What are Effective Classroom Behavior Management Practices to Reduce Disruptive Behavior of Middle School Students?

School-Based Interventions for Middle School Students With Disruptive Behaviors: A Systematic Review of Components and Methodology. Middle school students are more likely than elementary or high school students to be disruptive (Erikson & Gresham, 2019).  This presents difficult problems for classroom teachers trying to provide instruction and maintain order in the classroom.  It has been estimated that 2.5 hours per week are lost to disruptive behavior each week (Education Advisory Board, 2019).  This level of disruptive also contributes to teacher turnover with 39% of teachers reporting that disruptive behavior was one of the primary reasons for resigning (Bettini et al., 2020).  To address challenges presented by middle school students, Alperin and colleagues (2021) completed a systematic review to identify programs that had a positive effect on disruptive behavior and the characteristics of those programs.  They identified 51 studies that met their inclusion criteria.  Of those 51 studies, 40 of them specified the function of behavior (gain attention or escape demands) that the program addressed; 16 of the studies included a home-based component with 7 of the studies providing parent training; 22 of the interventions had a manual guiding the implementation of the intervention; and encouragingly, 42 of the studies assessed intervention implementation.  Effect sizes for seven of the studies were computed for intervention that involved class-wide intervention strategies.  The effects ranged from small to large across the studies.  Fourteen of the studies evaluated skill acquisition for small groups or individuals and the effect sizes again ranged from small to large.  Seven of the studies evaluated reinforcement strategies for reinforcement-based interventions for small groups or individuals and reported effect sizes that ranged from small to large.  Two studies evaluated interventions for escape from demands for small groups or individuals.  Both of these studies reported large effect sizes.  The data from this study are important as they can provide guidance to educators seeking to reduce disruptive behavior of middle school students.  Ultimately, the educators will have to consider the contextual fit for each of these interventions for the settings in which they work.  This study narrows the range of options to those that have some demonstrated level of effectiveness rather than leaving the educator to choose from all available options.

Citation: Alperin, A., Reddy, L. A., Glover, T. A., Bronstein, B., Wiggs, N. B., & Dudek, C. M. (2021). School-Based Interventions for Middle School Students With Disruptive Behaviors: A Systematic Review of Components and Methodology. School Psychology Review, 1-26.

Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1883996