Failing a course is an acutely negative event for first-year university students, and a major contributor to high attrition rates at North American universities. Despite its prevalence, course failure receives relatively little research attention. What can be done to reduce course failure and help first-year students remain in university? This…

It is now axiomatic that challenging behaviors are defined more profitably by their functions (their motivations) than by their topographies (what they look like). The notion that challenging behaviors can be defined on the basis of their function has led in the past 30 years to a dramatically reconfigured approach to assessment and intervention.…

Teachers working with students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) in elementary schools can be helped to increase use of an important behavioral strategy, behavior-specific praise statements (BSPS). Unfortunately, teachers' behaviors return to baseline levels when researchers leave, and little is known about the use of praise on high school…

This investigation examined the effects of a classroom-based intervention, Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Training: Competent Learners Achieving School Success (BEST in CLASS), on teacher behaviors and child outcomes in early childhood classrooms. First, we examined the effects of professional development training and practice-based coaching…

This report examines traditional teacher preparation in classroom management, which is a struggle for many teachers, especially new ones. 122 teacher preparation programs--both elementary and secondary, graduate and undergraduate--were examined to review the full breadth of the professional sequence. The following conclusions are made as a result…

Many schools have adopted programming designed to promote students' behavioral aptitude. A specific type of programming with this focus is School Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS), which combines positive behavior techniques with a system wide problem solving model. Aspects of this model are still being developed in the research…

The present investigation compared the effects of reinforcing compliance with either positive or negative reinforcement for a participant who displayed escape-maintained problem behavior. The results indicated that positive reinforcement in the form of a highly preferred edible or leisure item produced higher levels of compliance and lower levels…

Students with disabilities who display serious (e.g., dangerous) problem behaviors are frequently educated in alternative school settings. Although there is considerable research on intervention approaches (e.g., function-based support) to support individual students with challenging behaviors, there is a lack of research on schoolwide…

The effects of a school-based social-emotional and character development program, "Positive Action," on the developmental trajectory of character development was evaluated using data from three randomized trials. Results come from (1) 4-years of data from elementary children in 20 Hawai'i schools, (2) 3-years of data from elementary…

Studies have demonstrated that rats will increase their operant rate of response for a low-valued reinforcer if a high-valued reinforcer will be available later in the session. Research on this positive induction effect suggests that at least three factors account for its appearance: premature responding for the yet unavailable high-valued…

Paired Reading is a peer tutoring programme in secondary schools which trains teachers to support and encourage the regular tutoring of Year 7 pupils (aged 11-12 years) by Year 9 pupils (aged 13-14 years). The Paired Reading programme aims to improve pupils' general literacy in addition to speaking and listening skills. This is achieved by pupils…

The article presents an ethnographic study conducted in a class in a government-run primary school in Delhi. It was found that a chief concern in the school was that of disciplining children. In the observed class, this took the shape of controlling children's bodies and motor movements. It is argued that through disciplining, teachers were…

This study was aimed to investigate the potential negative impact that positive (e.g., praise and rewards) and punitive (e.g., sending students to the office) disciplinary techniques, commonly used within the Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) approach, have on students' prosocial motivation, and how aspects of…

Disparities in behavioral outcomes for minority students are a decades-old problem. Recently, the systems-level approach of school-wide positive behavior support (SW-PBS) and its growing research base have garnered attention as a possible remedy. Although SW-PBS has been shown to be effective in reducing a school's overall level of office…

School personnel are using Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports in public schools throughout the United States. A number of studies have evaluated the universal level, or Tier 1, of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports. In this study, the authors describe and analyze the interventions offered as options for use for Tier 2 in middle schools…