Teacher praise typically does not function as a reinforcer. Rather, it is reactive to and under the control of student behavior. Its effects must be understood using concepts from attribution and social learning/reinforcement theories. (Author/GK)

Experienced elementary (K-6) teachers nominated by their principals as either outstanding or average at dealing with problem students described their general strategies for coping with hostile-aggressive students and told how they would handle incidents depicted in two vignettes portraying aggression at school. Transcripts of these responses were…

This paper, prepared as a chapter for the "Handbook of Research on Teaching" (third edition), reviews correlational and experimental research linking teacher behavior to student achievement. It focuses on research done in K-12 classrooms during 1973-83, highlighting several large-scale, programmatic efforts. Attention is drawn to design, sampling,…