Managing Student Behavior in the Middle Grades Using Class-wide Function-Related Intervention Teams

Abstract

During the transition from the elementary to middle grades, young adolescents may become increasingly vulnerable for emotional and behavioral problems. Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams for middle level school (CW-FIT MS), the independent variable examined in this study, was developed to improve teaching and learning by fostering student engagement. The study's purpose was to examine the feasibility and effects of CW-FIT MS Tier 1 implementation in nine middle level school classes using a single-subject ABAB withdrawal design. Participants were 234 students in grades 6-8, including 23 identified as at risk for emotional behavioral disorders. Results of CW-FIT MS Tier 1 implementation showed significant improvement in on-task behavior for groups as well as individual target students, increased teacher praise-to-reprimand ratios, and decreased target student disruptions. Outcomes of social validity surveys were consistent with earlier studies. Study findings extend previous results by demonstrating positive intervention effects in novel settings with a greater number of participants. Study limitations and areas for future research are discussed.

Effects of a Behavior Management Strategy, CW-FIT, on High School Student and Teacher Behavior

“…Despite limited evidence of significant change in individual teacher behavior, collectively, the teachers maintained the target 4:1 praise to reprimand ratio during both phases of treatment with a slightly lower ratio of 3:1 shown during both follow-up observations. Although no change to reprimand statements was observed, the increase in praise demonstrated by Teacher 1 was consistent with results from other evaluations of CW-FIT's impact on teacher behavior (Caldarella et al 2019;Wills et al 2019).…”

“…The utility of CW-FIT across elementary settings has been well-established in the literature base (Caldarella et al 2015;Kamps et al 2015;Wills et al 2018), and evidence is emerging for intervention efficacy in middle school classrooms (Caldarella et al 2019;Orr et al 2020;Speight et al 2020;Wills et al 2019). Though the results should be interpreted cautiously given the limitations, this study provides evidence CW-FIT may lead to similar improvements in high school student and high school teacher behavior.…”

Supporting Students With Disabilities With Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports in the Classroom: Lessons Learned From Research and Practice

“…For most students, a ratio of at least five praise statements for every correction is recommended to maintain a positive and engaging environment (Cook et al, 2017). However, students with disabilities, especially those with or at risk for EBD, appear to be particularly sensitive to praise and corrective feedback and tend to receive less teacher praise and more reprimands than other students (Caldarella et al, 2019; Sutherland & Wehby, 2001). For example, when students at risk for EBD received higher rates of praise, they demonstrated higher rates of engagement (Downs et al, 2019).…”

“…In comparison, higher rates of reprimands were associated with more frequent disruptive behavior by all students, especially students with EBD (Downs et al, 2019). As a rule of thumb, a ratio of nine praise statements for every correction is recommended for students with disabilities, particularly those at risk for EBD (Caldarella et al, 2019).…”

Multi-Tiered Classroom Management Intervention in a Middle School Classroom: Initial Investigation of CW-FIT-Middle School Tier 1 and Self-Management

“…Despite the apparent alignment of classroom management strategies within a SWPBS framework to specific challenges of middle school students, research into application of classroom management in this setting has been limited. Class-Wide Function-related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a promising classroom management intervention with a growing body of literature demonstrating improvement in middle school classroom engagement and prosocial behavior (e.g., Caldarella et al, 2019;Speight et al, 2020). As the evidence grows for the effectiveness of CW-FIT for most students in middle school classrooms, it is evident that, like other classroom management strategies, CW-FIT alone will not meet the needs of all students in the classroom (Orr et al, 2020;Wills et al, 2019).…”