This document describes the work of the Pupil Services Branch of the Maryland State Department of Education in its efforts to assist school districts and individual schools in the state in examining the causes of student disruption and in developing programs that are aimed at impacting disruptive students and creating more effective schools. A…

This booklet is about changing human behavior in everyday settings in the school and home. The approach to human behavior outlined is called "behavior analysis," which is based on that approach to psychology called the exerimental analysis of behavior. The ABC model of behavior is explained. In this model, the A refers to the "antecedent" that…

Part of "Students and Drug Abuse, prepared by the Public Information Branch and Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental Health, in cooperation with the staff of Today's Education.

The diagnostic approach is probably the most comprehensive approach to classroom discipline because it is designed to prevent the recurrence of symptoms by discovering and treating the causes of behavior problems. The diagnostic model of discipline presented here interrelates the mental and behavioral processes the teacher undergoes when dealing…

During the past ten years, many school districts have established alternative schools or programs for students who are seriously disruptive and academically unsuccessful. This bulletin describes five different types of alternative programs that have been effective in dealing with disruptive youth. They include the Tri-C Community Centered…

With funds from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA Title III), the Cooperative Educational Services Center of Winsted, Connecticut is seeking to (1) initiate a pupil services team-work approach, and (2) provide an opportunity for greater teacher-awareness of the significance of the behavior of children. Complete statistical…

The author summarizes his observations of interactions in two classes of an individualized, self-paced, laboratory-based high school science course for students who normally do not take physics or chemistry. Based on these and other observations of classroom behavior of teachers and pupils the author postulates that two agendas are operative in…

In this study, a classroom observation technique was employed to examine the behaviors of a group of teacher-referred hyperactive children in order to determine the frequency of specific behaviors exhibited. The purpose behind the study was the further investigation of behavioral observation and intervention techniques used by other researchers as…

A plan was devised to improve the behavior and attitudes of selected junior high school students who, as a result of continual classroom misbehavior, had been frequently referred by classroom teachers to the assistant principal. The program involved organization and use of resource persons already available in the school (including guidance…

An overview is presented of systematic behavioral analysis as a method for modifying both social and cognitive behaviors through reinforcement. Various techniques are explained: response differentiation, shaping, chaining, fading, extinction, timeout, and response cost. (SJL)

If the problems of student violence and other forms of misbehavior are to be solved, educators must refocus attention on each student as an individual. (Author)

Discipline in the urban middle school is a rehabilitative process requiring accurate adult perception of the kinds of behavior problems which interfere with student achievement. (Author)

This article outlines the basic concepts in systemic therapy, including the nature of systemic behavior, the "punctuation" of behavior, the value of seeing behavior as "cooperative" rather than "resistant," and the concept of exception. Specific strategies school administrators and teachers can use when handling…

A survey of elementary teachers in Great Britain showed that the behaviors that caused teachers most problems were talking, not paying attention, disobeying, and disturbing others. Boys were generally regarded as being more troublesome and disruptive than girls. (Author/RM)