-y
• McLeod, B. D., Sutherland, K. S., Conroy, M. A., Lyon, A. R., Chapman, J. E., Granger, K. L., & Saldana, L. (2023). Study protocol: Multi-level determinants of implementation and sustainment in the education sector. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 31, 27-40. https://doi.org/10.1177/10634266221090160
  
  

Bio

Dr. Kevin Sutherland is Interim Associate Dean for Research and Professor in the VCU School of Education's Department of Counseling and Special Education and research faculty at the Clark Hill Institute of Positive Youth Development. A former teacher of youth with intensive behavioral and learning needs in both residential and public school settings, Sutherland’s research interests and expertise include efforts to enhance the use and fidelity of implementation of evidence-informed programs targeting reductions in chronic problem behavior in school and community settings and community engaged research.

He has been a principal investigator or co-investigator on federally-funded projects – totaling more than $40 million – that involve the development and evaluation of evidence-informed programs in schools, and has created assessment tools to examine teachers’ fidelity to and adequacy of implementing these programs in classrooms.

Curriculum Vitae