A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Examining the Impact of the First Step to Success/First Step Next Intervention: A PBIS Tier 2 Intervention for Pre-K - 3rd Grade Students

Students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders often experience significant challenges that adversely affect their academic performance and overall well-being. Although the First Step to Success/First Step Next (FSS/FSN) intervention has been widely implemented as a PBIS Tier 2 intervention to support Pre-K to 3rd-grade students with challenging behaviors, research findings have been inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizes the literature on the intervention’s effectiveness across studies, focusing on both social-emotional behavioral outcomes and academic performance. Using a comprehensive search strategy, studies meeting rigorous inclusion criteria were identified, and effect sizes (Hedges’s g) were calculated to capture pre- to post-intervention changes between intervention and control groups. Given the dependency of multiple effect sizes within studies, a subgroup-correlated hierarchical effects (SCHE) model was employed, with robust variance estimation (RVE) and small-sample corrections to account for within-study correlations. Sensitivity analyses were conducted by varying assumed within-study correlations. Publication bias was assessed via funnel plots and an adjusted Egger’s regression test, and effect size adjustments to address publication bias were conducted using Precision-Effect Test (PET) and Precision Effect Estimate with Standard Error (PEESE) models. Additionally, exploratory moderator analyses examined study-level factors, including baseline behavior severity and implementation fidelity, as potential sources of heterogeneity. Overall, the results indicate that the FSS/FSN intervention yields a medium to large positive effect on improving adaptive behaviors of (g = 0.59, SE = 0.08, 95% CI [0.40, 0.77], p < .001), while significantly reducing maladaptive behaviors (g = -0.53, SE = 0.08, 95% CI [-0.71, -0.35], p < .001). The results also indicate that the FSS/FSN intervention has a small positive iii impact on students’ academic functioning (g = 0.22, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [0.06, 0.37], p = < .05). Exploratory moderator analysis tested 10 study-level variables (baseline behavior severity, rater type, socioeconomic status, grade level, gender composition, study design, special-education status, intervention version, risk-of-bias, and race/ethnicity), but no coefficient met both the Satterthwaite degrees of freedom criterion and practical significance. Implications for practice, limitations of the current synthesis, and directions for future research are discussed.