Profiles of teachers' classroom management style: Differences in perceived school climate and professional characteristics

Teachers are tasked with not only delivering high-quality, evidence-based academic instruction, but they are also responsible for managing student behavior within the classroom and school. To manage these behaviors, teachers can use a variety of strategies that result in a range of outcomes on student and school-wide functioning. Although an overreliance on punitive strategies has been shown to worsen behavior problems, positive strategies and social-emotional learning (SEL) techniques are associated with more favorable outcomes for students' global functioning. In a sample of K-12 teachers (N = 111), we examined direct associations between teachers' use of behavior management techniques (i.e., punitive, positive, and SEL) and their self-reports of perceived school climate. Furthermore, latent profile analysis was used to identify teachers' behavior management styles and evaluate whether teachers' characteristics and perceived school climate predicted behavior management style. Findings not only replicate previous research examining direct associations between behavior management techniques and school climate, but also extend the theoretical understanding of teachers' behavior management approaches. Three profiles of teacher behavior management style emerged, including a (a) Moderate Proactive profile characterized by frequent use of positive strategies and SEL techniques and infrequent use of punitive strategies; (b) Moderate Reactive/Proactive profile characterized by moderate use of both punitive strategies and positive strategies, as well as slightly lower use of SEL techniques; and (c) High Proactive profile characterized by very frequent use of positive strategies and SEL techniques and very infrequent use of punitive strategies. Use of these profiles may enhance understanding of how school psychologists can support teachers' behavior management practices through consultation or professional development to promote effective school and classroom behavior management practices.

Multi-tiered systems of support with focus on behavioral modification in elementary schools: A systematic review

Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) are effective in addressing challenges in schools through a tiered system of support and diagnostics. A broad field of research has developed over the past 50 years. This systematic literature review aims to provide an overview of MTSS quality, outcomes, and characteristics in elementary education research. The review includes international studies and focuses on MTSS approaches that integrate behavior modification. After searching several databases, 40 studies published between 2004 and 2020 met the criteria for closer examination. The review presents study characteristics and theoretical references of different MTSS, including location, time, sample, study design, outcome measures, groups involved, interventions, and effects. In summary, MTSS have been found to be effective in elementary schools internationally, particularly for behavior change. Future studies should investigate the interactions between interventions within the school setting and involve teachers, school staff, and stakeholders in MTSS development to improve the system's coherence and effectiveness. It's important to note that MTSS have a political dimension that affects implementation and sustainability and can impact society by improving school experiences and reducing negative behaviors.

Schoolwide positive behavioural interventions and supports and human rights: transforming our educational systems into levers for social justice

Positive behaviour support and schoolwide positive behavioural interventions and supports (PBIS) emerged in response to the misuse of behavioural theory and ableism in educational systems. Yet even with these advances, inequitable outcomes based on ability and race persist. The purpose of this article is to describe an equity-centred schoolwide PBIS approach that harnesses behavioural theory and the PBIS framework to focus specifically on systems change to lead to equitable outcomes. There is emerging evidence of promise for increasing racial equity in student outcomes, and implications and suggestions are provided to increase equity by disability status. In providing practitioners with clear steps to reduce ableism and racism in educational systems, this line of research stands to benefit all students and families.

Individual behavior support in positive behavior support schools in Finland

One objective in Finnish basic education is for pupils with disabilities or behavioral problems to be able to participate in mainstream education and ordinary classrooms. Positive behavior support (PBS) is an approach that offers multi-tiered behavior support for pupils. In addition to providing support at a universal level, educators need to have the necessary skills to provide more intensive individual support for pupils who need it. Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is a research-based individual support system that is widely used in PBS schools. The Finnish application of CICO includes an individual behavior assessment process for pupils with persistent challenging behaviors. In this article, we examined which pupils in Finnish PBS schools are provided CICO support, and in particular, how many have identified needs for specific pedagogical support or behavior-related disabilities, and whether educators find CICO to be an acceptable way of supporting behavior in an inclusive school setting. CICO support was found to be used the most in the first four grade levels, and support was offered mainly for boys. The number of pupils receiving CICO support in participating schools was much lower than expected, and CICO seemed to be secondary to other pedagogical supports. The social validity of CICO was equally high for all grade levels and pupil groups. The experienced effectiveness was somewhat lower among pupils with a need for pedagogical support in basic academic skills. The results suggest that Finnish schools may have a high threshold for starting structured behavior support despite its high acceptability. Implications for teacher education and the development of the Finnish version of CICO are discussed.

