This study examined the effects of three reinforcement histories on the persistence of task engagement by two students (ages 9-10) who were off task during independent seat work. Results found the reinforcement history that contained an instructional control component produced the greatest persistence in student engagement. (Author/CR)

Discusses the stress that special education teachers may feel by role overload and lack of autonomy. Stress relieving strategies are described, including setting realistic expectations, making distinctions between the job and personal life, increasing autonomy, looking for alternative sources of reinforcement, increasing efficacy, and developing…

Three low-achieving third-grade children were exposed to "report-do-report" correspondence training as a reinforcement program to improve academic performance. Intervention involved teaching the children to prompt praise following completing math work, in both training and classroom settings. Students also reported planned behaviors in their…

Conducted an 18-month intervention for African American inner city elementary school students in a gifted classroom. The intervention, supported by university-based coaches, involved positively phrased classroom behavioral expectations, social skills training, structural/systematic instruction, and preplanned positive and negative consequences for…

Provides results of an evaluation of a private education management company, Advantage Schools, which opened and operated public charter schools. Outlines Advantage's four-part approach, in which students learn at an accelerated rate. Suggests that this approach may offer an effective and replicable approach to urban schooling. (PM)

In this study, 24 individuals (ages 6-37) with down syndrome had to learn a symbolic conditional discrimination task. Participants showed better terminal accuracy and faster learning of the task when the alternative correct responses were each followed by unique different outcomes than when nondifferential outcomes were arranged. (Contains…

The study evaluated the indirect effects on stereotypic behavior frequency of several fixed-interval reinforcement schedules on behaviors of three profoundly retarded adults. Stereotypic behavior increased in direct relation to the interval length suggesting such behaviors may be partially controlled by reinforcement frequency for adaptive…

This study compared the performance of 12 children (ages 4 to 10) with developmental delay, each trained in 2 tasks, one through interactive modeling (with or without verbal reinforcement) and the other through passive modeling. Results showed that passive modeling produced better rated performance than interactive modeling and that verbal…

This study compared selection of a preferred reinforcing stimulus just prior to a training session by either the trainer or subject with profound developmental disabilities. Results obtained with four adult subjects indicated little or no difference in reinforcement effects when reinforcing stimuli were selected by subjects rather than trainers.…

Functional analyses of classroom disruption were conducted during contingent teacher and peer attention conditions for three children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Attention provided by peer confederates appeared to function as a distinct form of positive reinforcement for all three children (ages seven and nine). (Author/SW)

Describes teacher/student feedback that is constructive and empowers the student to do more and feel good about what he or she has accomplished. Teachers' questions are answered concerning the amount of praise given, its effect on the class overall, and pitfalls. Three narratives are offered as examples of effective praise and criticism. (GR)

This paper describes a project of Communidad Los Horcones (Mexico), dealing with alternatives to contrived or artificial reinforcement. The paper proposes the use of natural reinforcement, which can be individualized and received without the mediation of another person and which contributes to making the natural consequences of behavior…

This commentary on EC 603 646, a paper describing a natural reinforcement project of Communidad Los Horcones (Mexico), argues that natural reinforcement is best when the learning objective produces a natural reinforcer and when the natural reinforcer is more powerful than any competing punishers inherent in the task or reinforcers for competing…

This paper suggests that the management strategies of posting classroom rules, classroom arrangement, teacher movement in the classroom, and external reinforcement systems may more likely be used as setting events to enhance the effects of teacher coercion rather than as potential setting events to enhance positive reciprocal interactions.…

Questions to ask when a behavior modification program is not working address the classroom environment, time factors, importance of emphasizing the positive, appropriate reinforcers, time lag before receiving reinforcement, criteria for reinforcement, reinforcer satiation, schedules of reinforcement, shaping to reduce inappropriate behaviors, and…