Scaling-out Good Behavior Game: The Development and Implementation of Web-Based Training and Support to Teachers

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) targets aggressive, disruptive behavior, an antecedent risk factor for school failure and other deleterious outcomes such as violence, and has shown positive effects in randomized field trials. A challenge to scaling-out GBG and other school-based prevention programs into new contexts is developing efficient delivery systems, e.g. training and support, while ensuring that a high quality of implementation is maintained over time. Technology offers solutions to address this challenge. In this NIDA-funded study, web-based technology was employed to address needs identified by our practice partners, including increasing the reach of training in settings where on-site training is not feasible (e.g., rural areas; cash-strapped districts) and providing teachers self-phased learning activities and resources for independent reflection that can be matched to teachers’ needs and aligned with teachers’ learning styles.

Methods: An iterative process was used to develop a web-based model of training and support for teachers. Twenty teachers received eight modules over the course of a school year. The modules were comprised of an array of activities including Webinars, homework assignments, and group coaching conversations. Some activities were real time and group-based; for others, teachers proceeded at their own pace. Mixed-methods were employed to understand implementation.

Measures: Teachers’ reported on the quality, usability, and applicability of each module and on their self-efficacy to apply the information to GBG implementation. Teachers’ implementation was monitored using web-based analytics, e.g., electronic records of who signed into online sessions and accessed archives and through their uploaded self-reflection journals, homework, and audio tapes. Classroom observations provided information on teacher practices and student outcomes.

Results: Teacher found the web-based training offered convenience, flexibility, and individualized support. Classroom observations showed that teachers implemented GBG at a level of quality similar to when training was delivered on-site and in-person. Teachers’ varied in their self-efficacy with technology. These findings add to a burgeoning research base and suggest that Web-based training has the potential to further the reach of GBG and other school-based interventions more quickly than in-person options alone.

Funding: This research was supported by a grant awarded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health through Grant R21 DA034782 to the American Institutes of Research. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the National Institutes of Health.