Renée E. Lastrapes

Using the Good Behavior Game in an Inclusive Classroom.

Students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) are being included to a greater degree in the general education classroom. Due to the least restrictive environment mandate in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, more students with EBD are being taught in inclusive settings. As a result, general education teachers need a variety of behavior management techniques in their toolbox to effectively instruct all of their students. This adaptation of the Good Behavior Game is an interdependent group-contingency technique that helps manage classroom behavior and integrate students with EBD into the general education class. It can be used as a way for special and general educators to collaborate successfully in general education inclusive classrooms.

The Benchmarking Capacity of a General Outcome Measure of Academic Language in Science and Social Studies

The amount of research evaluating the technical merits of general outcome measures of science and social studies achievement is growing. This study targeted criterion validity for critical content monitoring. Questions addressed the concurrent criterion validity of alternate presentation formats of critical content monitoring and the measure’s predictive validity. Participants were fifth-grade students (N = 51) who completed five different forms of critical content monitoring probes as well as oral reading fluency and maze probes over three benchmarking periods. Criterion measures were the science and social studies subtests of the online abbreviated Stanford Achievement Test–10th edition. Concurrent correlation magnitudes for critical content monitoring ranged from .47 to .60. Predictive correlations for fall and winter ranged from .23 to .64. In three of four cases, commonality analyses findings favored critical content monitoring over oral reading fluency and maze as benchmarking choices. Study limitations and benchmark assessment framework implications are discussed.

Replicating Criterion Validity in Science Content for the Combination of Critical Content Monitoring and Sentence Verification Technique

The purpose of the research was to replicate commonality analysis for two measures: critical content monitoring and sentence verification technique. Participants were 967 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students across seven public primary schools in a southeastern U.S. district. The predictor variables were administered as benchmarks 3 times in an academic year. Predictor scores were compared with science content test and reading comprehension scores from the Stanford Achievement Test–Tenth Edition abbreviated online form and a statewide accountability test. Commonality analysis results indicated that scores from both critical content monitoring and sentence verification technique added unique variance to explanatory models, replicating previous findings. In most cases, critical content monitoring scores provided the greatest percentage of unique and common variance to model explanations.

Evaluating increased effort for item disposal to improve recycling at a university

An evaluation of increased response effort to dispose of items was conducted to improve recycling at a university. Signs prompting individuals to recycle and notifying them of the location of trash and recycling receptacles were posted in each phase. During the intervention, trashcans were removed from the classrooms, and one large trashcan was available in the hallway next to the recycling receptacles. Results showed that correct recycling increased, and trash left in classrooms increased initially during the second intervention phase before returning to baseline levels.

How to Meaningfully Incorporate Co-teaching Into Programs for Middle School Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders:

With the number of students with emotional or behavioral disorders who are being served in the general education classroom increasing, co-teaching has become a more common practice than ever before. Through the use of a hypothetical journey of a special educator placed in a co-teaching situation without prior experience, we provide practitioners with the context and rationale for implementing co-teaching effectively in combination with the incorporation of research-based instructional practices in an inclusion classroom.

Let Us Play: Using Research-Based Games to Facilitate Effective Instruction

While it is evident that teachers need to be proficient in academic instruction, the inclusion of more students with disabilities in general education classrooms warrants proficiency in management for both general and special educators. The most stressful part of teachers’ jobs often involves issues arising from students who exhibit challenging behaviors (Allday, Neilsen-Gatti, & Hudson, 2013). Currently, 44% of students receiving special education with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) spend more than 80% of their day in a general education classroom (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). With more students with challenging behaviors entering general education classrooms, it is crucial that both general and special education teachers are aware of research-based strategies that (a) promote effective academic instruction and (b) manage and encourage appropriate behavior. Rosenshine (2012) has identified 10 research-based instructional strategies that teachers can use to foster effective instruction. These practices include (a) beginning a lesson with review, (b) presenting new material in small steps and providing opportunities for practice after each step, (c) asking many questions of all students, (d) providing models, (e) providing guided practice, (f) checking for student understanding, (g) obtaining a high success rate, (h) scaffolding difficult tasks, (i) monitoring independent practice for all material taught, and (j) reviewing and assessing weekly and monthly. Many of these strategies can be difficult to implement if students are demonstrating inappropriate or disruptive behaviors. How a teacher responds to negative behaviors when they arise is very important. If, for example, teachers frequently react to students’ negative behaviors while largely ignoring positive behaviors, they may actually reinforce and increase the likelihood of future negative behaviors (Mooney, Ryan, Gunter, & Denny, 2012; Sutherland & Oswald, 2005). Systematically responding to positive behaviors, through either behavior-specific praise or methods that increase students’ abilities to successfully respond to academic questioning, is an approach that can positively impact the academic learning environments for students with EBD (Gunter, Hummell, & Conroy, 1998; Landrum & Sweigart, 2014). These instructional tactics foster implementation of Rosenshine’s (2012) research-based teaching practices. One way to increase student academic engagement is the utilization of games, which can increase the interest of all students (Clarke et al., 1995). Games can be appealing, challenging, and interactive. When participants are provided a structured platform in which to interact, they learn better from interacting with the activity rather than just reading or hearing information (Allery, 2014). Researchbased games combined with behaviorspecific praise are strategies teachers can use to make their instruction more engaging for students with EBD, which leads to improved behavior and academic outcomes (Clarke et al., 1995). Four games—the Good Behavior Game, the Teacher–Student Learning Game, the Caught Being Good Game, and Tootling—are described in the literature as useful tools for teachers to promote engaging classroom environments for students with EBD. These games can be useful to teachers during whole class or direct instruction, independent practice activities, or cooperative work.

Conceptual Replications of the Critical Content Monitoring General Outcome Measure in Science Content

We conducted conceptual replications for an online-administered general outcome measure known as critical content monitoring in science. Totally, 547 Grades 4 to 6 students from a rural Louisiana school district participated. Research questions addressed criterion validity, diagnostic accuracy, growth, and social validity concerns. Criterion measures included science and reading/literacy subtests from a state accountability test and a nationally standardized test. Findings indicated moderate to strong concurrent and predictive criterion validity correlations for the overall scores, fair diagnostic accuracy statistics for fall and winter and moderate for spring benchmark scores, variable growth scores across grades, and favorable social validity comments from teachers. Study limitations were listed. Research and practice implications were discussed.