Classroom Management: Myths versus Evidence-Based Practices

Kathleen Aspiranti, PhD; University of Kentucky

Thanks to David Hulac and Amy Briesch for their contribution to the presentation.

Think about the classroom management problem you observe

• 1. Is it a problem of unclear behavior expectations?
• 2. Is it a problem of a skill mismatch? (Students can’t do the work?)
• 3. Is it a physical problem in the classroom?
• 4. Is it a problem of unclear reinforcement schedules?
• 5. Do the students have limited opportunities to respond?
• 6. Is this a problem of the teacher misattributing the cause of student behavior?
• 7. Do you feel hopeless?

• How do we address the needs of a child with serious academic problems?

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• LD Identification
• Testing
• Special Education
• Intense interventions – one on one etc.

Academic Problems?

Academic

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• Behavior Checklists
• Behavior Plans
• Out of School placement
• Alternative schools
• Individual counseling

Mental Health Problems?

Academic

Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

• Intense social skills instruction
• Behavior intervention plans
• Alternative placements

Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills Problems?

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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Tier 3 stuff

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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Small group interventions/

curriculum

Group counseling

Social Skills

Groups

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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High Quality Curriculum

Progress Monitoring

Mindfulness Training

Mental Health Education

Social Skills Curriculum

Guidance

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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None of these things can happen if

teachers cannot manage their classrooms

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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In schools we teach.

We must allow teaching to occur.

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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Lost opportunities to practice.

Lost instruction time.

Students don’t feel safe enough to learn.

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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Teachers yell more, potentially

exacerbating trauma.

Physical and Verbal aggression increases.

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Academic

Mental Health

Social Skills

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Reduced opportunities to learn social skills

Poor modeling of problematic social skills.

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Academic

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Social Skills

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Tier 0: Classroom Behavior

Management

Myth 1: Intrinsic Motivation is all that Matters

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If Intrinsic motivation is all that matters, we would all succeed with our New Year’s Resolutions

What is intrinsic motivation?

Intrinsic motivation means doing something because you enjoy it.

Extrinsic Motivation

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Extrinsic motivation is involving means-ends relationships; it is doing something in order to get some future value (or avoid some future disvalue).

Because humans need to live long range, acting for the future is not only not inferior to other forms of motivation, but is essential to happiness and survival

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Proposed Achievement Motivation

“He viewed its essence as competition with a standard, as a striving” for excellence in some form.

Source: Locke, E. A., & Schattke, K. (2019). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: Time for expansion and clarification. Motivation Science, 5(4), 277–290. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000116

In summary

• Some students have motivation deficits
• Some students are not motivated to learn something because they have never experienced the joy of doing it.
• Other times, behavior is disruptive to learning and needs extrinsic motivation to improve the milieu.

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“What could be better than loving the work (and other things) that you are doing, doing it well by a rational, personally relevant standard, and gaining long term life benefits as a result of your efforts and choices?” (Locke et al., 2019, p. 17)

Myth 2: Students Should Already Know How to Behave

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• Schools have their own cultural expectations. Behaviors such as interrupting, walking around, profanity, jumping off of furniture maybe be appropriate in one place, but interfere with classroom learning.

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• Students within the classroom have their own expectations for other students. Sometimes, these reinforcers provide stronger motivation than the teacher’s expectations.

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Expected behaviors are not innate, especially if not reinforced in multiple settings. Behavior skills are learned over time. They must be explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced.

But We Taught the Behaviors

So shouldn’t middle schoolers behave better than Kindergarteners?

Why Don’t Students Just Behave?

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The school environment is overwhelming

Loss of control to choose desired behaviors

Low frustration tolerance

Comparison to peers and low self-esteem

Many tasks and expectations exceed students’ capacity

Academic [Reading, fine motor]

Behavioral [Remaining seated and still for long periods of time at a young age]

Myth 3: Older Kids Do Not Like to Be Praised

• Imaginary Audience

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• Tallest Poppy
• Concerns about being singled out

Older kids able to detect insincerity

Perceived Control

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Students Praise Preference

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1. Participants: 511 students in grades 6–8 from an ethnically
2. Diverse Rocky Mountain middle school.​
1. 58.9% Hispanic/Latinx, 25.4% White, remaining students

represented multiple ethnic groups.​

1. Students completed an anonymous online survey about praise
2. Result: Most students wanted praise sometimes or often;

Fewer than 13% preferred never being praised.

