COMP assumes teaching involves both academic and social skills, and that both academic and social behaviors are developmental. Teachers who are successful at blending acdemic and social skills have students who tend to be on task, engaged in appropriate behavior, and who demonstrate higher achievement. Effective classroom management is proactive, not reactive. In effective classrooms, management and instruction go together. Students are active participants in the learning environment.
Teachers working together synergistically help one another.
COMP is developed from a series of studies that first identified differences in teacher management practices that correlate with student outcomes of task engagement, appropriate behaivor, positive attitude, and achievement. Finally, school district personnel were trained to deliver the teacher training, and teachers trained by them produce the same positive results. COMP is delivered initially as a training of teachers program. Teachers who have successfully implemented the program may then participate in a training of workshop leaders program to deliver COMP within their district. For workshop leaders, a seven-day workshop is required.