This paper describes a project to improve the responsibility levels of 16 gifted students in fourth grade attending a daily 2-hour language arts gifted education class. Students had become inconsistent about completing assignments, maintaining an orderly environment, and communicating necessary information to parents. A teacher-developed checklist…

For decades, educators have been concerned with the problem of truancy. Accordingly, this report focuses on an absentee improvement program at a rural, lower-middle class, predominantly white elementary school with 722 students that had a history of high truancy, as verified by teachers, the administration, the school counselor, staff, and…

This case study of an 11-year-old boy with moderate/severe mental retardation, seizures, and behavior disorders in an inclusive classroom setting describes how a program of assessment and intervention eliminated the behavior problems, was maintained following the intervention, and generalized to 3 nontargeted problem behaviors. Intervention…

This study, with 4 parent-child dyads in which the children (ages 9 to 11) exhibited substantial homework problems, found that goal setting and contingency contracting produced significant improvements in children's homework accuracy. Two of the subjects showed substantial improvements in on-task behavior. Parents rated the procedures highly.…

This study explored the results of aligning functional behavioral assessment (FBA) information with positive behavior support plans (PBS plans) designed with consideration for teacher acceptability. The independent variable had the three major components of a package, including assessment and planning (FBA), training (teachers, students, and…

This is an abstract for an action research project report on improving student motivation. Students struggle with motivation to perform well in school. This study was designed to increase student motivation in the classroom setting. The targeted population consisted of one third grade classroom, one fourth grade classroom, and three periods of…

A survey was conducted of 125 parents of elementary and middle school children who participated in a parent involvement program in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. These parents were involved in the MAP (Monitoring Achievement in Pittsburgh)-AT-HOME Program, which focuses on helping parents to reinforce student acquisition of mathematics, reading,…

Fifty randomly selected moderate and low implementing Distar Language teachers were retrained in techniques of correcting students' mistakes and recycling through an instructional task until all of the children in the group responded without error (criterion teaching). As a result of retraining, the experimental teachers performed at a…

Research has suggested that the use of effective instructional strategies could be increased through direct intervention. One possible intervention is performance feedback, a simple yet effective method of consultation for influencing teacher behavior. Mortenson and Witt (1998) defined performance feedback as "a method of providing…

A significant challenge facing the juvenile justice system is the task of transitioning and reintegrating juveniles from youth corrections facilities back into the community. This challenge, in part, is related to determining whether the referred community programs are effective. This article summarizes the literature on the effectiveness of…

This practicum investigated the effectiveness of using music activities to reinforce basic money skills with 10 students, ages 12 to 21, with mental retardation in the trainable range. The program used a combination of music and visual aids as strategies for reinforcing basic money skills and improving student on-task behaviors in the classroom.…

Describes the experiences of teachers participating in writing-across-the-curriculum workshops and the successful implementation of interdisciplinary teaching methods at La Salle University. Concludes that the program has not only improved the use of writing in all disciplines but has contributed to global transformations in teaching practices.…

A survey of 172 teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) investigated the extent of level system use in special education classrooms, characteristics of teachers and students who use level systems, characteristics of level system operation, teacher perceptions of level system effectiveness, and their satisfaction with…

Qualitative methods were used to analyze a sample of 23 representative California Employment Training Panel (ETP) projects to determine how ETP training affected companies. Data were collected through interviews, focus groups, surveys, observations, and document analysis. Among the factors found to affect quality of training design were: selection…

Educating for Success, an instructional program designed to enhance college student self-esteem through analysis of personal successes and strengths, values identification, conflict management, and positive reinforcement was validated with 394 first-year college students in experimental and control groups. Results showed significant improvement of…