This article discusses the use of behavior-specific praise (BSP), an effective technique for promoting prosocial behavior and managing classrooms. It addresses the criticism that BSP may reduce students' intrinsic motivation and offers directions on how to use BSP to provide students, especially those with challenging behaviors, with useful…

Managing challenging student behaviors can be difficult for any educator. Lacking knowledge of research-based, positively oriented behavior interventions, educators may resort to punitive, reactive disciplinary strategies. Mindfulness is a positive, proactive approach that may help students with emotional and behavioral disorders improve their…

Academic and social behaviors are inextricably linked, and a lack of school-appropriate social behaviors can severely impact students' ability to enjoy academic success (Fleming, Harachi, Cortes, Abbott, & Catalano, 2004; McIntosh, Chard, Boland, & Horner 2006). Scott and Barrett (2004) found that every disciplinary referral "costs" students an…

Many schools today have a prevention-based focus for working with academic and social behavior problems through the use of tiered approaches (Bohanon, McIntosh, & Goodman, 2011; Horner & Sugai, 2005). Through the use of levels of support, including a continuum of increasingly intensive support based on responsiveness to evidence-based core…

Maintaining a positive classroom environment that will encourage learning is a challenge, particularly in classes that require frequent interventions due to students' disruptive behaviors. Punitive disciplinary reactions are generally ineffective when responding to students who are frequently disruptive. More importantly, negative teacher…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) have academic, behavioral, and social characteristics that present unique needs within schools. Educators across the country are responding to the academic, behavioral, and social needs of all students, including students with E/BD, by implementing a continuum of supports across a…

Good teachers are lifelong learners and want to meet the needs of all of the students in the classroom. Yet, they never have all the answers. Many teachers have found themselves in a predicament of uncertainty and have become apprehensive about their own practices. They can benefit from professional development and supports. Through collaborative…

Establishing effective academic instruction, effective classroom management, and building relationships can all be accomplished with the application of observable and measurable practices. How an individual applies these practices will vary, yet common components of effective teaching are omnipresent. Across academic instruction, behavior…

Sometimes educators are puzzled by how students can demonstrate a social skill perfectly during a practice session in a social skills curriculum but fail to use the same skill in real-life situations. Students with a lack of social skills are more likely to experience teacher and peer rejection, and are more at risk for negative life outcomes,…