Project INDUCT: Positive Behavioral Support Interventions for New Diverse Urban Classroom Teachers

• In Event: 3-179 - Strengthening the Skills of Beginning Teachers: Novel Approaches to Teacher Training in Behavioral Classroom Management

Integrative Statement

Students with disabilities, including behavioral disorders, are increasingly served in general education classrooms (Cramer & Gallo, 2017; Snyder & Dillow, 2015). However, few teachers receive adequate training in effective classroom management and working with children with exceptionalities from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and many report feeling underprepared for the classrooms of today (Chesley & Jordan, 2012). Dealing with behavior problems is consistently reported as one of the most challenging issues teachers face in the classroom and has been linked to teacher attrition (Aloe, Amo, & Shanahan, 2014; Pearman, 2012). The purpose of this study was to develop and preliminarily evaluate via quasi-experimental design a preservice training curriculum designed to help prepare pre-service teachers to effectively work with challenging behaviors within their classrooms during and beyond their internships with a particular emphasis on urban schools and diverse learners.
Participants were 117 preservice teachers (95% female; 85% Hispanic/Latino) recruited from a university school of education who were enrolled in a required student teaching internship course. Participants in the Fall (Intervention group; n = 69) received the designed training curriculum in concert with their internship. The training curriculum developed incorporated materials from evidence-based teacher training series (e.g., The Incredible Years; Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Hammond, 2001) and well-established evidence-based practices for classroom management for children with disruptive behavior problems (Eyberg, Nelson, & Boggs, 2008; Evans, Owens, & Bunford, 2013; Wilson & Lipsey, 2007). The curriculum included a training day (8 hours) at the beginning of the semester before students began their student teaching internship; a second training day (8 hours) held mid-way through the semester; and a final training day (8 hours) held at the end of the semester. Participants in the Spring (Comparison group; n=48) did not receive the training curriculum in concert with their internship. All participants completed pre- and post-questionnaires, which included measures assessing teachers’ knowledge of effective classroom management principles (Mixon et al., 2014) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Kos et al., 2004), as well as measures of teacher self-efficacy (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Measures of training satisfaction were also collected to inform program acceptability.
As shown in Table 1, there was a significant difference in classroom management knowledge, ADHD knowledge, and self-efficacy scores for the intervention group from pre-post with moderate to large effect sizes. Additionally, as represented in Table 2, ANOVA analyses revealed significant group differences for both knowledge scales post-intervention, indicating that the intervention group performed with significantly more accuracy than the business-as-usual comparison group, with moderate to large effect sizes. In terms of program acceptability, 96% of participants found the strategies appropriate for changing students’ behavior problems, 83% of participants would recommend the program to their colleagues, and 95% and 97% of participants felt confident to manage the current and future behavior problems in their classroom, respectively.
The results of this study demonstrate promise in this model of preservice training on indicators related to later job satisfaction. The implications of these results for preservice teacher training, as well as suggestions for future research, will be discussed.

Authors

• Katie Hart, Florida International University
  Presenting Author

• Bridget Poznanski, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Cramer, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Author