Evidence-based Classroom Behaviour Management 
                               Strategies 
                                
                                
                               dr barry s. parsonson 
                               Ministry of Education: Special Education, Hawkes Bay Region
                      AbstrAct                                                  home, family/whanau, community and the wider 
                      This paper reviews a range of evidence-based              world. Simply targeting interventions at individual 
                      strategies for application by teachers to reduce          children in the classroom may not actually solve a 
                      disruptive and challenging behaviours in their            classroom behaviour problem. Indeed, focusing on 
                      classrooms. These include a number of antecedent          individuals may lead one to ignore examination of 
                      strategies intended to help minimise the emergence        systemic problems in teacher-pupil relations, the 
                      of problematic behaviours and a range of                  management and teaching styles of the teacher, 
                      those which provide positive consequences for             the curriculum and the skills required by students 
                      appropriate student behaviours. Also included             to access it, the order in which activities are 
                      is information on teacher feedback and a review           scheduled, and a whole host of other aspects of the 
                      of strategies for enhancing teacher-student               classroom and wider school ecology. It also has to 
                      relationships. The approaches covered by the              be remembered that children bring to school all 
                      paper are consistent with those of the Ministry of        sorts of concerns, distresses, reactions and patterns 
                      Education’s Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L)        of behaviour established, permitted and supported 
                      initiatives.                                              outside of the classroom itself. Thus, targeting a 
                                                                                child as ‘the problem’ may divert one’s attention 
                      practice paper                                            from a careful examination of the classroom 
                                                                                ecology or that of the wider school and the family 
                      Keywords: Behaviour management, evidence-                 and community environments within which the 
                      based, interventions                                      school is embedded. Equally, children learn to 
                                                                                discriminate the behaviours required in a variety of 
                      introduction                                              settings and thus can learn to behave differently if 
                                                                                appropriate and desired behaviours are signalled, 
                      Behaviour problems in a classroom increase the            encouraged and supported in any given setting: it 
                      stress levels for both the teacher and pupils, disrupt    also needs to be assessed against the background 
                      the flow of lessons and conflict with both learning       of the environment in which it occurs. To place 
                      objectives and the processes of learning. They            problem behaviour in context, 88 percent of a 
                      also change the classroom dynamic as the focus of         sample of 42 New Zealand teachers responding to 
                      attention shifts from the academic tasks at hand to       a questionnaire rated classroom mismanagement 
                      the distractions provided by disruptive behaviours.       as ‘sometimes’ or ‘very often’ a cause of 
                      Typically, one or two pupils are identifiable as          problematic classroom behaviour (Johansen, Little 
                      ‘problems’, sometimes they act in ways that               & Akin-Little, 2011). Of concern was the fact that 
                      compound management difficulties by inciting              many of these teachers had had minimal pre-
                      each other and, possibly, others in the class             service training in behaviour management and in-
                      into disruptive activities. The usual response to         service professional development was considered 
                      problematic behaviour is to identify the child(ren)       by some to be of little benefit or not commonly 
                      involved as ‘the problem’, to focus on them as            offered.
                      a source of ‘trouble’ and to devise strategies 
                      specifically to deal with their inappropriate             behAviour mAnAgement strAtegies
                      behaviour.
                                                                                Strategies to manage or change behaviour in 
                      However, a classroom is an environment with its           schools can involve school-wide, classroom-
                      own ecology, including teacher, pupils and their          based or individual child-focused interventions: 
                      interrelationships, the equipment, books and a            the focus of this paper is on classroom-based 
                      range of activities which all interact to influence       interventions derived from Applied Behaviour 
                      the behaviour of the room’s inhabitants. To               Analysis (ABA), which involves the application of 
                      complicate things further, both teacher and pupils        the principles of operant conditioning (Skinner, 
                      bring into class experiences and issues from the          1953) to socially relevant human behaviours 
                      wider ecological systems in which they live and           (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968). Over the past 44 years 
                      function e.g. the rest of the school community,           the application of ABA to classroom behaviour 
                      16     KAIRARANGA – VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1: 2012
                    management has demonstrated the efficacy of                                       •	 Because disruptive behaviour is often 
                    a wide variety of interventions which involve                                         associated with learning deficits, task 
                    the use of both antecedent and contingency                                            difficulty needs to be monitored. All 
                    management strategies which can be used                                               students need to have the required entry 
                    by classroom teachers to create positive and                                          skills and ability to successfully engage 
                    functional learning environments which minimise                                       in assigned activities. Participation and 
                    disruptive behaviours and reward engagement and                                       learning can only follow successful 
                    achievement. Several of these effective strategies                                    access to the curriculum and 
                    are outlined below.                                                                   encouragement to sustain activity.