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Schneider et al., 2021

Okay, so what is good classroom management?

Effective vs. evidence-based classroom management

• Observational, correlational studies conducted in the 1970s of “effective teachers”
• Kounin (1970) found that teachers used the same strategies to respond to problem behavior, but “effective teachers” were much more likely to use preventative strategies to head it off
• Experimental studies since the 1980s have contributed to the “evidence base”
• OUR definition of evidence-based = shown to be effective across multiple controlled research studies

The “Big 5” – Basic Principles of Classroom Management

• Clear Expectations: Establish, teach, and practice positively-stated expectations
• Predictable routines: Develop and teach predictable routines
• Engagement: Promote engagement through opportunities to respond and interesting, meaningful content
• Praise appropriate bx: Use positive and specific praise to reinforce students for appropriate behavior
• Respond to inappropriate behavior: Consistently respond to inappropriate behavior with an appropriate level of consequence

Simonsen et al., 2008

High Impact Practices

Support the behavioral needs of nearly all students

Establish rules and expectations

Should be:

• Realistic
• Age appropriate
• Understandable
• Positively-worded
• Limited in number (i.e. 4-6)

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

Clarify changing expectations

• Color Wheel intervention (Aspiranti & Ebner, 2023)
• Rationale: Having vague or one general set of rules can be confusing to students. May need to use salient stimuli to help students transition from one set of rules to another

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Materials

This should last no longer than 2 minutes

Conversation (C) – No Talking (should be ‘voices silent’).

Help (H) – No asking for help. No hand raising.

Activity (A) – Listening to the teacher talk.

Movement (M) – Everybody is in their seat looking at the teacher.

Participation (P) – Students look at the teacher and do not talk.

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Majority of Classtime

Conversation (C) – Students may talk when they are called on.

Help (H) – Students must raise their hands to be called on.

Activity (A) – Asking questions about what the teacher said.

Movement (M) – Everybody is in their seat looking at the teacher.

Participation (P) – Students look at the teacher and do not (unless called on).

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Interaction Time

Conversation (C) – Students may talk to each other if the conversation does not exceed 70db

Help (H) – Students must raise their hands to be called on.

Activity (A) – Asking questions about what the teacher said.

Movement (M) – Students may stand, but must be able to touch their desk.

Participation (P) – Students have only necessary materials on their desks and are working on their materials.

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Procedures

• Red used when transitioning from one classroom activity to another
• Teacher provides 2-min and 30-sec warning before moving CW to red
• Once moved, provide directions for next activity
• After providing instructions, turn CW to yellow or green to elicit questions regarding instructions

CW Considerations

Used with K - middle school

Increasing on-task behavior and decreasing off-task behavior

Concurrent with interdependent group contingencies

Can use a fourth set of rules

Use with special populations (autism, phys ed class)

Effectiveness of Color Wheel intervention

Consulting with teachers to…�Establish expectations and routines

• What should we assess at baseline?
• Can the teacher identify (a) 3-5 positively stated expectations and (b) routines for classroom activities that have been taught?
• Do the majority of students know the rules and routines?

How can we assess?

• Teacher interview
• Student interviews
• Classroom observation
• How can we promote change in teacher behavior?
• Explicit instruction

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Active Supervision

The bridge between prevention and response

Active supervision

• Move around the classroom
• Scan the environment
• Frequent those parts of the room where behavior problems frequently occur
• Ensure frequent interaction with students
• Communicate “with-it-ness”
• Only evidence-based strategy that reduces bullying.

Active supervision

Consulting with teachers to…�Promote active supervision

• What should we assess at baseline?
• Does the teacher circulate throughout the entire classroom?
• Are there blind spots?

How can we assess?

