Howard M. Knoff PhD

Howie Knoff, Ph.D. is an internationally-known innovator and hands-on practitioner in the areas of:

• School Improvement and Turn-Around, Strategic Planning and Organizational Development

• School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management (PBIS/PBSS)

• Differentiated Academic Instruction and Academic Interventions for Struggling Students

• Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Instruction and Strategic and Intensive Interventions for Challenging Students

• Multi-tiered (RtI) Services, Supports, Programs

• Effective Professional Development and On-Site Consultation and Technical Assistance

Howie is the President of Project ACHIEVE which has implemented this nationally-known school effectiveness/school improvement program—an evidence-based model prevention program [through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Service’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)]—in thousands of schools or districts over the past 30 years. A national expert on school discipline, classroom management, student engagement, and interventions with behaviorally challenging students, Dr. Knoff has also been a university professor (22 years at the University of South Florida and SUNY-Albany), and the Director of the federally-funded State Personnel Development/State Improvement Grant for the Arkansas Department of Education from 2003 to 2015.

As Director of the Arkansas State Improvement/Personnel Development Grant (SIG/SPDG), Dr. Knoff was directly responsible to the Director of Special Education for the state of Arkansas, and involved in many Departmental policy and procedure discussions and deliberations. In addition to administering the $12 million received from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs to implement these grants, he and his staff scaled-up critical Project ACHIEVE components across Arkansas focusing on:

• Statewide implementation of Positive Behavioral Support (PBIS) Systems;

• Literacy and mathematics interventions for at-risk, underachieving, and students with disabilities;

• Response-to-Instruction and Intervention (RtI2) and Multi-Tiered Systems (MTSS) of support to help close the achievement gap, reduce disproportionality, and speed essential academic and behavioral interventions to needy students; and

• Sustained and real school improvement for Priority, Focus, and other schools or districts

Significantly, Project ACHIEVE (through the SPDG grant) was written into Arkansas’ approved Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) Flexibility process as the school improvement model for all Focus schools in the state of Arkansas from 2010 to 2015.

Dr. Knoff received his Ph.D. degree from Syracuse University in 1980, and has worked as a practitioner, consultant, licensed private psychologist, and university professor since 1978. Dr. Knoff is widely respected for his research and writing on school reform and organizational change, consultation and intervention processes, social skills and behavior management training, Response-to-Intervention, and professional issues. He has authored or co-authored 18 books, published over 100 articles and book chapters, and delivered over 2,500 papers and workshops nationally—including the Stop & Think Social Skills Program (Preschool through Middle School editions) and the Stop & Think Parent Book: A Guide to Children’s Good Behavior both through Cambium Learning/Sopris West Publishers.

Among his recent books are the following (GO TO: www.projectachieve.net):

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, hazing, and physical aggression: Keeping your school, common areas, and students safe. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). A multi-tiered service and support implementation guidebook for schools: Closing the achievement gap. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Teaching students classroom and school routines: From preschool to high school. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Developing school discipline codes that work: Increasing student responsibility while decreasing disproportionate discipline referrals. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Implementing a progressive school discipline code through classroom-based Behavioral Matrices. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Developing and implementing the behavioral matrix: Team and teacher worksheets to create grade-level matrices. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Changing student behavior by linking office discipline referrals to a strategic Time-Out process: A step-by-step implementation guide. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). The Stop & Think Social Skills Program: Exploring its research base and rationale. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Analyzing school resources: The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) assessment guide. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Creating effective school mission statements: Characteristics and analysis. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Shared leadership through school-level committees: Process, preparation, and first-year implementation action plans.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Evaluating school-wide discipline/Positive Behavioral Support Systems: Three years of sequenced implementation activities. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). The school safety audit and emergency/crisis prevention process. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). Conducting Quarterly Student Achievement Review (Q-STAR) meetings. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M. (2018). The Get-Go Process: Transferring students’ multi-tiered information and data from one school year to staff and prepare for the next. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

• Knoff, H.M., & Dyer, C. (2014). RTI2—Response to Instruction and Intervention: Implementing Successful Academic and Behavioral Intervention Systems. Rexford, NY: International Center for Leadership in Education.

• Knoff, H.M. (2012). School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management: A Positive Behavioral Support Implementation Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

• Knoff, H.M., Blanchard, K., Covey, S., & Tracy, B. (2010). Discover Your Inner Strength: Cutting Edge Growth Strategies from the Industry’s Leading Experts. Sevierville, TN: Insight Publications.

Dr. Knoff has a long history of working with schools, districts, and community and state agencies and organizations. For example, he has consulted with a number of state departments of education, the Department of Defense Dependents School District during Desert Storm, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court five times, in addition to working on many other state and local cases—largely for legal advocacy firms who are representing special education and other students in need. Specific to school safety issues, Dr. Knoff was on the writing team that helped produce Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools, the document commissioned by the President that was sent to every school in the country in the Fall of 1998; and he participated in a review capacity on the follow-up document, Safeguarding our Children: An Action Guide.

A recipient of the Lightner Witmer Award from the American Psychological Association's School Psychology Division for early career contributions in 1990, and over $21 million in external grants during his career, Dr. Knoff is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (School Psychology Division), a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, a Licensed Psychologist in Arkansas, and he has been trained in both crisis intervention and mediation processes. Frequently interviewed in all areas of the media, Dr. Knoff has been on the NBC Nightly News, numerous television and radio talk shows, and he was highlighted on an ABC News' 20/20 program on "Being Teased, Taunted, and Bullied." Finally, Dr. Knoff was the 21st President of the National Association of School Psychologists which now represents more than 25,000 school psychologists nationwide.

Dr. Knoff is constantly sought after for his expertise in a wide variety of school, psychological, and other professional issues. He also has extensive experience as an Expert Witness having testified in many federal and state special education court cases across the United States.

Contact Information:

Dr. Howard M. Knoff

Director, Project ACHIEVE Phone: 501-312-1484

49 Woodberry Road FAX: 501-312-1493

Little Rock, AR 72212

E-mail: knoffprojectachieve@earthlink.net

Web site: www.projectachieve.net

Blog: www.improvingourschools.blogspot.com