Preventing Disruptive Behavior in the Urban Classroom: Effects of the Good Behavior Game on Student and Teacher Behavior

Abstract

Teachers are o�en ill-prepared to manage classrooms in urban schools. In the present study, an empirically-based behavioral management strategy, the Good Behavior Game (Game), was investigated. The effects of the Game on student behavior and teacher response statements, including praise, were examined. A teacher with 22 students in a first grade classroom of an urban elementary school participated in implementation of the Game. Using a withdrawal design, results showed that student on-task behavior increased while disruptive behavior decreased, replicating previous findings. The number of teacher praise statements remained at near zero levels across conditions. Frequency of teacher neutral and negative statements varied with the level of student disruptive behavior. Teacher praise and limitations are discussed.

The Effects of Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) on Students’ Prosocial Classroom Behaviors

“…These data suggest that as an intervention package, CW-FIT demonstrated substantial results in creating a peaceful and quiet classroom environment more conducive to teaching. These findings of decreases in out-of-seat and talking out and increases in on-task behavior are similar to previous CW-FIT and interdependent group contingency (e.g., Kamps et al, 2010;Lannie & McCurdy, 2007).…”

“…Finally, with these increases in appropriate classroom behavior and decreases in disruptive behavior, more time was available for teaching and learning. These findings are similar to the findings of previous CW-FIT research specifically, and interdependent group contingency research in general (e.g., Conklin et al, Unpublished manuscript, 2010; Crouch, Gresham, & Wright, 1985;Kamps, 2009;Kamps et al, 2010;Lannie & McCurdy, 2007), suggesting that when there are two or more disruptive students in a classroom a class-wide intervention is an appropriate means of recapturing the classroom environment and obtaining a quiet and peaceful teaching climate.…”

“…This struggle can be seen in urban schools that serve a high percentage of non-English speaking, poor, minority students, and students with special needs (Lannie & McCurdy, 2007). For these schools, progress closing the gap has come only with great effort and sacrifice from administrators, teachers, as well as students and their families.…”

“…Of these, 17 (68%) interventions were implemented to diminish disruptive behavior (e.g., Kelshaw-Levering, SterlingTurner, Henry, Theodore, Bray, Kehle, & Jenson, 2001);five (20%) to increase academic behavior (e.g., Lannie & McCurdy, 2007;Popkin & Skinner, 2003); and three (20%) addressed prosocial classroom behavior (e.g., Babyak et al, 2000;Cashwell, Skinner, & Smith, 2001; for the comparative details of the 25 studies reviewed, see Appendix A; Conklin, Unpublished review, 2010). What follows is a review of the effects of these contingencies on behavior classes of interest to this investigation.…”

“…Finally, the study provided no measures of social validity or treatment fidelity, which may have contributed to the mixed findings. Lannie and McCurdy (2007) also used a variation on the GBG to assess the on-task and disruptive behavior of twenty-two 1 st grade students in an urban classroom. In contrast to the findings of Lohrmann and Talerico (2004), the Lannie and McCurdy study demonstrated that student on-task behavior increased by 49.6%, while disruptive behavior decreased by 31.5%.…”