                                                                                                      •	 Opportunities to respond and 
                    classroom strategies                                                                  participate in the classroom activities, 
                    If the study by Johansen, Little and Akin-Little                                      to use the materials and to respond 
                    (2011) cited above accurately represents teacher                                      to requests must be inclusive of all 
                    awareness that poor classroom management is                                           children in the class.
                    an important factor associated with disruptive                               Strategies to increase the engagement of all 
                    behaviour, then it would follow that interventions                           students include having everyone write answers 
                    which target teaching skills and classroom                                   to some teacher questions rather than just seeking 
                    behaviour management have the potential                                      one correct response.
                    to produce significant impacts on disruptive 
                    behaviour. According to the Elton Report (1989,                                   •	 Seating arrangements: For older 
                    cited in the Office for Standards in Education,                                       students (10 years and above) seating in 
                    Children’s Services and Skills 2005, section 65,                                      rows works better than group seating.
                    p.15), it was estimated that in the United Kingdom                                •	 Effective instructions and commands 
                    80 percent of disruptive behaviour was attributable                                   need to be preceded by getting the 
                    “to poor classroom organization, planning and                                         pupils’ attention, and then presented 
                    teaching”. According to the report, British teachers                                  clearly one at a time as “do’s”, in a firm 
                    stated behaviours such as talking out-of-turn, and                                    (not angry) voice, with time to comply 
                    other forms of persistent low-level disruption as                                     and praise for compliance. Precise, 
                    the most frequent and stress-inducing because of                                      specific, direct and paced (one-at-a-
                    their constantly disruptive effect on both classroom                                  time) instructions delivered in a calm 
                    activities and the teaching-learning process.                                         and quiet voice, followed by praise 
                    Important factors identified related to teacher                                       for compliance have been found most 
                    confidence and competence, their ability to                                           effective.
                    engage children in the curriculum and for teachers                                •	 Sequencing of activities, so that easy 
                    to have good group management skills so that the                                      and brief tasks are interspersed with 
                    class focus was on appropriate behaviour.                                             longer and more demanding ones, 
                                                                                                          enhances engagement and learning as 
                    Effective teaching and positively functioning                                         well as reducing disruption. Preceding 
                    classrooms with low levels of disruptive behaviour                                    difficult activities with a few simple 
                    require planning and consistency. Factors which                                       ones has been found to enhance 
                    have been found to contribute to these outcomes                                       transition to a new activity as has 
                    identified in a literature review by Kern and                                         scheduling active learning after breaks 
                    Clemens (2007) are:                                                                   before moving on to more passive 
                        •	 Clear, simple rules and expectations                                           activities so that children have time to 
                             which are consistently and fairly                                            adapt to quieter routines.
                             applied.                                                                 •	 Pace of instruction is best if it is brisk. 
                        •	 Predictability of events and activities                                        This can be achieved by increasing 
                             through establishing routines,                                               the rate of instruction or decreasing 
                             information, cues and signals about                                          the pauses between student response 
                             forthcoming transitions and changes,                                         and the presentation of the next task. 
                             as well as for content, duration, and                                        Increased pace needs to be managed so 
                             consequences for activities.                                                 that students do not lose opportunities 
                        •	 Frequent use of praise, both verbal                                            to respond and access reinforcement.
                             and non-verbal. Teacher praise                                           •	 Choice and access to preferred activities 
                             has demonstrated effects on both                                             increases engagement and reduces 
                             those earning it and those nearby.                                           problem behaviour. Using children’s 
                             Verbal praise should be specific and                                         own special interests as the basis for 
                             descriptive. Teachers should try to                                          activities can significantly increase 
                             provide a child with at least four praise                                    engagement.
                             statements for every reprimand.
