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Heartland AEA 11
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Research Summary
Decision-Making
Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention
and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M R.
Shinn, H. M. Walker, & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions
for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial
approaches (pp. 373-401). Washington, DC: National
Association of School Psychologists.
Preventing
Misbehavior:
1. Rules and behavioral expectations
a. Rules should be
stated positively
b. Include 3-8
rules
c. Rather than involve
the students in the development of the rules, start a discussion of
why the rules are important and how the rules relate to success in
the subject of the class
d. Possible expectations
include (a) what students should do when they enter the room before
the bell rings; (b) where students should go and what they should
have with them at the beginning of class; (c) what students should
be doing during the time the teacher is taking attendance or
dealing with other administrative duties; (d) how student are
expected to behave in a variety of situations, such as lectures,
discussions, independent work periods, etc.
e. Teach the students
the rules and expectations the first week of each semester and
provide feedback
2. Routines and habits
a. Possible routines
include (a) routines for beginning class, (b) assigning and
collecting homework and classwork; (c) arranging for makeup work
for students who are absent; (d) taking roll; (e) correcting papers
in class; (f) dealing with students who do not have necessary
materials; (g) dealing with late assignments; (h) allowing or not
allowing the students to leave the classroom during class; (i)
having students clean up after lab; (j) excusing class at the end
of the period
b. Examples are
provided
3. Scanning
a. Scanning is the
process of frequently glancing at all parts of the room where
students are located.
b. Scanning is important
to catch minor misbehavior before it happens and to demonstrate to
students that you are aware of the students' efforts to meet the
expectations
4. Scheduling
a. Two sample schedules
are provided for a 50-minute class. One schedule illustrated a
classroom with teacher-led instruction followed by over 25 minutes
of independent work. The other schedule illustrated how to provide
a mix of teacher-led instruction, guided practice, and independent
work throughout the 50 minutes.
5. Student involvement in the lesson
a. By giving students
frequent opportunities to respond and participate, the teacher can
derive information on the degree to which students are mastering
important concepts.
b. Examples of effective
questioning include whole-group choral responses, instructing
everyone to get an answer ready and then call on an individual
student, and giving frequent ungraded quizzes.
6. Effective evaluation and grading
policies
a. A key to increase
student motivation is to demonstrate to students that if they
participate in class, complete assignments, and try their best,
they will succeed.
b. An effective
evaluation system involves three steps: (a) identify the objectives
and write the test before teaching the unit; (b) inform students
when information is important; and (c) provide students
opportunities to practice the concepts taught until they achieve
mastery.
c. Grading policies
should be clearly stated and simple enough to be summarized on a
handout. Simple and understandable policies allow students to
monitor their own progress in class. A sample student monitoring
sheet is provided.
d. Grading policies can
include points for student behavior and participation. A sample is
included.
Guidelines for Reducing Misbehavior Using
Punitive Consequences:
1. Stay calm
a. When the teacher
calmly informs the student of a consequence, it communicates that
the misbehavior has no power to affect the teacher.
2. Treat students with respect
a. Avoid using
humiliation, sarcasm, and ridicule.
3. Develop a hierarchy of consequences
a. The most frequent
misbehaviors in the classroom are minor infractions, yet often the
teacher's consequences are severe. Thus, a range of consequences is
needed.
b. For most behavior,
soft reprimands and/or individual and private discussions should be
the first step. The advantages of reprimands are identified.
4. Plan ahead
a. If reprimands have
not worked, inform the student that future infractions will no
longer be reprimanded but will entail a specific consequence.
5. Establish a concurrent plan to reinforce
success
a. Focusing on
consequences will not teach students appropriate behavior.
6. Be as consistent as possible
a. The teacher must
follow through with the consequence each time misbehavior
occurs.
7. Keep the interaction short
a. Teachers should take
no more than 3 seconds to handle the problem.
Four Specific Classroom Consequences for
Reducing Misbehavior (least to most intrusive):
1. Response cost
a. For classrooms that
have a grading policy that awards points for behavior and
participation, these points can be deducted. The author cautions
that is important to teach students how the system works.
2. Time owed
a. Time owed consists of
keeping the student after class for a short period of time (e.g.,
1-2 minutes). This can be effective for those students who like to
socialize.
b. Students should not
be allowed to work on assigned work for two reasons: (a) completing
work will make the time go by quickly and (b) assigned work should
not be viewed as a punishment.
3. Isolation area in the class
a. The author cautions
against isolating students for long periods of time.
b. A desk and chair can
be set off to the side of the room. Students should be informed
that they will be sent to this area for various infractions.
c. Students can be
permitted to return to the class on their own, but the teacher
should specify a criterion (e.g., work on math at your seat).
4. After-school detention
a. Problems with
detentions include: (a) student transportation (i.e., not enough
time for parents to arrange alternate transportation); (b) a 24- to
31-hour delay between the infraction and the consequence; and (c)
getting the student to show up.
b. If the same students
are routinely being kept after school in detention, it is important
to change the consequence.
Maintaining and Increasing Student
Motivation:
1. Differential Teacher and Peer Attention
a. Sometimes the
attention for misbehavior is reinforcing inappropriate behavior.
Thus, we must change which categories of behavior lead to attention
and recognition from the teacher and peers.
b. Ignoring the majority
of minor misbehavior and implementing mild and quick consequences
(e.g., reprimands) can reduce the amount of attention students
receive for misbehavior.
c. Teachers should
attempt to interact with students while they are behaving
appropriately three times more frequently than while they are
behaving appropriately. The author provides several examples of
ways teachers can interact with students while they are behaving
appropriately.
d. Praise should be
contingent, descriptive, and non-embarrassing. In general, praise
will be less embarrassing if it (a) is distributed so that every
student gets positive feedback, (b) is part of the flow of
instruction, and (c) focuses on the behavior rather than the
student.
2. Structured Rewards
a. Teachers can design a
portion of the grading system on student behavior.
b. Appropriate behavior
also can be rewarded through a variety of intermittent rewards.
Examples of intermittent rewards are provided. Avoid using rewards
too often as they may lose their value to the student.
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