A major focus of Dr. Power's research has been on developing and evaluating interventions to improve family involvement in education and student educational performance. With funding from NIMH, his team developed and tested a multi-modal intervention for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to address the academic problems of children in grades kindergarten through six. The intervention examined in these studies, Family-School Success (FSS), integrates behavioral parent training, classroom behavioral interventions, and family-school collaboration. Their research has demonstrated that FSS improves parenting practices, the family-school relationship, and child outcomes, and that improvements in parenting practices have downstream effects on academic performance.

More recently, with funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, Dr. Power and his team have been conducting cluster-randomized trials in highly diverse schools to evaluate the effect of organizational skills training on the organizational skills and academic performance of students in grades 3 through 8. Their research has demonstrated the effectiveness of organizational skills training when provided under real-world circumstances by school professionals and that improvement in student organizational skills are leading indicators of improvement in academic performance.  

Dr. Power's research has had a particular emphasis on service delivery with children and families who have been economically marginalized. As an example, with funding from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, his team developed a multi-component intervention for children with ADHD, known as Partnering to Achieve School Success (PASS), provided in primary care practices. Through this research, he studied challenges with family engagement in treatment for ADHD. This research served as the foundation for a current study funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to evaluate the effectiveness of PASS in improving parenting practices and child outcomes for children with ADHD from economically marginalized backgrounds.

St. Joseph's College (Psychology), 1974

MA, Villanova University (Guidance and Counseling), 1978

PhD, University of Pennsylvania (Psychology in Education), 1984

Director, Center for Management of ADHD, CHOP

Distinguished Endowed Chair, Department of Pediatrics, CHOP

Professor of School Psychology in Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Education, University of Pennsylvania

Associate Chair of Academic Affairs and Development, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, CHOP, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania

International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology

Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapies

Fellow, American Psychological Association

Society for Study of School Psychology

National Association of School Psychologists

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Faculty Mentor Award, 2009

Presidential Award, National Association of School Psychologists, 2010

Herman Staples Child and Family Advocacy Award, Regional Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey, 2013

Senior Scientist Award, American Psychological Association, Division 16 (School Psychology), 2017