                    Weaving educational threads. Weaving educational practice.                                       KAIRARANGA – VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1: 2012      17
                      While these elements may each present as                 praise for accurate responding provide an effective 
                      common knowledge to teachers, the consistent             combination for enhancing teacher behaviour 
                      and skilled application of them as a systematically      management skills and teaching effectiveness 
                      used package of effective teaching strategies            (Cossairt, Hall & Hopkins, 1973; Sarokoff & 
                      is what increases the probability of enhanced            Sturmey, 2004). Preliminary observations set the 
                      learning and reduced problematic behaviour.              scene for working with the teacher to identify 
                      To assist teachers with particular management            targets for training. Planning exactly what will be 
                      problems it is sometimes necessary to implement          done using clear and simple guidelines, directly 
                      specific interventions.                                  observing and engaging with the teacher through 
                                                                               prompts such as “try this”/“remember to do X”, 
                      effective specific classroom-wide interventions          modelling what to do by way of demonstration, 
                      include:                                                 and providing data-based feedback and praise 
                                                                               have been shown by the above authors to produce 
                      Teacher performance feedback: Providing teachers         rapid and large improvements in teacher and, 
                      with clear guidelines and strategies for effective       consequently, student behaviour.
                      teaching, accompanied by written performance 
                      feedback plus graphed data and consultation              Most studies of classroom feedback to teachers 
                      meetings was used by DiGennaro, Martens and              have used methods that are less than immediate, 
                      Kleinmann (2007). A skilled observer checked             however, a recent series of experiments, using bug-
                      on the integrity of the teacher’s compliance with        in-the-ear and webcam technology, conducted 
                      the agreed behaviour management programme.               by Scheeler and colleagues and reviewed in their 
                      Written feedback on both student behaviour and           recent paper (Scheeler, McKinnon & Stout, 2011) 
                      teacher accuracy in implementing the programme           shows promise in providing direct feedback. In this 
                      was more effective than feedback on student              study, the authors were able to provide feedback 
                      behaviour alone, especially when high compliance         from remote locations to trainee special education 
                      enabled the teacher to avoid attending the after-        teachers in the classroom with beneficial effects on 
                      class feedback session. Performance feedback             their teaching performance and some evidence of 
                      which is based on compliance data has also been          transfer to non-feedback conditions. This approach 
                      shown by others (Noell et al., 2000) to reliably         holds promise for the application of the technology 
                      improve teacher skills and compliance with agreed        to in-service professional development for teachers 
                      programme goals.                                         in implementing behaviour strategies.
                      Performance feedback can be used to assist               Bringing experienced teachers into the classroom 
                      teachers to change how they relate with children         to assist in the development of classroom 
                      and which behaviours they attend to. Attending to        management skills through goal-setting, feedback 
                      appropriate behaviours with praise, smiles, positive     and praise also has been shown to be effective in 
                      feedback, and classroom reward systems enhances          enhancing teaching skills and in improving student 
                      such behaviour, so represents a simple and easily        academic performance. One such study (Gillat & 
                      introduced intervention. Providing teachers with         Sulzer-Azaroff, 1994), which involved principals 
                      feedback on how effectively they are attending to        trained to perform as role models, showed 
                      appropriate behaviour can be an effective way to         significant changes in teacher goal-setting and use 
                      enhance teachers’ classroom management skills            of praise in the form of attention (both verbal and 
                      (Parsonson, Baer & Baer, 1974). However, more            non-verbal) and student enhanced performance 
                      intensive interventions involving classroom-based        as a result of such visits. The principals’ use 
                      training occasionally are necessary. In addition,        of positive classroom behaviour management 
                      monitoring the quality and quantity of a teacher’s       strategies also improved as a result of the training 
                      verbal interactions with challenging students can        and role-modelling responsibilities.
                      provide an important insight into those teacher 
                      behaviours that trigger problematic behaviours           Class-wide incentives: Because low-level 
                      (Sutherland et al., 2008; Swinson & Knight,              disruption can be endemic and stress-inducing 
                      2007). Providing feedback on such exchanges              as well as a potential launching pad for more 
                      and working with the teacher to develop more             problematic classroom behaviours, interventions 
                      appropriate modes of interaction, including use          focusing on the whole class can be more effective 
                      of praise and positive comments, is an important         than targeting individuals. There are numerous 
                      way of reducing challenges and increasing on-task        programmes in the research literature, including 
                      behaviour.                                               token economies and prize draws to increase 
                                                                               appropriate behaviours. Competitions such as the 
                      Classroom-based training: If additional teacher          Good Behaviour Game (Barrish, Saunders & Wolf, 
                      training is necessary, the data suggests that            1969; Harris & Sherman, 1973; Kleinman & Saigh, 
                      instructions, rehearsal, prompts, modelling of           2011; Medland & Stachnik, 1972), noise reduction 
                      appropriate responses, performance feedback and          programmes using feedback systems such as the 
                      18    KAIRARANGA – VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1: 2012
                    Yakker-Tracker®, and behaviour and transition                                the blackboard throughout the session or school 
