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Jill Locke, PhD

Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
(206) 616-6703
Box 354920 / Room 130C
  • Biography
  • Projects
  • Publications

Jill Locke, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, a licensed child psychologist, and research affiliate at the Seattle Children’s Autism Center. To date, her research has focused on the: 1) presentation of social impairment for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in inclusive school settings; 2) identification of best practices for youth with ASD; and 3) understanding of successful implementation and sustainment of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for youth with ASD in public school settings. She was the principal investigator of two foundation grants that highlighted the importance of the organizational context in successful EBP implementation for youth with autism. She also was the principal investigator on an NIMH K01 Career Development Award (K01MH100199) that used quantitative and qualitative methods to examine individual- and organizational-level factors as predictors of EBP implementation in self-contained settings for children with ASD. She is currently the: 1) principal investigator of an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grant (R324A200033) to examine evidence-based practice use to support youth with autism in inclusive settings; 2) MPI of an IES grant (R305A200023; PIs: Lyon, Locke, and Cook) to develop and test an organization-focused implementation intervention – Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM) – to support the use of Tier 1/universal social emotional and behavioral programs and practices; and 3) site PI of a Health Resources Services Administration Autism Intervention Research Network on Behavioral Health (AIRB) grant (UT3MC39436 PI: Kasari) to develop and test an implementation strategy (UNITED) to support the uptake and implementation of three evidence-based interventions that focus on early intervention, school-aged children, and adolescents with autism with the goal of promoting access and services for underrepresented and under resourced communities. Her experiences have highlighted the importance of collaborating with public schools and the reality of working within the constraints of publicly funded systems, their timeline (e.g. school calendar year), and with their personnel. Dr. Locke served as Co-Director of the UW SMART Center from 2020 – 2023.

 

