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Effects of Professional Development Training on New Teachers and Their Students

Sat, March 23, 2:30 to 4:00pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 3, Room 332

Integrative Statement

Introduction: It is well-documented that child aggressive/disruptive behavior in early elementary school years predicts later mental health and behavioral problems and lower educational and occupational attainment (Dubow et al., 2009). Additionally, classroom disruptive behavior has been shown to negatively impact subsequent child aggression (Thomas et al., 2008). Extant literature suggests at least a moderate-sized effect of teacher training in classroom management on a range of student outcomes (Bradshaw et al., 2009; Ialongo et al., 2006). Yet few newly-degreed/novice teachers (i.e., those within 3 years of entering teaching) have received training in classroom management (Kaine et al., 2006).
Method: This study sought to test the impacts of two integrated evidence-based programs on new teachers: Good Behavior Game (GBG; Kellam et al., 1994) classroom management program and MyTeachingPartner (MTP; Pianta et al., 2002) to promote relationship-based engagement of students. The resulting integrated preventive intervention (i.e., GBG+MTP) was tested in 188 new teachers in grades K-3 from 72 urban schools using a randomized controlled trial design. The majority of teachers were female (94%) and White (76%), and 23% had a master’s degree. Approximately 61.6% of students were Black, 17.3% were Latinx, and 11.0% were White; 51% of students were female and 52% received free or reduced price lunch.
Results: Linear regression analyses tested impacts of GBG+MTP on classroom-level means on five student outcomes at post-test (i.e., disruptive behavior, off-task behavior, compliance, reading, and math). All models controlled for corresponding pre-test (baseline) scores, and teacher and student demographics. Across all 5 outcomes, there was a pattern of statistically significant effects (in one case, a marginally significant effect) for the 3-way interaction of intervention condition with baseline teacher distress and baseline classroom socially disruptive behavior. Specifically, the GBG+MTP intervention effects were largely limited to classrooms that were above average in disruptive behavior at baseline and had teachers who expressed high distress about teaching at baseline. The three-way interaction of intervention condition, baseline teacher distress, and baseline student socially disruptive behavior significantly predicted relative pre- to post-test growth in student socially disruptive behavior (B = -.57, p < .001), off-task behavior (B = -.38, p = .03), compliance (B = .34, p = .02), and math achievement (B = .09, p = .05), and relative growth in reading achievement (B = .09, p = .05). Further exploration of these 3-way interactions suggested that GBG+MTP had a protective effect in “higher risk” classrooms, helping highly distressed teachers facing highly disruptive classrooms to improve behavior more than those in control classrooms.
Conclusions: These findings suggest a positive impact of GBG+MTP on novice teachers’ students, with the effects strongest for those in more challenging classrooms. Specifically, the results suggested the intervention protects highly distressed teachers entering highly disruptive classrooms, compared to the worsening classroom behavior observed in the control classrooms across the school year. Implications of these findings for future research, as well as further exploration of the sustained impacts for subsequent cohorts of students entering these trained teachers’ classrooms, will be discussed.

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