Teaching Teachers to Use Prompts, Opportunities to Respond, and Specific Praise

Abstract

Classroom management skills are critical for teachers. Yet teachers receive little training in classroom management, and empirical research on teacher training in classroom management is lacking. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of explicit training and performance feedback on teachers’ implementation of three classroom management skills: prompts for social behavior, academic opportunities to respond, and specific praise. Researchers used a multiple baseline design, introducing training and then performance feedback in a staggered fashion across the three teacher behaviors. Results indicate that there was not a functional relationship between explicit training and teacher behavior; however, introducing performance feedback following training was functionally related to an increase in the level, trend, or stability of teachers’ use of each skill.