The Efficacy of Virtual Positive Behavior Support in a Special School for Students with ASD

In response to the demand for adopting a social justice system to manage students' challenging behaviors, many countries are implementing positive behavior support (PBS) programs at the school level. However, the use of PBS in Saudi Arabian schools is still a goal rather than reality. It is strongly evident that school-wide PBS can be applicable to different educational contexts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a virtual school-wide positive behavior support program for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Saudi Arabia. Teaching and reinforcement procedures were implemented to help the students replace interfering classroom behaviors with alternative, appropriate behaviors. Observations were conducted to collect data on the students' classroom behaviors. The results of the study showed that there was an immediate and major improvement in the students' behaviors upon the introduction of the program. The results support the conclusion that school-wide positive behavior support can be successfully applied to different educational settings and suggest several implications for special and general education schools.

Multitiered Systems of Support, Adaptive Interventions, and SMART Designs

This article introduces the special section on adaptive interventions and sequential multiple-assignment randomized trial (SMART) research designs. In addition to describing the two accompanying articles, we discuss features of adaptive interventions (AIs) and describe the use of SMART design to optimize AIs in the context of multitiered systems of support (MTSS) and integrated MTSS. AI is a treatment delivery model that explicitly specifies how information about individuals should be used to decide which treatment to provide in practice. Principles that apply to the design of AIs may help to more clearly operationalize MTSS-based programs, improve their implementation in school settings, and increase their efficacy when used according to evidence-based decision rules. A SMART is a research design for developing and optimizing MTSS-based programs. We provide a running example of a SMART design to optimize an MTSS-aligned AI that integrates academic and behavioral interventions.

Knowledge and Will: An Explorative Study on the Implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support in Sweden

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBIS) is a well-evaluated school approach to promoting a positive school climate and decreasing problem behaviors. Initial implementation is one of the most critical stages of program implementation. In this qualitative study, the initial implementation of SWPBIS in Swedish schools was studied using an implementation model of behavior change as guidance for interviews and analyses. The study makes significant contributions to previous research as little is known of the implementation of SWPBIS in Swedish context. Focus-group interviews were conducted with 59 professionals on implementation teams from nine schools. Themes were extracted according to implementation team members' perceptions and descriptions of how the initial implementation was carried out. The results of this study revealed relevant themes within the three domains of Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation. Core features were found under the themes of knowledge and experience of similar evidence-based programs, process or result orientation, time, manual content, organizational prerequisites, team functioning, implementation leadership, program as a unifying factor, program aligning with staff beliefs, plausible expectations, and emotional reinforcement. Results are discussed in terms of how they can be used in continuing to develop the Swedish model of SWPBIS. Implications regarding implementation in Swedish schools are discussed, as is the applicability of the model of behavior change for studying implementation in schools.

Preliminary Findings of Culturally Responsive Consultation with Educators

Behavior analysts are increasingly called to serve culturally and linguistically diverse populations. The culture of a population can provide context in which to identify behaviors likely to be reinforced by the client's social environment, stimuli established as reinforcers for client behavior, and behavioral repertoires shaped by the client's social environment. One of the largest and fastest growing minority groups in the United States is the Latinx population. This article offers preliminary evidence of incorporating cultural adaptations into the context of behavioral consultation for the Latinx population. Cultural adaptation of behavioral consultation can lead to improved outcomes for educators. In this study, 5 educators received behavioral consultation consisting of behavioral skills training to implement culturally responsive class-wide behavior management procedures. All 5 educators improved their treatment fidelity of the culturally responsive behavior management practices. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports in Schools: A Tutorial

Purpose

Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) provide a framework for behavioral expectations in school systems for children with and without disabilities. Speech-language pathologists who work in school settings should be familiar with this framework as part of their role in improving the outcomes for children. The purpose of this tutorial is to discuss PBIS and its use in school settings.

Method

The authors provide an overview of the PBIS framework and focus on its applicability in classroom-based settings. The process of implementing PBIS in classrooms and other settings such as speech-language therapy is discussed.