• Classroom observation
• How can we promote change in teacher behavior?
• Explicit instruction
• Performance feedback

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Providing Students with Behavioral Feedback

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Praise - Ignore - Reprimand

Types of praise

• General Vs. Behavior Specific

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• A student quietly transitions from group work to independent reading without being prompted. Praise statement: “Nice job!”
• During math practice, a student shows their work step‑by‑step after previously rushing through problems. Praise statement: “I really like how you showed all your steps on that problem.”
• A student holds the door for classmates as they enter the room. Praise statement: “Great work today!”
• While the teacher gives directions, a student keeps their eyes on the speaker and materials closed. Praise statement: “Thank you for listening so respectfully during instructions.”
• A group finishes a science task and cleans up their materials without reminders. Praise statement: “Awesome!”

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Which works best?

GENERAL? BEHAVIOR SPECIFIC?

How Often do we see Praise Happen?

Praise is Delivered Inconsistently

Research shows that teacher praise varies widely — across classrooms, grade levels, and type.

Praise type matters

Behavior Specific Praise (BSP) is more effective than General Praise (GP) — but both are used inconsistently.

Levels are low across the board

Teachers generally provide low levels of praise, even at grades where it's most needed.

Drake & Nelson, 2021 | Garcia-Salas, 2023

Praise Decreases as Grade Level Increases

Praise levels are highest in early elementary and steadily decline in higher grades.

Floress & Bechta, 2018 | Floress et al., 2018

Middle School: By the Numbers

2

Behavior Specific Praise

statements per hour

8

General Praise

statements per hour

General praise outnumbers behavior specific praise 4:1 in middle school settings.

Floress et al., 2022

Key Takeaways

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Praise is inconsistent

Delivery varies significantly across teachers and classrooms.

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Levels are generally low

Teachers use praise less than recommended, especially Behavior Specific Praise.

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Older grades get less

Praise decreases as students move from elementary into middle school.

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BSP is rare in middle school

Only ~2 BSP statements per hour vs. 8 General Praise statements.

What’s the optimal praise:reprimand ratio?

Caldarella et al., 2022

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• But does that give us an optimal ratio?

• No

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯�

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• No Optimal PRR has been found in the extant literature.

Source: Calderella et al., 2020

What do we know about praise ratios?

THE HIGHER THE BETTER . . .

Positive verbal feedback (i.e. praise)

• Positive attention directed toward a behavior demonstrated by an individual
• Most effective if:
• Specific (tells the student what s/he was doing correctly)
• Contingent (delivered only following the target behavior)
• Sincere and believable
• Takes into consideration the student’s skill level
• Varied
• Research has shown that teachers use general praise 3-4 times as often as specific praise (Floress & Jenkins, 2015; Reinke et al., 2013)

Use of praise

Peer-delivered praise

• Positive peer reporting
• Students identify peers who did something nice for them
• Identified students provided with stickers
• Tootling
• Students write down peers’ prosocial behaviors on cards
• Teacher counts up cards at the end of the day
• If number of Tootles exceeds a criterion, the class receives a prize

Planned ignoring

• When behavior is being reinforced by attention, need to remove the attention
• If behavior is not dangerous, consider not responding to it
• Most effective if paired with praise of alternative, appropriate behavior (Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior)
• Have to anticipate a spike in behavior before improvement

Teaching ignoring

• Expect an extinction burst.
• Easily implemented by a teacher.
• HOWEVER . . .

What if a student’s behavior is motivated by peer attention?

Picture from http://humanhumor.files.wordpress.com

Group ignore

• Rewarding all other students for ignoring.
• Requires a specific practice section.

Source: Hulac & Benson, 2010

Noncontingent attention

• When data suggest that attention is reinforcing, provide student with noncontingent attention throughout the day
• Reduces the need to misbehave to receive attention

Effective reprimands

• Delivered after a student exhibits a behavior that violates class rules or norms
• Most effective if:
• Brief
• Clearly communicates what the student is doing wrong
• Tells the student what s/he should be doing instead
• Delivered immediately using a calm, firm, and unemotional tone
• Paired with eye contact
• Provided in close proximity to the student

Effective reprimands

Consulting with teachers to…�Ensure appropriate verbal feedback

• What should we assess at baseline?
• Are reprimands brief, direct, and instructive?
• Do students receive positive feedback that is specific and contingent?

How can we assess?

