Robert A. Gable

REACH: A Framework for Differentiating Classroom Instruction.

Today, teachers are responsible not only for meeting the diverse needs of all students but also for ensuring improved educational outcomes. Accordingly, school personnel are seeking proven ways to strengthen traditional classroom practices. Beginning with the plight of two teachers—one general and one special education—the authors offer a rationale for differentiating instruction. Then they review the literature on differentiated instruction, highlighting the myths, models, and evidence to support it. The authors draw on the accumulated research to provide a framework for differentiating instruction. Using REACH as a mnemonic, the framework they developed includes a comprehensive inventory and several practical strategies for using it. They revisit the case vignette to illustrate the application of the REACH framework.

Back to Basics: Rules, Praise, Ignoring, and Reprimands Revisited

Research begun in the 1960s provided the impetus for teacher educators to urge classroom teachers to establish classroom rules, deliver high rates of verbal/nonverbal praise, and, whenever possible, to ignore minor student provocations. In that there have been significant advances in the knowledge of what constitutes effective classroom management, a review of past-to-present literature was conducted to determine whether it is time to alter the thinking about one or more of these basic behavioral strategies. The research conducted over the years supports the basic tenets of these strategies, but with some important caveats. Finally, there are several newer strategies that warrant attention.

Cyberbullying: Prevention and Intervention to Protect Our Children and Youth

Bullying has long been of concern to school officials and parents alike. Bullying, which is a type of aggressive behavior, has now entered the electronic age in the form of cyberbullying (e.g., e-mails, text messages, profile sites). Cyberbullying is especially insidious because it affords a measure of anonymity and the opportunity to reach a much larger number of victims without a significant threat of punishment. In this article, the authors discuss efforts to combat cyberbullying that include prevention and intervention programs at the community, school, and family levels. The authors point out that the majority of U.S. states have written legislation to address bullying and cyberbullying and that many schools have established policies that prohibit electronic bullying and developed consequences for doing so. Last, the authors discuss a number of antibullying curricula and mediated programs, software packages, and intervention strategies for the school and home designed to help protect children and adolescents from being targets of cyberbullying.

An Examination of School Climate in Effective Alternative Programs

The alternative education field lacks a common definition and has a major divide between the differing philosophies of alternative programs; little empirical evidence is available to identify the components necessary to create effective alternative educational programs. Tremendous growth in the availability of alternative programs in the United States over the past several decades, however, illustrates continuing demand for such programs as well as the need for research on the characteristics that constitute effective alternative programs. In this article, the authors study exemplary alternative programs in 3 racially and economically diverse communities to characterize the school climate as viewed by the students and the staff. At this relatively early stage in the field of alternative education, it is essential to examine the similarities, as well as any differences, in the social climate of highly effective alternative programs and to consider their potential relationship with student academic and behavioral success. Furthermore, it is important to recognize how these findings might be one foundation for future inquiry and research on alternative education.

Middle and High School Students' Perceptions on Being Friends with Peers with Severe Disabilities

A survey on friendships with peers with severe disabilities of 1,137 middle and high school students was conducted across three states. Students indicated that they should try to make friends with peers with severe disabilities and that friendships are most likely to develop when students with disabilities are educated in general education classes, for all or part of the school day. Students perceived themselves, special education teachers, and youth organizations as primarily responsible for facilitating these friendships, and that effective strategies involve learning situations in which students work together, teachers present information on disabilities, and teachers and parents arrange social events for all students.

A Comparison of Teacher Approval and Disapproval Statements across Categories of Exceptionality.

Researchers have long sought to identify teaching acts that have a predictable effect on learner performance. The contingent use of teacher praise is well documented for its positive influence on the social behavior of handicapped youngsters. However, results of the present study indicate that teachers of the mentally retarded, multihandicapped and learning disabled and/or behavior disordered make limited use of praise over criticism in managing classroom behavior. Even though the technology exists for training selected teacher competencies, e.g., use of contingent praise, it would appear that problems remain in connection with maintaining these skills in applied settings.

A Critical Analysis of Functional Assessment: Issues for Researchers and Practitioners.

This article addresses the use of an analytical approach to making treatment decisions known as functional assessment. The usefulness of functional assessment with students with emotional/behavioral disorders is predicated on the assumption that the effectiveness of treatment increases if it matches the function of the target behavior(s). Discussion covers both indirect and direct measures of the relationship between the target behavior and variables that may be maintaining the behavior. Strategies for selecting and verifying hypothesis-driven treatment decisions are presented. In that the accumulated research has failed to dislodge some stumbling blocks to the use of functional assessment, several methodological solutions are offered for researchers and practitioners.

Warning Signs of Problems in Schools: Ecological Perspectives and Effective Practices for Combating School Aggression and Violence.

SUMMARY One need not look hard to find evidence of concern related to the nature of student behavior in our schools. School violence, aggression, bullying, and harassment (e.g., racial or sexual) are often cited as challenging behaviors confronting educators and community leaders. Unfortunately, most schools address these concerns with aversive consequences delivered to individual perpetrators in a hope of reducing the future probability of undesired behavior. A growing body of literature identifies the need to explore the social context of behavior. The community, school, classroom, family, and peer group interact with student characteristics to help prevent, support the development of, and even exacerbate the display of both desired and undesired behavior. This article applies the logic of warning signs and functional behavioral assessment to schools as it explores the social context of the school and the classroom. The school-wide and classroom-based factors that have been associated with or found to support problem behaviors are discussed. Information is provided that will allow educators to assess their own schools and classrooms in an effort to promote a climate that will aid in the prevention of violence and aggression.

Programs for Children and Adolescents With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in the United States: A Historical Overview, Current Perspectives, and Future Directions

In this article, the authors briefly review the historical development and current status of services for students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) in the United States. Drawing upon that review, the authors examine disproportionality and personnel shortages and discuss present and future options for better serving this challenging population of children and youth.

Forty Years Later —The Value of Praise, Ignoring, and Rules for Preschoolers at Risk for Behavior Disorders

The pivotal role of teachers in establishing positive, supportive, inclusive learning environments based on the implementation of empirically-supported teaching strategies (IDEA, 1997, 2004: NCLB, 2002) is uncontestable. Nonetheless, it is not uncommon to find classrooms characterized by teacher reprimands for inappropriate behavior, coercive interchanges between teachers and children, and limited use of positive teacher feedback. This suggests a need for teachers to implement scientifically supported strategies for promoting positive social and academic growth of young children at risk for behavioral disorders. In the context of a multi-tiered approach to positive behavior supports, we decided to revisit three classroom-level interventions strategies for which there is longitudinal evidence regarding their efficacy—namely, praise, planned ignoring, and classroom rules. Each is discussed, along with guidelines for use by classroom teachers with the goal to improve teacher-child relationships, build positive learning communities, and manage difficult behaviors.