The Incredible Year Teacher Classroom Management Program: Initial Findings from a Group Randomized Control Trial
Author: Reinke, Wendy M.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Randomized Controlled Trials,Classroom Techniques,Mental Health,Teacher Surveys,Teacher Attitudes,Elementary School Teachers,Elementary School Students,Intervention,Emotional Development,Urban Schools,Low Income Students,Elementary Schools,Grade 1,Grade 2,Grade 3,Grade 4,Interpersonal Competence,Program Effectiveness

A significant number of children in schools have mental health problems (World Health Organization, 2004). If children receive any type of mental health services, the vast majority receive these supports at school (Rones &amp; Hoagwood, 2000). Mental health needs in children often manifest as emotional dysregulation, social incompetence, and disruptive behaviors. In turn, emotional, social, and behavior problems of students are a significant concern to teachers. For instance, research has documented that 48% of teachers reported classroom behavior problems to be their largest concern in school (Walter, Gouze, &amp; Lim, 2006). In a recent survey of almost 300 teachers of early childhood and elementary aged children, 97% of teachers reported concerns with student behaviors in the past year and many requested additional training and supports in effective classroom management (Reinke, Stormont, Herman, Puri, &amp; Goel, 2011). Importantly, research has demonstrated that teacher classroom practices are linked to disruptive behavior and emotional regulation (Leflot van Lier, Onghena, Colpin, 2010). Furthermore, students in classrooms where behavior is poorly managed receive less academic instruction (Weinstein, 2007) and are more likely to have long-term negative academic, behavioral, and social outcomes than students in well-managed classrooms (Ialongo, Poduska, Werthamer, &amp; Kellam, 2001; Kellam, Ling, Merisca, Brown, &amp; Ialongo, 1998; National Research Council, 2002). Therefore, interventions that provide training to teachers in implementation of effective classroom management have the potential to improve teacher skills and outcomes for students. The &quot;Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management&quot; program (IY TCM) is a universal intervention delivered to teachers to increase their use of effective classroom management strategies. The program includes research based classroom management strategies that have been associated with increases in children's social emotional development, positive teacher-student interactions, as well as decreases in student problem behavior (Snyder et al., 2011; Webster-Stratton, Reid, &amp; Hammond, 2004). This study examined the efficacy of the IY TCM program in supporting teacher use of effective practices toward improving the behaviors and competence of elementary students in urban, low-income schools. Nine elementary schools from one large urban school district were partners in conducting this study. The participants included 105 K to 3rd grade teachers and their students N = 1818. The authors report that their findings suggest that the IY TCM is an effective universal preventative intervention for fostering effective classroom management practices and for promoting student competence. Teachers assigned to the IY TCM condition were more likely to implement higher ratios of proactive teaching strategies over the course of an academic year compared to teachers in a wait-list control condition. Likewise, students in intervention classrooms had higher levels of social and emotional competence by the end of the year than students in control classrooms.