The road to educational excellence is via instructional excellence; teachers must design potent teaching strategies, evaluation techniques that consider student welfare, and methods for positive reinforcement. (Author/JG)

Children (ages 7-12) were invited to carry out two tasks. Sabotage resulted in the experimenter appearing to have a false belief. Whereas children with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (n=12) corrected the false belief in the rewarded task condition, children with autism (n=10) were not influenced by task condition.…

Used a matched-schools design, school-level achievement, and disciplinary data to evaluate the effectiveness of the elementary-level Positive Action program on students' performance and behavior over time. Results indicated that program participation improved student behavior, school involvement, and academic achievement into high school. The…

Discusses the power of teacher praise and attention on training students with disabilities to recruit teacher attention. Describes types of students who could benefit from recruitment training, along with the skills and behaviors that can be taught. Provides strategies are provided for teaching recruiting skills. (CR)

Functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) were used to develop and implement behavior support plans for three middle school students who were not successful under a check-in, check-out system. Following implementation of function-based support, each participant demonstrated both reduced level of problem behavior and reduced variability in problem…

A study involving three preschoolers with developmental disabilities examined whether or not the use of a simultaneous prompting procedure would result in an increase on the percentage of correct responding of receptively identifying occupations from picture cards. Results found simultaneous prompting was effective. Maintenance and generalization…

Ethna Reid, founder and director of the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction, discusses ECRI program developments since the 1960s, explains several of its distinctive teaching techniques, and discusses its effectiveness relative to whole language and direct instruction approaches. (MLH)

Absenteeism of 130 direct-care staff in a residential facility for developmentally disabled persons was reduced by 27 percent through positive reinforcement for reliable attendance and punishment (progressive discipline) for attendance abuse. Reduced absenteeism was maintained for 12 months and overtime was reduced, but staff turnover increased.…

Four interdisciplinary staff teams at a public residential facility for persons with mental retardation improved the timeliness of submitting evaluation reports during a period when timeliness was reinforced. Performance deteriorated during the nonreinforcement phase. (Author/DB)

A successful cooperative group has a balance of both task and maintenance which comes from group members using appropriate social skills as the group works together. Suggestions are made for teachers to facilitate the use of these skills. (JD)

An elementary physical education teacher describes a successful behavior improvement program implemented at his school. Students earned points (tokens) for good behavior and physical education achievement. They lost points for inappropriate behavior. Donated prizes were awarded based on accumulated points. (IAH)

Used the Job Feedback Survey and performance data to examine the relationship between perceived organizational feedback environment and performance among 152 salaried employees. Higher performers were found to have received more total positive feedback, while expressions of dissatisfaction or anger from supervisors was related to lower…

This article responds to a study by Gerald Biederman and others, which concluded that verbal reinforcement in combination with interactive modeling strategies may produce confusion in children with language/learning difficulties. The article contends that a functional relationship cannot be claimed for the study's variables because measurement…

This counterpoint responds to Phillip Ward's commentary on a study by Gerald Biederman and others which concluded that verbal reinforcement in combination with interactive modeling strategies may produce confusion in children with language/learning difficulties. The counterpoint argues that the commentary indicates problems with semantics and with…

The applicability of two reinforcer assessment procedures to children with developmental disabilities and visual impairments was evaluated. Greater differentiation between stimuli occurred with a choice procedure than with a preference procedure. Measurement of compliance and responding rate in adaptive skill training confirmed that the choice…