The Student Development Center (SDC) serves as a coeducational center for collegiate low achievers in order to transform their ineffective behaviors into those which are conducive to academic success. Before a student is accepted into the program, he is evaluated through standardized tests and an interview with two staff psychologists who…

Three approaches to the problem of helping underachieving seventh grade boys improve their study habits are compared: (1) behavior modification; (2) group counseling; and (3) didactic instruction. A pre-post criteria format sought to measure change in terms of: (1) academic achievement as measured by grade point average; and (2) study habits and…

The effects of behavioral and performance contingencies on classroom behavior and on academic performance were investigated. The subjects, third grade students from an inner city elementary school, were exposed to a series of conditions including baseline, behavior contingencies, performance contingencies, and a mix of behavior and performance…

Two counseling approaches, which differ on how to help a client make a realistic decision, are evaluated for their relative effectiveness. Fifty subjects, randomly selected from a population of students which expressed a need for educational/vocational counseling were assigned to either the reinforcement or the persuasive advice-giving treatment…

The research presented in this document has two main hypotheses: (1) From locus of control theory, it was predicted that a warm, supportive, and consistent or stable home environment relates positively to internal control; (2) Methods derived from locus of control theory which increase an individual's observation and experience of behavior-effect…

This report describes the pilot year operation of the Tucson Early Education Psychological Services (TEEPS) program, which is based on the position that the quality of psychological services in the public schools can be increased by establishing educational systems in which the functions of psychology in education are embodied in system components…

The major objectives of this study were: (1) to determine if there were measurable differences in autonomy between Mexican-American and Negro children, (2) to determine the effects of three different preschool intervention programs upon the development of autonomy in Mexican-American and Negro children, and (3) to determine the relationship…

Operation Pathfinder was a special manpower project designed to retrain behaviors of the disadvantaged and to establish positive motivations to work for a living through application of social reinforcement methodology. The project demonstrated that a positive reinforcing environment and properly structured work situation will provide a means of…

This handbook provides a general introduction for the rater technician which includes information on working with the more severely mentally retarded and the purpose of the Balthazar Scales of Adaptive Behavior (BSAB). Technician qualifications, methodology, and general rating procedures are also discussed. The use of pre-base-line, base-line, and…

Conflicting evidence as to the presence or absence of generalization in classroom behavior modification programs prompted this study of the conditions of generalization. During the experiment, behaviors operationally defined as competitive or cooperative were reinforced in certain game situations. Then the generalization of this training over…

This is a report on the application of operant condition methods to classroom discipline problems. The setting was Clara Tagg Brewer Elementary School in CLEVELAND, Ohio. The school is located in a community consisting mostly of lower-middle class black families. A few children come from a "run down" section of the community, including…

Research investigating the performance of students enrolled in courses taught by a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) has tended to support the claim that PSI is a superior teaching method. The present research study isolated the self-pacing aspect of PSI courses and attempted to teach 13 academically deficient first year college students…

The article reviews 36 studies conducted since 1967 which evaluated operant conditioning techniques to develop and improve self-help skills of mentally retarded persons. (Author)

Clinical approaches to encouraging spontaneous talking in language delayed children are considered in terms of pragmatics, the effects of communication on behavior. (Author/IM)

Describes the Professional Improvement Commitment, a written agreement developed between teacher and evaluator/supervisor at the end of a supervision/evaluation cycle, designed to increase teacher effectiveness. (MM)