Semester of Graduation

Spring 2018

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Department of Psychology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Proactive classroom management (PCM) strategies are preventative teacher practices implemented prior to the onset of problem behavior. PCM strategies have been widely demonstrated to be effective in preventing and reducing disruptive behavior while promoting academic engagement in the classroom. In practice, however, the use of proactive strategies is far less common than reactive strategies for managing student behavior. Although teachers are concerned about classroom management, many report a lack of training or support needed to successfully implement behavior management strategies. One promising approach for supporting teachers’ use of behavior management strategies is implementation planning. Implementation planning is an implementation support strategy used to assist teachers in working through the specific logistics for delivering an intervention in the target context and to identify and address possible implementation barriers. This study employed a between-group design with elementary and middle school teachers to examine the effects of group implementation planning for PCM strategies. All teachers received training on two PCM strategies (specific praise and precorrection) followed by either implementation planning (i.e., treatment condition) or a nondirected discussion group (i.e., control condition). Results of the mixed ANOVA indicated an interaction effect between conditions and specific praise. Participants in the training as usual condition had a significant increase in specific praise compared to the implementation planning condition. Additionally, a main effect of time was found for academic engagement, demonstrating that student academic engagement increased in all conditions following training. Results of an exploratory analysis of teachers’ perceived implementation barriers are also presented.

Date

4-3-2018

Committee Chair

Long, Anna

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.4690

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