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…

Students who are involved in middle school alternative education programs are often labeled as severely disruptive. They have a history of physical violence, abusive language, truancy, and sometimes police arrests and juvenile detention records. These students need to learn how to deal with stress-producing events in a more socially acceptable…

A peer tutoring program was implemented in a nongraded innercity school in an effort to decrease discipline problems--specifically fighting--and to increase the reading comprehension of both tutors and tutees. The target group consisted of 25 intermediate and junior high school students who tutored 25 intermediate and primary school students. The…

Describes a class contingency management program designed to increase class on-task behavior and cooperation while decreasing class disruptiveness, peer denigration, complaining, and interference with teacher instruction. Results indicated the program accomplished immediate and rapid increases in disruption-free instructional time. (RC)

A training model for the use of rational behavior therapy (RBT) with emotionally disturbed adolescents in a school setting is presented, including a structured, didactic format consisting of five basic RBT training techniques. The training sessions, lasting 10 weeks each, are described. Also presented is the organization for the actual classroom…

This action research project implemented and evaluated an intervention for increasing student academic and social responsibility. The targeted population consisted of kindergarten, 1st, and 5th grade students in a growing middle-class community in central Illinois. The problems of irresponsible academic and social behavior were documented through…