Group contingencies have the advantages of encouraging individual students to collectively feel responsible for appropriate and inappropriate classroom behaviors and have shown effectiveness in improving students' behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a random dependent group contingency on the on-task behaviors of…

Eight students were observed during classroom instruction. Comparisons were made of how they spent their time in resource and regular classrooms. In general, opportunities for differentiated instruction were available in resource rooms. However, no practical differences were noted in the amount of time students were actively engaged in instruction…

Sixteen elementary students were observed systematically over 2 entire school days to examine the nature of instruction and academic responding times for elementary learning disabled (LD) students during resource room and mainstream classroom instruction. Data were recorded on six categories in 10 second intervals. Results indicated that in the…

The paper integrates results from three studies that examined learning disabled (LD) and regular education students' academic responding time in different instructional arrangements: (1) high, middle, and low reading group placement, (2) regular and resource room placement, and (3) special education service level placement. Sixty-nine second-,…

Two variations of a level system as a behavior management tool for behavior-disordered and learning-disabled adolescents (N=19) in a resource setting were evaluated. Four color-coded levels were designed to decrease talkouts and out-of-seat behaviors. During system implementation, disruptive and off-task behaviors decreased, and task completion…

Two elementary boys in a deaf education resource room who did not complete a writing assignment within the allotted time were subsequently given tokens contingent upon their starting promptly. The use of tokens was effective in reducing response latency. (Author/PB)

Results of a study of five subjects (ages 7-9) in a multicategorical resource room employing a token economy indicated that the addition of a daily review of classroom rules resulted in an overall time-on-task improvement of 12% and a 50% reduction of instances of disruptive "talkout." (Author/JW)

The school day of a total of 122 learning disabled, emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, educable mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped elementary students was observed. Findings were noted concerning time allocated to instruction in specific content areas, time spent in different school settings, and time allocated to instruction as a function of…

The SOBR observation technique was used to observe reading instruction in special education resource room programs for mildly disabled students. Disabled and nondisabled students in regular classrooms were also observed. There were considerable differences in reading instruction across programs and students. The amount of reading instruction was…

The study, involving 15 Indiana high school resource room teachers, focused on three aspects of resource room programming: (1) teachers' perceptions of their roles as resource room teachers and perceived concerns regarding the provision of services to mildly handicapped adolescents; (2) role-related activities of secondary resource room teachers;…

This study compared 52 resource room programs for mildly mentally handicapped, learning disabled, and severely emotionally disturbed secondary students, which used or did not use microcomputers. Benefits of microcomputer use included increased active task engagement and increased individually focused instruction, but overall differences in most…

Investigated attention-to-task and its relation to instructional context among 24 mainstreamed children with learning disabilities. Observation of students in regular class and resource room revealed significant differences in rate of engagement for classroom setting, type of instruction, and level of peer involvement, indicating that degree of…

This study investigated time allocated to instruction as a function of the specific type of mild handicap and as a function of setting and subject matter content. Subjects were 122 elementary students categorized as learning-disabled, emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, educable mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped. Subjects were in mainstreamed,…

Observations were conducted to document the active academic responding and academic engagement rates of 122 elementary students (30 learning-disabled, 32 emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, 30 mildly mentally retarded, and 30 self-contained programs. Data were recorded in 10-second intervals for each student over an entire school day. During a…

This project examined the extent to which varying instructional grouping arrangements are used for different categories of mildly handicapped students in various instructional settings and the extent to which any differences translated to differences in student responses. Observational data were recorded all day in 10-second intervals for 122…