Conclusions

This tutorial provides speech-language pathologists with an overview of PBIS and may facilitate their understanding of how to implement PBIS in nonclassroom settings.

Why We Are Still Not Acting to Save the World: the Upward Challenge of a Post-Skinnerian Behavior Science

Basic research on derived stimulus relations reveals many effects that may be useful in understanding and resolving significant and complex societal problems. Applied research on derived stimulus relations has done little to fulfill this promise, focusing instead mainly on simple demonstrations of well-known phenomena. We trace the research tradition of derived stimulus relations from laboratory to wide-scale implementation, and put forward several suggestions for how to progress effective and impactful research on derived relational responding to issues of immense social importance. To advance a science of behavior from relative social obscurity to the developing world-saving technologies, we must evaluate our own behavior as scientists in the grander social context.

School-based interventions for reducing disciplinary school exclusion: a systematic review

This Campbell systematic review examines the impact of interventions to reduce exclusion from school. School exclusion, also known as suspension in some countries, is a disciplinary sanction imposed by a responsible school authority, in reaction to students' misbehaviour. Exclusion entails the removal of pupils from regular teaching for a period during which they are not allowed to be present in the classroom (in-school) or on school premises (out-of-school). In some extreme cases the student is not allowed to come back to the same school (expulsion). The review summarises findings from 37 reports covering nine different types of intervention. Most studies were from the USA, and the remainder from the UK. Included studies evaluated school-based interventions or school-supported interventions to reduce the rates of exclusion. Interventions were implemented in mainstream schools and targeted school-aged children from four to 18, irrespective of nationality or social background. Only randomised controlled trials are included. The evidence base covers 37 studies. Thirty-three studies were from the USA, three from the UK, and for one study the country was not clear. School-based interventions cause a small and significant drop in exclusion rates during the first six months after intervention (on average), but this effect is not sustained. Interventions seemed to be more effective at reducing some types of exclusion such as expulsion and in-school exclusion. Four intervention types - enhancement of academic skills, counselling, mentoring/monitoring, and skills training for teachers - had significant desirable effects on exclusion. However, the number of studies in each case is low, so this result needs to be treated with caution. There is no impact of the interventions on antisocial behaviour. Variations in effect sizes are not explained by participants' characteristics, the theoretical basis of the interventions, or the quality of the intervention. Independent evaluator teams reported lower effect sizes than research teams who were also involved in the design and/or delivery of the intervention.

Plain language summary

Interventions can reduce school exclusion but the effect is temporary: Some interventions - enhancement of academic skills, counselling, mentoring/monitoring, and skills training for teachers - appear to have significant effects on exclusion.The review in brief: Interventions to reduce school exclusion are intended to mitigate the adverse effects of this school sanction. Some approaches, namely those involving enhancement of academic skills, counselling, mentoring/monitoring and those targeting skills training for teachers, have a temporary effect in reducing exclusion. More evaluations are needed to identify the most effective types of intervention; and whether similar effects are also found in different countries.What is this review about?: School exclusion is associated with undesirable effects on developmental outcomes. It increases the likelihood of poor academic performance, antisocial behavior, and poor employment prospects. This school sanction disproportionally affects males, ethnic minorities, those who come from disadvantaged economic backgrounds, and those with special educational needs.This review assesses the effectiveness of programmes to reduce the prevalence of exclusion.What are the main findings of this review?: What studies are included? Included studies evaluated school-based interventions or school-supported interventions to reduce the rates of exclusion. Interventions were implemented in mainstream schools and targeted school-aged children from four to 18, irrespective of nationality or social background. Only randomised controlled trials are included.The evidence base covers 37 studies. Thirty-three studies were from the USA, three from the UK, and for one study the country was not clear.School-based interventions cause a small and significant drop in exclusion rates during the first six months after intervention (on average), but this effect is not sustained. Interventions seemed to be more effective at reducing some types of exclusion such as expulsion and in-school exclusion.Four intervention types - enhancement of academic skills, counselling, mentoring/ monitoring, and skills training for teachers - had significant desirable effects on exclusion. However, the number of studies in each case is low, so this result needs to be treated with caution.There is no impact of the interventions on antisocial behaviour.Variations in effect sizes are not explained by participants' characteristics, the theoretical basis of the interventions, or the quality of the intervention. Independent evaluator teams reported lower effect sizes than research teams who were also involved in the design and/or delivery of the intervention.What do the findings of this review mean?: School-based interventions are effective at reducing school exclusion immediately after, and for a few months after, the intervention (6 months on average). Four interventions presented promising and significant results in reducing exclusion, that is, enhancement of academic skills, counselling, mentoring/monitoring, skills training for teachers. However, since the number of studies for each sub-type of intervention was low, we suggest these results should be treated with caution.Most of the studies come from the USA. Evaluations are needed from other countries in which exclusion is common. Further research should take advantage of the possibility of conducting cluster-randomised controlled trials, whilst ensuring that the sample size is sufficiently large.How up-to-date is this review?: The review authors searched for studies published up to December 2015. This Campbell systematic review was published in January 2018.

