Christina Christian

In 1993 Dr. Christina Christian was hired as a provisionally licensed, special education teacher for students identified as having a Behavior Disorder (BD). After earning her doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC-C), she focused her research efforts on creating teacher friendly behavioral interventions for students at-risk of developing a Behavioral Disorder. 

Understanding teacher time constraints and the significance of family-school collaboration in preventing BD, Dr. Christian developed The HOPE Method©, an evidence-based strategy for using K-12 classroom literature and informative text to develop students: social-emotional, problem-solving, and decision making skills. In addition to providing classroom teachers with a literacy-based behavioral strategy, The HOPE Method© provides families and schools with a positive method for communication and collaboration. She has authored: Finding HOPE in a Story (2014), Socialized to Rebel: Changing the Course of America's Children and Youth (2019), Freddy Learns to Follow Directions at School (2020) and Freddy Learns to Follow Directions at the Store (2022). 

As an Assistant professor, Dr. Christian seeks to close the 'research to practice' gap for promising practices such as MTSS, PBIS, and SEL. In her most recent publication, 'Prevention before Intervention: A Quick Start Guide for Provisionally Licensed Teachers' (2024), she equips all provisionally licensed teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to build a comprehensive MTSS Tier 1 Classroom.