Members of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) teams from 34 elementary schools participated in a Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) Workshop and follow-up technical assistance. Within the context of a randomized wait-list controlled trial, team members who were the first recipients of the TIPS intervention demonstrated greater…

The purpose of this review was to synthesize the research underlying group contingency interventions to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to support their use for managing the classroom behavior of students with behavioral difficulties. An application of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) procedures for evaluating single-subject…

The purpose of this study was to examine the differential effects of 2 versions of the Good Behavior Game (Barrish, Saunders, & Wolf, 1969), allocating teacher attention to rule violations (GBG-response cost) and to rule following (GBG-reinforcement), on student and teacher behavior. The participants were 6 kindergarten students who were…

Peer nominations and demographic information were collected from a diverse sample of 1493 elementary school participants to examine behavior (overt and relational aggression, impulsivity, and prosociality), context (peer status), and demographic characteristics (race and gender) as predictors of teacher and administrator decisions about…

Children's behavior problems, both internalizing and externalizing, are a function of both genetic and environmental influences. One potentially important environmental influence is the classroom environment. This study of 1941 monozygotic twin pairs examined whether children whose parents rated them as similarly high or low on a number of problem…

Young children with problem behavior in the classroom are at risk for developing more conflictual and less close relationships with their teachers. Two studies in kindergarten (N=3798; N=237) shed light on some aspects of classroom climate that can moderate this risk for relational problems. Results showed problematic classroom compositions, in…

The present study evaluated differential effectiveness of conceptually distinct consultation programs (ecological, behavioral, and process) in inner-city elementary schools. Program children, evidencing acting-out problems, were monitored through baseline, treatment, and follow-up phases. Significant reductions in observed and rated behavioral…

Relational aggression was studied within classroom environments by examining individual and classroom correlates among 2731 children (3rd-5th graders) during two successive measurement years. Multilevel analyses yielded small gender differences for relational aggression, indicating that such aggressive behavior was more associated with girls as…

This article provides a review of current practices and tools used in the proactive screening of behaviorally at-risk students within the context of schooling. While there are many obstacles to the early detection of vulnerable students, some recent developments have helped make educators more receptive to early identification and prevention…

Classroom teachers need effective, efficient strategies to prevent and/or ameliorate destructive student behaviors and increase socially appropriate ones. During the past two decades, researchers have found that cognitive strategies can decrease student disruption/aggression and strengthen pro-social behavior. Following preliminary pilot work, we…

African Americans are over-represented in school suspensions, yet little is known about the underlying contributing dynamics. Study 1 reviewed a high school's annual discipline data and 442 students referred for defiance. African Americans were over-represented in referrals for defiance and most students received referrals from one or several…

Sound academic screening can be done efficiently and effectively in the early elementary years. There are existing screening tools available and new ones being validated that collectively can address the need for universal and systematic narrow-band and broad-based assessment of students' academic enabling behaviors and academic skills in key…

This study describes how a graduate student in counseling and guidance worked with a team of teachers in implementing a group-contingent reinforcement system with first graders. The group contingencies proved highly effective in increasing the percentage of work completed and reducing disruptive responses. (Author)

Investigates the effect of randomizing both contingencies for reinforcement and reinforcers to decrease classroom disruptive behavior in five adolescent students with serious emotional disorder. Results reveal that the percentage of observed intervals of disruptive behaviors decreased immediately and dramatically in all students. (Contains 24…

Second-grade teachers ranked their students according to the extent to which they exhibited problem behavior in the classroom. Boys who were behavior problems were found to interact with their teachers significantly more than boys who were not behavior problems and more than girls regardless of their classroom behavior. (Author)