Executive Summary/Abstract

BACKGROUND: Schools are important institutions of formal social control (Maimon, Antonaccio, & French, 2012). They are, apart from families, the primary social system in which individuals are socialised to follow specific codes of conduct. Violating these codes of conduct may result in some form of punishment. School punishment is normally accepted by families and students as a consequence of transgression, and in that sense school isoften the place where children are first introduced to discipline, justice, or injustice (Whitford & Levine-Donnerstein, 2014).A wide range of punishments may be used in schools, from verbal reprimands to more serious actions such as detention, fixed term exclusion or even permanent exclusion from the mainstream education system. It must be said that in some way, these school sanctions resemble the penal system and its array of alternatives to punish those that break the law.School exclusion, also known as suspension in some countries, is defined as a disciplinary sanction imposed by a responsible school authority, in reaction to students' misbehaviour. Exclusion entails the removal of pupils from regular teaching for a period during which they are not allowed to be present in the classroom or, in more serious cases, on school premises.Based on the previous definition, this review uses school exclusion and school suspension as synonyms, unless the contrary is explicitly stated. Most of the available research has found that exclusion correlates with subsequent negative sequels on developmental outcomes. Exclusion or suspension of students is associated with failure within the academic curriculum, aggravated antisocial behaviour, and an increased likelihood of involvement with punitive social control institutions (i.e., the Juvenile Justice System). In the long-term, opportunities for training and employment seem to be considerably reduced for those who have repeatedly been excluded. In addition to these negative correlated outcomes, previous evidence suggest that the exclusion of students involves a high economic cost for taxpayers and society.Research from the last 20 years has concluded quite consistently that this disciplinary measure disproportionally targets males, ethnic minorities, those who come from disadvantaged economic backgrounds, and those presenting special educational needs. In other words, suspension affects the most vulnerable children in schools.Different programmes have attempted to reduce the prevalence of exclusion. Although some of them have shown promising results, so far, no comprehensive systematic review has examined these programmes' overall effectiveness.OBJECTIVES: The main goal of the present research is to systematically examine the available evidence for the effectiveness of different types of school-based interventions aimed at reducing disciplinary school exclusion. Secondary goals include comparing different approaches and identifying those that could potentially demonstrate larger and more significant effects.The research questions underlying this project are as follows: Do school-based programmes reduce the use of exclusionary sanctions in schools?Are some school-based approaches more effective than others in reducing exclusionary sanctions?Do participants' characteristics (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity) affect the impact of school-based programmes on exclusionary sanctions in schools?Do characteristics of the interventions, implementation, and methodology affect the impact of school-based programmes on exclusionary sanctions in schools? SEARCH METHODS: The authors conducted a comprehensive search to locate relevant studies reporting on the impact of school-based interventions on exclusion from 1980 onwards. Twenty-seven different databases were consulted, including databases that contained both published and unpublished literature. In addition, we contacted researchers in the field of school-exclusion for further recommendations of relevant studies; we also assessed citation lists from previous systematic and narrative reviews and research reports. Searches were conducted from September 1 to December 1, 2015.SELECTION CRITERIA: The inclusion and exclusion criteria for manuscripts were defined before we started our searches. To be eligible, studies needed to have: evaluated school-based interventions or school-supported interventions intended to reduce the rates of suspension; seen the interventions as an alternative to exclusion; targeted school-aged children from four to 18 in mainstream schools irrespective of nationality or social background; and reported results of interventions delivered from 1980 onwards. In terms of methodological design, we included randomised controlled trialsonly, with at least one experimental group and onecontrol or placebo group.DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Initial searches produced a total of 42,749 references from 27 different electronic databases. After screening the title, abstract and key words, we kept 1,474 relevant hits. 22 additional manuscripts were identified through other sources (e.g., assessment of citation lists, contribution of authors). After removing duplicates, we