The Good Behavior Game Is No Longer Just an Effective Intervention for Students: An Examination of the Reciprocal Effects on Teacher Behaviors.

Abstract

P ositive educational outcomes often include success in reading, math, and writing, which are beneficial skills that will assist students in school and beyond. However, in education it is important that the classroom focus not only on subject and content-specific learning, but also on behavior and societal expectations for following rules. When rules are not followed, students are not able to attain the needed educational goals set forth by federal and state education departments. Consistently not following rules leads to behavioral excesses, such as off task behaviors, talking out, and out of seat behavior. Often these excesses are a direct result of inappropriate or ineffective classroom management techniques. Wentzel (1993) noted that maladaptive behaviors must be assessed and corrected as quickly as possible to prevent the loss of academic skills and future need for academic remediation. Heightened behavioral concerns in the classroom are directly and positively correlated with a high frequency of office referrals and school suspensions. A high frequency of office referrals and school suspensions decrease the amount of time the student has within an environment conducive to learning (Bradshaw, Mitchell, & Leaf, 2010). In an effort to combat the troubles caused by behavioral excesses, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; 1997) federal legislation requires school districts to assist students who display problematic behaviors that could potentially negatively impact their own learning, as well as other learners within the class. IDEA noted that school districts should have interventions, strategies, and supports that are positive in nature to address the problematic behaviors often seen within classrooms across the nation. Due to the extant literature linking poor classroom management to increased problematic behaviors, teachers’ over-reliance on office referrals, and a decrease in levels of academic achievement (Bradshaw et al., 2010), the IDEA legislation of 2007 was directly aimed at enhancing proactive classrooms by creating an environment conducive to learning and nonconducive to inappropriate behaviors.