Google Scholar Dept of Psychiatry Profile

The ACT SMARTER project will redesign an evidence-based implementation toolkit called, “Autism Community Toolkit: Systems to Measure and Adopt Research-Based Treatments (ACT SMART). The ACT SMART toolkit was developed and shown to be effective in targeting autism EBP decision-making in community settings and has immense potential to improve autism EBP adoption and implementation. The goal of the current project is to conduct an educational redesign of ACT SMART for use in public schools with input from stakeholders so that the implementation toolkit can be useful and usable in middle and high schools. Learn more here.
The purpose of this multi-site study is to develop and evaluate a multi-phase implementation and sustainment strategy to support evidence-based practice use across different interventions for individuals with autism, settings, and ages. Click here for more information.
This study will test the effectiveness of the newly-redesigned paraeducator-delivered RUBI for use in Educational Settings (RUBIES) intervention compared to usual care training in reducing disruptive behavior in 80 elementary-school children with ASD. This study also will examine paraeducator- and child-level mechanistic pathways of the RUBIES intervention.
The HELM project will adapt and test an existing leadership-focused implementation strategy (Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13012-014-0192-y) for use with elementary school principals in buildings where universal social, emotional, and behavioral program are being implemented. For more information about this project, click here.
The purpose of this study is to identify which evidence-based practices (EBPs) teachers and paraeducators use to more meaningfully include and retain autistic children in general education settings; and the malleable individual and organizational characteristics that increase EBP use. Click here for more information.
This Career Development Award uses mixed methods to examine staff- and school-level factors as predictors of implementation and sustainment of an evidence-based intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder in public schools.
Centering School Leaders’ Expertise: Usability Evaluation of a Leadership-Focused Implementation Strategy to Support Tier 1 Programs in Schools(2024)School Mental Health
The incremental association of implementation leadership and school personnel burnout beyond transformational leadership(2023)School PsychologyAdvance online publication:
Using Stakeholder Input to Guide Data Visualization and Reporting to Promote Evidence-based Practice Use in Public Schools(2023)Global Implementation Research and Applications3 (2):99-111.
Teacher attitudes toward evidence-based practices: Exploratory and confirmatory analyses of the school-adapted evidence-based practice attitude scale(2023)Implementation Research and Practice4:
The Interaction Between General and Strategic Leadership and Climate on Their Multilevel Associations with Implementer Attitudes Toward Universal Prevention Programs for Youth Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Study(2022)Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research50 (3):427-449.
Teacher perceptions of implementation climate related to feasibility of implementing schoolwide positive behavior supports and interventions(2022)School Mental Health14 (4):1057-1069.
Iterative redesign of a caregiver-mediated intervention for use in educational settings(2022)Autism26 (3):666-677.
Construct validity of the School-Implementation Climate Scale(2022)Implementation Research and Practice3:
Leading the charge in the education sector: Development and validation of the School Implementation Leadership Scale (SILS)(2022)Implementation Science17 (1):
Exploring individual and organizational mechanisms of implementation of evidence-based practices for the inclusion of elementary students with autism: Study protocol(2021)International Journal of Educational Research108:
Individual and organizational factors that affect implementation of evidence-based practices for children with autism in public schools(2019)Implementation Science14:39.
Organizational culture and climate profiles: Relationships with fidelity to three evidence-based practices for autism in public elementary schools(2019)Implementation Science14:15.
The impact of implementation support on the use of a social engagement intervention for children with autism in public schools(2019)Autism23:834-845.
Importance and feasibility of an adapted set of implementation strategies in schools(2019)Journal of School Psychology76:66-77.
Understanding the organizational implementation context of schools: A qualitative study of school district administrators, principals, and teachers(2019)School Mental Health11:379-399.
Adapting a compilation of implementation strategies to advance school-based implementation research and practice(2019)Prevention Science20:914-935.
Understanding the organizational implementation context of schools: A qualitative study of school district administrators, principals, and teachers(2018)School Mental Health11(3):379-399.
Assessing organizational implementation context in the education sector: Confirmatory factor analysis of measures of implementation leadership, climate, and citizenship(2018)Implementation Science13:5.
The impact of Inter-Organizational Alignment (IOA) on implementation outcomes: Evaluating unique and shared organizational influences in education sector mental health(2018)Implementation Science13(1):13-24.
Confirmatory factor analysis of the Evidence-Based Practice Attitudes Scale with school-based behavioral health consultants(2018)Implementation Science13 (1):1-8.
Importance and feasibility of a revised compilation of implementation strategies to support education sector behavioral health(2018)Implementation Science13:
Race, disability, and grade: Social relationships in children with autism spectrum disorders(2017)Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice21(1):92-99.
Pebbles, rocks, and boulders: The implementation of a school-based social engagement intervention for children with autism(2017)Autism21:985-994.
School-based behavioral health service use and expenditures for children with autism and children with other disorders(2016)Psychiatric Services67:101-106.
Examining playground engagement between elementary school children with and without autism spectrum disorder(2016)Autism20:653-662.
A mixed methods study of individual and organizational factors that affect implementation of interventions for children with autism in public schools(2016)Implementation Science11:135.
One-to-one assistant engagement in autism support classrooms(2015)Teacher Education and Special Education38(4):337-346.
All together now: Measuring staff cohesion in special education classrooms(2015)Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment,33:329-338.
A tangled web: The challenges of implementing an evidence-based social engagement intervention for children with autism in urban public school settings(2015)Behavior Therapy,46:54-67.
Assessing social skills in early elementary-aged children with autism spectrum disorders: The Social Skills Q-Sort(2014)Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment32:62-76.
Correlation of cognitive and social outcomes among children with autism spectrum disorder in a randomized trial of behavioral intervention(2014)Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice,18:370-375.
Predictors of fragmentation and connectivity: A social network analysis of classrooms containing children with ASD(In Press)Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice
Differences by age in in-school and out-of-school behavioral health service use among children with different psychiatric disorders(In Press)School Mental Health
Importance and feasibility of an adapted set of strategies for implementing evidence-based mental health practices in schools(In Press)Journal of School Psychology