Open Access Peer-reviewed Commentary

The improbable challenge of managing students’ challenging behaviors in schools: Professional reflections from a 30 year career

Main Article Content

John W. Maag corresponding author

Abstract

Managing students’ challenging behaviors is one of the most difficult tasks teachers face.  Many teachers, during their training, were never required to take a class in behavior management.  Consequently, it does not come naturally for teachers to manage students’ challenging behaviors and will be rarely be effectively addressed for two reasons: (1) certain teacher characteristics regarding behavior management and (2) some dimensions of school culture.  The philosophical linchpin is not an inability of teachers to learn effective behavior management techniques, but rather what they believeabout the process.  This article addresses teacher and school variables and offers alternative ideas about managing students’ behaviors more effectively.

Keywords
students’ challenging behaviors, behavior management

Article Details

How to Cite
Maag, J. (2020). The improbable challenge of managing students’ challenging behaviors in schools: Professional reflections from a 30 year career. Advances in Educational Research and Evaluation, 2(1), 93-100. https://doi.org/10.25082/AERE.2021.01.001

References

  1. Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education. Report on the teacher needs survey. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, Center for Psychology in the Schools and Education. 2006.
  2. Gaudreau N, Royer E, Frenette E, et al. Classroom behaviour management: The effects of in-service training on elementary teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. McGill Journal of Education, 2013, 48(2): 359-382. https://doi.org/10.7202/1020976ar
  3. Martin A, Linfoot K and Stephenson J. How teachers respond to concerns about misbehavior in their classroom. Psychology in the Schools, 1999, 36(4): 347-358. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6807(199907)36:4h347::AID-PITS7i3.0.CO;2-G
  4. Skinner ME and Hales MR. Classroom teachers’ explanations of student behavior: One possible barrier to the acceptance and use of applied behavior analysis procedures in schools. Journal of Educational & Psychological Consultation, 1992, 3(3): 219-232. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532768xjepc0303_2
  5. Dobbins N, Higgins K, Pierce T, et al. An analysis of social skills instruction provided in teacher education and inservice training programs for general and special educators. Remedial and Special Education, 2010, 31(5): 358-367. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932509338363
  6. Romer N, Green AL and Cox KE. Educator perceptions of preparedness and professional development for implementation of evidence-based practices within a multi-tiered system of supports. School Mental Health: A Multidisciplinary Research and Practice Journal, 2018, 10: 122-133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-017-9234-3
  7. Vollmer LE, Gettinger M and Begeny JC. Training preservice general education teachers in response to intervention: A survey of teacher educators throughout the United States. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 2019, 35(2): 122- 145. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377903.2018.1528488
  8. Maag JW. Behavior management: From theoretical implications to practical applications (3rd). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. 2018.
  9. Maag JW. Rewarded by punishment: Reflections on the disuse of positive reinforcement in schools. Exceptional Children, 2001, 67(2): 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440290106700203
  10. Kohn A. Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A’s, praise, and other bribes. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1995.
  11. Maag JW. School-wide discipline and the intransigency of exclusion. Children and Youth Services Review, 2012, 34(10): 2094-2100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.07.005
  12. Axelrod S. What’s wrong with behavior analysis? Journal of Behavioral Education, 1996, 6: 247-256. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02110126
  13. Maag JW. Challenging classroom behaviors: Overcoming resistance through uniquely audacious interventions. Port Chester, NY: Dude Publishing. 2012.
  14. Bandura A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 1977, 84(2): 191-215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
  15. Lee SY and Min J. The profiles of creative potential and personality characteristics of adult professionals. Creativity Research Journal, 2016, 28(3): 298-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2016.1195634
  16. Kokkinos CM. Job stressors, personality and burnout in primary school teachers. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2007, 77(1): 229-243. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709905X90344
  17. C¸ akiro´glu ´’U, Akkan Y and G´’uven B. Analyzing the effect of web-based instruction applications to school culture within technology integration. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 2012, 12: 1043-1048.
  18. Gruenert S. School culture, school climate: They are not the same thing. Principal, 2008, 56-59. http://www.naesp.org/resources/2/Principal/2008/M-Ap56.pdf
  19. School Climate Council. The school climate challenge: Narrowing the gap between school climate research and school climate policy, practice guidelines and teacher education policy. 2007. http://schoolclimate.org/climate/documents/school-climate-challenge.pdf
  20. Simonsen B, Sugai G and Negron M. Schoolwide positive behavior support: Primary systems and practices Teaching Exceptional Children, 2008, 40(6): 32-40. https://doi.org/10.1177/004005990804000604
  21. Aronson E, Wilson TD, Akert RM, et al. Social psychology (9th edition).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. 2015.
  22. Milgram S. Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1963, 67(4): 371-378. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040525