When you think of ways to incentivize or promote learning in your junior high classroom - or any classroom for that matter - you often start seeing dollar signs flying. I decided to look into the impact positive attention had on junior high students. The vast amount of resources I found truly blew me away. The impact of positive interactions on students was remarkable. Read more below.
Caldarella, P., Larsen, R. A., Williams, L., & Wills, H. P. (2021). Effects of middle school teachers’ praise-to-reprimand ratios on students’ classroom behavior. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 25(1), 28–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/10983007211035185
Middle school classrooms are often not managed as ideally as the teacher would like. It is often a reactive atmosphere and the praise to reprimand ratio is extremely low. During the intervention phase, the higher the praise to reprimand ratio, the more on-task behavior, higher grades, and lower disruptions were seen within the room. Often teachers tell students what not to do, but do not acknowledge those who do the right things. This study supports the importance of having a high praise to reprimand ratio in the middle school classroom.
Fleming, J. I., Grasley-Boy, N. M., Gage, N. A., Lombardo, M., & Anderson, L. (2022). Effects of Tiered SWPBIS Fidelity on Exclusionary Discipline Outcomes for Students with Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/4rks5
Tiered School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention Systems are effective when practiced with fidelity. Students with disabilities (SWD) are twice as likely to have exclusionary disciplines assigned to them than neurotypical students. Exclusionary disciplines are ISS, OSS, alternative school, or any instance in which the student is removed from the learning environment. This inevitably causes lost learning, and can lead to antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms. School personnel measured the fidelity the multiple tiers were practiced at using a three point scale known as the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI). The majority of schools that participated were elementary schools that reported using Tier 1 with fidelity only. Schools who implemented two or three tiers with fidelity saw significantly lower rates of discipline in SWD, with the largest drop in schools that use all three tiers. Schools with higher free/reduced lunch had higher rates of OSS and mainly implemented Tier 1 practices only. The study shows the effect consistent multi-tiered practices have on students of varying populations, specifically students with disabilities.
Markelz, A. M., Riden, B. S., Morano, S., Hazelwood, A. L., & Taylor, A. M. (2022). The effects of varied and non-varied praise on student on-task behaviors. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 25(4), 227–238. https://doi.org/10.1177/10983007221126568
It is widely known that positive praise leads to on task behavior, but there has not been much research on the effects of varied and non-varied praise. Behavior specific praise (BSP) is a more effective reinforcer than general praise (GP) because of the direct approval of a specific behavior the student is displaying. Students quickly learn which teachers will give them praise and make them feel valued which can lead to a discriminative stimulus of availability of praise. The study had participants wear an Apple Watch that gave a reminder when to deliver specific praise to students. Participants were allowed to give behavior specific praise at any time, but the watch would remind them every ten statements. Two students were observed both showed accelerated growth in both varied and non-varied praise. The key is that during the interventions teachers were using BSP on average 10 times more than during the baseline.
Massar, M. M., Horner, R. H., Kittelman, A., & Conley, K. M. (2022). Mechanisms of effective coaching: Using prompting and performance feedback to improve teacher and student outcomes. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 25(3), 169–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/10983007221133524
The methods of coaching have been widely studied, but the mechanisms coaches use in order to be effective have not been studied as much. This study focused on the effects of using prompting and performance feedback in order to improve both teacher and student outcomes. Using prompting as a coach emphasizes when a skill should be used, while performance feedback emphasizes how well you are using the skill. The study focused on coaching the following strategies: behavior specific praise, opportunities to respond, and precorrection. The goal of the coaching is to increase strategy use, as well as academic engagement and decrease classroom disruption. The study found that the desired outcome was most achieved when there was a mixture of both performance feedback and prompting utilized by the coach. This study helps coaches and teachers understand that when they are prompted and do receive feedback it will have a positive effect on their classroom.
O’Handley, R. D., Olmi, D. J., Dufrene, B. A., Radley, K. C., & Tingstrom, D. H. (2022). The effects of different rates of behavior-specific praise in secondary classrooms. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 25(2), 118–130. https://doi.org/10.1177/10983007221091330
There are many barriers when it comes to implementing behavior specific praise (BSP) in the secondary classroom. Often secondary teachers do not acknowledge appropriate behavior because of limited training or teachers feel as though students should self manage their behavior. On average, secondary teachers use general praise once per 8 minutes, BSP once per 30 minutes, and reprimands once per 5 minutes. This leads to exclusionary consequences and lowers student outcomes. Three times a week, for two to three weeks, teachers were asked to use a device to alert them when to deliver BSP; the increments were either every 2 minutes for 20 minutes, or every 4 minutes for 20 minutes. The data showed a staggered relationship between the number of BSPs, appropriately engaged behavior, and disruptive behavior. The most successful phases were the 2-min BSP phases in which teachers gave students a BSP every 2 minutes for 20 minutes. AEB had an average of 60% (up from 30%), DB had an average of 20% (down from 40%). This data shows the positive impact BSPs have on the secondary classroom, and does not negate the purpose and use of reprimands.