Dr. Nate von der Embse | Source | Professor of School Psychology at University of South Florida

Dr. Nate von der Embse is a professor of school psychology at the University of South Florida, Associate Editor of the Journal of School Psychology, and co-director of the School Mental Health Collaborative (www.smhcollaborative.org), a national research and technical assistance center that conducts research that informs policy and practice for the promotion of the social-emotional and behavioral success of all students.

Dr. von der Embse's research has resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed publications, professional articles, and book chapters and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, WUSF, TIME magazine, and presented nationally and internationally. Dr. von der Embse was the recipient of the 2018 Lightner Witmer Award for Early Career Scholarship from the American Psychological Association. Dr. von der Embse has been awarded over $11 million from the Institute for Education Sciences, National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, National Institute for Justice, and the Scattergood Foundation. His research improves educational decision-making by identifying the influence of external policies and contextual drivers while developing novel solutions to improve the selection and use of preventative school mental health assessments and interventions. The research program includes:

(1) An examination of external accountability policies on student and teacher emotional wellbeing, and instructional practices;
(2) The development of efficient decision-making tools including universal screening and progress monitoring measures;
(3) The creation of decision-making models including teacher training in assessment use and data interpretation, multi-informant decision-making algorithms, and discrete event simulations.

Dr. von der Embse provides technical assistance to 3 of the 10 largest school districts in the US to install universal mental health and prevention services, consults with professional associations and state governments on best practices in school mental health, and provides government advocacy training. Dr. von der Embse is a co-creator of the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS) assessment suite and is an author and behavior team member with Illuminate Education. SAEBRS has been used with over five million students.

His book, Conducting Behavioral and Social-Emotional Assessments in MTSS: Screen to Intervene (2022) is published by Routledge (https://www.routledge.com/Conducting-Behavioral-and-Social-Emotional-Assessments-in-MTSS-Screen-to/Embse-Eklund-Kilgus/p/book/9780367403850).