ended up with a total of 517 manuscripts. Two independent coders evaluated each report, to determine inclusion or exclusion.The second round of evaluation excluded 472 papers, with eight papers awaiting classification, and 37 studies kept for inclusion in meta-analysis. Two independent evaluators assessed all the included manuscripts for risk of quality bias by using EPOC tool.Due to the broad scope of our targeted programmes, meta-analysis was conducted under a random-effect model. We report the impact of the intervention using standardised differences of means, 95% confidence intervals along with the respective forest plots. Sub-group analysis and meta-regression were used for examining the impact of the programme. Funnel plots and Duval and Tweedie's trim-and-fill analysis were used to explore the effect of publication bias.RESULTS: Based on our findings, interventions settled in school can produce a small and significant drop in exclusion rates (SMD=.30; 95% CI .20 to .41; p<.001). This means that those participating in interventions are less likely to be suspended than those allocated to control/placebo groups. These results are based on measures of impact collected immediately during the first six months after treatment (on average). When the impact was tested in the long-term (i.e., 12 or more months after treatment), the effects of the interventions were not sustained. In fact, there was a substantive reduction in the impact of school-based programmes (SMD=.15; 95%CI -.06 to .35), and it was no longer statistically significant.We ran analysis testing the impact of school-based interventions on different types of exclusion. Evidence suggests that interventions are more effective at reducing expulsion and in-school exclusion than out-of-school exclusion. In fact, the impact of intervention in out-of-school exclusion was close to zero and not statistically significant.Nine different types of school-based interventions were identified across the 37 studies included in the review. Four of them presented favourable and significant results in reducing exclusion (i.e., enhancement of academic skills, counselling, mentoring/monitoring, skills training for teachers). Since the number of studies for each sub-type of intervention was low, we suggest that results should be treated with caution.A priori defined moderators (i.e., participants' characteristics, the theoretical basis of the interventions, and quality of the intervention)showed not to be effective at explaining the heterogeneity present in our results. Among three post-hoc moderators, the role of the evaluator was found to be significant: independent evaluator teams reported lower effect sizes than research teams who were also involved in the design and/or delivery of the intervention.Two researchers independently evaluated the quality of the evidence involved in this review by using the EPOC tool. Most of the studies did not present enough information for the judgement of quality bias.AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggests that school-based interventions are effective at reducing school exclusion immediately after, and for a few months after, the intervention. Some specific types of interventions show more promising and stable results than others, namely those involving mentoring/monitoring and those targeting skills training for teachers. However, based on the number of studies involved in our calculations, we suggest that results must be cautiously interpreted. Implications for policy and practice arising from our results are discussed.

Implantation du Soutien au comportement positif (SCP) dans les écoles québécoises

This paper presents a first assessment of the implementation of Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (PBIS), translated into French as Soutien au comportement positif (SCP), in elementary and secondary schools in Quebec. The SCP proposes the establishment of a support system in terms of behaviour management throughout the school to create an environment conducive to learning. The results indicate that it is possible to implement SCP with fidelity in elementary and secondary schools in Quebec; however, fidelity of implementation seems to depend on the leadership of school principals.

Violations of Assumptions in School-Based Single-Case Data

A wide variety of effect sizes (ESs) has been used in the single-case design literature. Several researchers have “stress tested” these ESs by subjecting them to various degrees of problem data (e.g., autocorrelation, slope), resulting in the conditions by which different ESs can be considered valid. However, on the back end, few researchers have considered how prevalent and severe these problems are in extant data and as a result, how concerned applied researchers should be. The current study extracted and aggregated indicators of violations of normality and independence across four domains of educational study. Significant violations were found in total and across fields, including low levels of autocorrelation and moderate levels of absolute trend. These violations affect the selection and interpretation of ESs at the individual study level and for meta-analysis. Implications and recommendations are discussed.