• Classroom observation
• How can we promote change in teacher behavior?
• Explicit instruction in the appropriate delivery of praise/reprimands
• Verbal feedback regarding the frequency of praise delivery
• Self-monitoring

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Group Contingencies

Group contingencies

• “…a class of interventions in which reinforcers are implemented to individuals or groups based on the performance of individual members or of all members of the group.”
• More efficient with regard to time
• Utilize peer influence to support student behavior.
• Meet the WWC standards of evidenced based intervention (Maggin, Johnson, Chafouleas, Ruberto, & Berggren, 2012)

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Good Behavior Game

Good Behavior Game

• 9^th grade students in New York City
• 23% African American; 73% Hispanic

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• Previous efforts to manage the classroom included yelling and expulsion from class.

Kleinman & Saigh, 2011

• “The regular classroom teacher unexpectedly resigned and a replacement was hired.
• The replacement had not been trained in the use of classroom management.
• Students
• refused to stay seated,
• frequently shouted at one another,
• cursed,
• occasionally became involved in physical altercations with classmates.
• At one point, students reportedly screamed, cursed, and threw objects at the new teacher.” (p. 96)

Kleinman & Saigh, 2011

• Class divided into two teams.
• Disruptions were noted for each team
• Leaving seat
• Talking
• Physical Aggression
• Team with the fewest points at the end of the week won

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Results

Kleinman & Saigh, 2011

What happened?

• 1) Behaviors were clarified.
• 2) Undesirable behavior were noted.
• 3) Students became accountable to each other.

Population/Setting

• A variety of settings from Kindergarten (Donaldson, Krous, Downs, & Berard, 2011) through 9^th grade (Kleinman & Saigh, 2011)
• General Education and Special Education (e.g., Barrish, Saunders, & Wolf, 1969)
• Transitional and Alternative classes (students with low achievement and highly disruptive behaviors); Johnson et al., 1978)
• Specials (i.e., during library); Lunchroom, Hallway (Fishbein & Wasik, 1981)

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The Steps – 1960s version

1. Identify behavioral expectations for the classroom.
2. Divide the class of students into (equal) teams.
3. Determine the criteria for earning a prize. (Originally, the team who lost the fewest points won OR, if neither team lost more than five points, both teams won.)
4. Identify a method for communicating if a team has lost a point.
5. Determine the duration for which the game will be played.
6. Begin the game by communicating to the class that the game has started.
7. During the game, if one member of the team violates a behavioral expectation, remove a point from that team.
8. When the time has ended for the game, communicate which team met the criteria for earning the prize and award the prize to those students. 
9. Encourage those students who did not win a prize that they will soon have another chance.

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• Ultimately, these interventions suppress problem behaviors more than they promote desirable behaviors.

Modifications

Focus on the positive

• Give points for following rules-rather than a mark for breaking a rule (Tanol et al., 2010)
• Resulted in lower levels of rule violations
• Preferred by teachers
• Caught Being Good Game (Wright & McCurdy, 2012)
• Assign points if all team members on-task

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Caught Being Good Game (2010s version)

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• Behavioral expectations: 1) Raise hand before speaking. 2) Use appropriate language. 3) Remain in the assigned area.
• Divide the class of students into teams.
• Determine the criteria for earning a prize. (Rather than a team losing points, instead, the team earned points when all members of that team were following the expectations). The team who won the most points received the prize. Also, if both teams had more than 10 points, they both won the prize.
• Communicating points: When a team won a point, she placed a mark on the white board that corresponded with the team’s name. 
• Game Duration: The game lasted for 20 points during the instructional period.
• How are points awarded: If all members of the team are following a behavioral expectation, that team wins a point.  Ms. Peters used a timer to remind herself to notice if all of the students were following the expectations that were established.

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Good Inclusion Game

1. Behavioral expectations:
• 1) Ask peers questions about completing an assignment. 2) Help peers get appropriate materials. 3) Asking questions about ideas that other peers shared.
2. Divide the class of students into teams. In this case, each team was made of up multiple small groups. For example, in a class of 30, there were 15 members of the team, but those team members were broken up into small groups of 3. Thus, there were 5 small groups in each team.
3. Determine the criteria for earning a prize. (Rather than a team losing points, instead, the team earned points when one member of that team performs one of the behaviors described above). The team who won the most points received the prize. Also, if both teams had more than 20 points, they both won the prize.
4. Communicating points: When a team won a point, he placed a mark on the white board that corresponded with that team’s name. 
5. Game Duration: The game lasted for 20 points during the instructional period.
6. How are points awarded: If all members of the team are following a behavioral expectation, that team wins a point. Mr. Brown used a timer to remind himself to notice if all of the students were following the expectations that were established. 

