Use of Coaching and Behavior Support Planning for Students with Disruptive Behavior within a Universal Classroom Management Program

Introduction:  Disruptive behavior in the classroom takes time away from instruction, and disrupts student academic and social growth, making effective behavior management vital to student learning and emotional health. Despite growing numbers of efficacious school-based social behavioral prevention programs, many of these programs are never implemented in schools, limiting progress toward achieving socially important outcomes (Fixen, Blasé, Duda, Naoom, & Vyke, 2010).  As such, attention has shifted to understanding the processes and infrastructure needed to support implementation of evidence-based practices (Capella, Reinke, & Hoagwood, 2011). 

The complexities teachers face in providing effective practices with diverse learners requires evidence-based classroom management training programs that are adaptive to the unique challenges faced by teachers.  This study capitalizes upon an efficacy trial of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program (IY TCM). IY TCM provides ongoing coaching to support the applications of skills learned through the IY TCM workshops into classrooms.  Although a universal intervention, the program recognizes that some students will need additional supports, and thus includes coaching to teachers in implementing student behavior support plans as needed. In this study, we describe the use of coaching within the IY TCM model to support teacher implementation of both universal skills and behavior support plans for students with elevated levels of disruptive behaviors.

Method: Fifty-two elementary school teachers trained in the IY TCM intervention from nine urban schools serving primarily African American (76%) students participated in this study. Most teachers were female (94%), and White (75%).  Implementation of proactive classroom management was measured.  In addition, a subsample of students with elevated disruptive behavior problems who were in intervention classrooms and either received a behavior support plan (n=23) or did not (n=23) were utilized to evaluate student outcomes in relation to coach supported student behavior plans.

 Results: The amount of coaching and coach use of performance feedback were associated with differential implementation of proactive management practices among teachers.  Further, results of paired sample t-tests for students receiving behavior support plans indicated significant improvement on teacher reported disruptive behaviors, observed disruptive behaviors, and teacher reported prosocial behaviors. No pre-post changes were found on student outcomes for the matched comparison group.

 Discussion: The importance of coaching as a support system for enhancing implementation quality of classroom-based preventive interventions will be discussed.  Further, the dynamic process by which coaches provide support to teachers and the associated complexities will be highlighted.