                    management using rules, signalling and positive                              day. A criterion is set for the number of points 
                    consequences, all represent options.                                         required for a team to obtain a reward and both 
                                                                                                 teams can win if they exceed the criterion. Initially, 
                    Token economies, which use points or tokens that                             the criterion for a reward may be set at a level 
                    can be traded for access to a variety of rewards,                            the class can easily achieve and then gradually 
                    including activities or inexpensive items, have                              be increased as the game takes effect. Rewards 
                    been used effectively to manage behaviour in                                 can involve access to in-class games or activities, 
                    classrooms for many years (Sulzer-Azaroff &                                  early release at a break or sports activities in the 
                    Mayer, 1991). Because token systems take time                                playground, or for points towards some special 
                    to set up and run, one simple variation is to use                            event, such as a winning-team pizza at the end 
                    the tokens as tickets in a class lotto. Academic or                          of the week. The research shows that the game 
                    social behaviour that complies with posted criteria                          resulted in consistently low levels of classroom 
                    is rewarded with a ‘ticket’ on which the teacher                             disruption and that pupils applied peer pressure 
                    writes the child’s name. The ‘ticket’ is handed to                           to the more disruptive members of their teams to 
                    the child and specific descriptive praise (child’s                           reduce their disruptive behaviour in order for the 
                    name, behaviour that earned it, and praise) is                               team to have a chance to win. A variation is to 
                    given simultaneously. The child places this in a                             have the game operating on a session-to-session 
                    bag or box. At the end of the session or school                              or activity-to-activity basis and to reward the team 
                    day there is a draw for a mystery prize. Children                            with the most points with access to a brief fun 
                    soon learn (or can have explained to them) that the                          activity. At the end of the day there is a prize for 
                    more ‘tickets’ they earn, the greater the chance of                          the winning team which has accumulated the most 
                    winning (this example can be used as an exercise                             points across the day. The game can gradually 
                    in maths). It is important to vary the prizes. One                           be replaced with teacher positive attention and 
                    option is to have a ‘lucky dip’” with a range of                             praise for rule compliance so that the more natural 
                    inexpensive mystery prizes such as pencils, fancy                            consequences of classroom support of good 
                    rubbers, small boxes of raisins or decorative                                behaviour are established.
                    stickers.
                                                                                                 Noise management: Reduction of noise levels 
                    The Good Behaviour Game (Barrish, Saunders &                                 in the classroom can help to make the learning 
                    Wolf, 1969; Harris & Sherman, 1973; Kleinman &                               environment more effective within a classroom 
                    Saigh, 2011; Medland & Stachnik, 1972) has been                              and for classes in adjacent rooms. While complete 
                    used effectively to manage classroom behaviour by                            silence is no longer considered appropriate or 
                    reducing disruptive behaviour. The game involves                             desirable, excessive noise is identified as a teacher 
                    establishing a small number of explicit rules which                          stressor and probably impacts on learning. Wilson 
                    set out broad positive behaviour expectations (e.g.                          and Hopkins (1973) used a sound level device to 
                    respect others, solve problems responsibly, manage                           control noise intensity in a classroom to which 
                    yourself) and define these in terms of the daily                             children brought their favourite music tapes. Once 
                    settings and routines of the classroom as in Table 1                         classroom noise levels exceeded a preset level, 
                    below, adapted from Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino,                              the device turned off the music. This was effective 
                    and Lathrop (2007).                                                          in significantly reducing classroom noise. The 
                                                                                                 device known as the “Yakker-Tracker®” has also 
                    These rules are listed and posted where pupils can                           been used in local classrooms to manage noise 
                    read them. The class is divided into at least two                            levels. The teacher can set the decibel level and 
                    teams (class groups can be used as teams) and                                the device signals the noise level via green (OK), 
                    team points are awarded for rule compliance. The                             yellow (a little over) and red (far too high) to the 
                    team is praised each time its points are posted on                           class and teacher on noise compliance. Rewards 
                    Table 1
                    An Example of Broad Classroom Rules and Specific Expectations
                           respect others                                   solve problems responsibly                        manage yourself
                     1.    Say nice things or nothing                  1.   Be fair and share                           1.    Staying in seat
                     2.    Look at the teacher during                  2.   Consider others’ feelings                   2.    Talking only when it is OK
                           instructions
                     3.    Be a good listener                          3.   Think of ways everybody can feel            3.    Following directions first 
                                                                            good in the end                                   time
                     4.    Have safe hands and feet                    4.   Stay friends                                4.    Ask teacher’s permission first
                    Weaving educational threads. Weaving educational practice.                                       KAIRARANGA – VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1: 2012      19