Problem Solving – Sabotage

• Problem: There are circumstances when one student in a classroom decides to sabotage the rest of the class.
• Solution: Under these conditions, the one disruptive student may be placed in a one-person group, and be able to earn credits or demerits by themselves (e.g. Rubow et al., 2018).

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Problem Solving – Frequency

• Problem: There are times when students do not receive tokens frequently enough; this would mean the reinforcement schedule is not sufficiently dense.
• Solution:
• Tokens or acknowledgements are actually secondary reinforcers and very inexpensive to provide.
• Inflating their reward systems so that students receive multiple tokens more frequently.
• The primary reward that may be delayed in some circumstances, or be given sooner depending on the needs of the classroom students (Najafichaghabouri, et al., 2025).

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Problem Solving – Difficulty

• Problem: A common mistake is for teachers to make it too difficult for students to gain access to an award. This can either happen by requiring students to earn too many points or by only allowing classes to lose a small number of points.
• Solution: As with all systems that use a token economy, it is best if teachers make the first game a win.
• Once student behavior stabilizes, then make the game slightly harder

Problem Solving– Arguments

• Problem: Calling out negative behaviors - especially acknowledging a student’s problematic behavior by name triggers arguments.
• Solutions:
• Only provide visual feedback by pointing toward a rule when placing a point on the board.
• Removing points for teams who have students that argue or
• Simply ignoring students who are arguing.

Problem Solving – Crowded space

• Problem: Some teachers find it too difficult to move around the room to record points on the board.

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• Solution: Pre-existing classroom behavior tracking systems such as Class Dojo provide an easy way for teachers to provide immediate feedback (Ford et al., 2025; Lynne et al., 2017).

Problem Solving – Rewards

• Problem: There may be occasions where rewards are too difficult or costly for teachers to find.
• Solution:
• Reward cost has little effect on how much a student desires the award.
• Praise alone or no-reward sessions may be sufficient (Najafichaghabouri et al., 2025.)
• Even in rural Sudan, the GBG was implemented with winners receiving “official letters of commendation, extra time for recess, victory tags, and a winner's chart” (Saigh & Umar, 1983).

Problem Solving – Bullying

• Problem: Students who cause their team to lose points may become subject to bullying.
• Solution:
• Encourage peers to offer positive reminders or support.
• Announce point losses w/o names
• Reinforce desirable behaviors

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Problem Solving – Time-Intensive

• Problem: Teachers and students find that the GBG lasts too long, and fails to be reinforcing.

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• Solution: The GBG, in most studies, is only implemented for approximately 10-15 minutes for elementary school students (Kellam, 2011) up to 30-60 minutes at one time for students in older grades (Joselyn et al., 2014).

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Problem Solving – Boring

•  Problem: The students get bored with the GBG and the game itself is no longer reinforcing.

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• Solution: Certain variations of the GBG, such as the PAX GBG, incorporate other activities alongside the GBG, such as self monitoring, Beat the Timer, Tootle Notes, Granny’s Wacky Prizes, and Spleems in order to keep the game interesting and exciting (Johansson et al., 2020). If the game is losing its novelty, teachers can consider combining the GBG with other activities.

Consulting with teachers to…�Implement a group contingency intervention

• What are the critical components?
• Review behavioral expectations and goal
• Identify/review teams
• Deliver points when expected behavior observed (and explicitly indicate why points earned)
• When violations observed, explicitly remind students of expectations
• Determine whether goal was met for the day (and administer reward if so)

How can we assess?

• Classroom observation
• Implementation checklists

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What interventions are the biggest bang for the buck? Things to look for.

• 1) Move the furniture around
• Desk spacing
• 2) Teacher movement
• Active Supervision
• 3) Expectations
• Are they clear? Or not? Do they align with your expectations?
• 4) Transition speed
• <90s

5) Praise versus reprimands

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6) Opportunities to Respond – Instruction Pace

Questions?

Kathleen Aspiranti

kaspiranti@uky.edu