Reducing Behavior Problems In The Elementary School Classroom. A Practice Guide

IES PRACTICE GUIDE WHAT WORKS CLEARINGHOUSE Reducing Behavior Problems in the Elementary School Classroom NCEE 2008-012 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) publishes practice guides in education to bring the best available evidence and expertise to bear on the types of systemic challenges that cannot currently be addressed by single interventions or programs. Authors of practice guides seldom conduct the types of systematic literature searches that are the backbone of a meta-analysis, although they take advantage of such work when it is already published. Instead, authors use their expertise to identify the most important research with respect to their recommendations, augmented by a search of recent publications to ensure that research citations are up-to-date. Unique to IES-sponsored practice guides is that they are subjected to rigorous external peer review through the same office that is responsible for independent review of other IES publications. A critical task for peer reviewers of a practice guide is to determine whether the evidence cited in support of particular recommendations is up-to-date and that studies of similar or better quality that point in a different direction have not been ignored. Because practice guides depend on the expertise of their authors and their group decisionmaking, the content of a practice guide is not and should not be viewed as a set of recommendations that in every case depends on and flows inevitably from scientific research. The goal of this practice guide is to formulate specific and coherent evidence-based recommendations for use by educators to address the challenge of reducing behavior problems in elementary school classrooms. The guide provides practical, clear information on critical behavior-related topics and is based on the best available evidence, as judged by the panel. Recommendations presented in this guide should not be construed to imply that no further research is warranted on the effectiveness of particular strategies for preventing and intervening with behavior problems. IES PRACTICE GUIDE Reducing Behavior Problems in the Elementary School Classroom September 2008 Panel Michael Epstein (Chair) UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA–LINCOLN Marc Atkins UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS–CHICAGO Douglas Cullinan NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERsity Krista Kutash UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA RESEARCH AND TRAINING CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH Robin Weaver PRINCIPAL, HARMONY HILLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Staff Michelle Woodbridge Jennifer Yu Mary Wagner SRI INTERNATIONAL NCEE 2008-012 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION This report was prepared for the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences under Contract ED-07-CO-0062 by the What Works Clearinghouse, which is operated by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Disclaimer The opinions and positions expressed in this practice guide are the authors’ and do not necessarily represent the opinions and positions of the Institute of Education Sciences or the U.S. Department of Education. This practice guide should be reviewed and applied according to the specific needs of the educators and educatio