Classroom Management & the Power of
Positive Reinforcement: A How To Guide
Caroline Wallace
University of Southern Maine
Content

Classroom management

Guidelines for positive classrooms

Reinforcement & Ratios

Best practices for praise

Pulling it all together


Expectations
Teaching Teachers to Praise
Classroom management
You should create a setting
that is:
 Predictable
 Consistent
 Positive
 Promotes student
independent behavior
(reduce prompts)

Classroom behavior support
practices should be blended
with SW-PBS systems.

Classroom practices should
promote academic &
behavioral gains.
Key Tenets of Instruction
 Vary
modes of instruction
 Pacing
 Goals
 Opportunities
for student
response
 Student
feedback
Instruction influences behavior
Behavior is functionally
related to the teaching
environment.
 Continuum of
reinforcement
Environmental management
 “…Much teacher praise is
reactive to and under the
control of student
behavior rather than vice
versa.” (Brophy, 1981)
Establish clear
expectations
Expect good
behavior from all
students
Positive
Classrooms
Focus on positive
outcomes
Have procedures in
place
Establish a positive
environment

Begin each period with a celebration

Your 1st comment to a child establishes
behavioral momentum

Interact positively once every 5 minutes

Maintain strong praise/correction ratio

Provide multiple paths to success/praise
Establish multiple strategies
for acknowledging behavior
Appropriate:

Social, tangible,
activity, etc.

Frequent vs.
infrequent

Predictable vs.
unpredictable

Immediate vs. delayed
Examples of Positive
Consequences

Teacher praise


Demonstrations of teacher
approval
Contingent use of breaks,
privileges

Access to special activities

Points (leading to privileges
and rewards)

Contracts and token
economies

Menus (store, list of
reinforcers)

Mystery awards

Public recognition (classwide and school-wide)

Parent contact

Various combinations of
reinforcers
Establish strategies for
acknowledging behavior
Errors & corrections
 Contingent
 Specific
 Brief
Handling minors &
majors:
 Follow procedures
 Businesslike &
efficient
 Pre-correct for next
occurrence
 Look for an
opportunity to
reinforce
A refresher on behavior
Behavior is maintained by:
 Attention
 Access
to/escape from
activities or
tangibles
 Power/Control
Goals of Behavior
Belonging
Meaning
Social
competence is
reinforcing
3 C’s of Self-Esteem
R. J. Rethemver
Connected
Contributing
Capable
Praise

“Positive evaluations made by a
person of another’s products,
performances, or attributes, where the
attributor presumes the validity of the
standards on which the evaluation is
based.”

Complex social communication

Praise vs. Feedback
Types of praise
General
Students are given an
approval but the
behavior is not specified.

“Good job!”
Behavior Specific
Teacher specifically identifies
the behavior for which the
student is being praised.

“Jon, I like the way you are
sitting quietly and listening.”

Key Elements:

Name of student

Positive statement with
specifics
Praise is….
Instructional
(academically based)
Managerial (socially
based)
Evidentiary Support

As early as 1968, research has evidenced an
inverse relationship between teacher praise
& disruptive behavior of students.

1970s vs. 1990s

More praise for instructional than
managerial (Beaman & Wheldall, 1998)

Research supports consistent low rates of
praise in both general & special education
classrooms (Keller, Brady, & Taylor, 2005)
Evidentiary Support

Correlation between teacher praise and on-task
behavior of .63 (ages 5-7) and .41 (ages 7-11) (Swinson &
Harrop, 2001)

Praise increased student motivation, accuracy of
responding & task persistence. (Keller, Brady, & Taylor, 2005)

Levels of on-task behavior were significantly greater
when praise for behavior given, versus general praise.
(Chalk & Bizo, 2004)

Effective for all populations:



Students with emotional/behavioral disorders
College students
Schoolwide: Cascade Elementary School, Atlanta, GA
Praise Ratios
Gottman: research
conducted on positivenegative interactions in
marriages
 90%+ accuracy in
prediction rate
Hart & Risley: study on
interactions between
parents & children &
vocabulary & IQ
5 Positives to 1
Negative
Reflection
 What
is your ratio of positives to
negatives in your classroom?
 How
can you change the ratio?
Competing Thoughts

Keeping track of numbers can be tedious: How do I
remember and is there enough time in the day?

Many educators believe that students’ learning
should be maintained by natural consequences, not
artificial rewards.

Historically we praise intelligence because we believe
it fosters self-esteem.

Teachers may be already utilizing other systems.

Teachers are “reacting” to behavior vs. feeling in
control.
Success is a process…
Process vs. Person Praise
Process Praise
Person Praise
Strategy/effort-oriented
Trait-oriented
Acknowledges student for
what they have
accomplished through
practice, study,
persistence, & good
strategies
Focuses on student as a
whole or global traits
 Innate ability
Fixed vs. Growth Mindset
Fixed mindset
Growth mindset
Intelligence is a fixed trait
Intellectual ability is
developed through effort
& education
Seek tasks that prove their
intelligence & avoids
those that might not
Effort threatens their
status
Enjoys challenge
Effort is a positive thing!
Dweck et al. studies

Type of praise teaches students
to make inferences about their
ability vs. effort.

Students value performance vs.
learning opportunities.

Response to failure linked to
attributions of ability or effort.

Noted impacts on task
persistence, enjoyment,
performance, & reporting scores.
Examples
Process Praise
“It was a hard, long
assignment, but you
stuck to it and got it
done. You stayed at your
desk, kept up your
concentration, and kept
working. That’s great!”
Person Praise
“You got them all right.
You are really smart at
math!”
Best Practices for Praise
 Authentic
 Specific
 Contingent
 Individualized
 Varied
Authentic
Genuine,
efficient, and
effective
Positively stated
in a sincere tone
of voice
Specific
Specify explicitly what
positive behavior the
student has
performed
Clean
 Relates to specific
behavior, no
“buts”
Contingent
Delivered
immediately
after the target
behavior has
occurred
Individualized

Respect student’s preferences for public vs. private recognition

Culturally sensitive

Developmentally sensitive
Varied
Celebrate different contexts:
 Effort, progress, achievement, &
choices
 Diversity, similarity
Vary words used to avoid monotony
Include individual, group, and whole
class acknowledgment
A note about
mistakes
Students need to know
how to handle
constructive criticism
when they make
mistakes.
We all make mistakes!
 Embrace & capitalize
on mistakes
 Sharing supports
individual & group
confidence
Helpful
• “That was a great mistake. It really
helped us see what you don’t understand
yet.”
What
next?
• “Well, that didn’t work – what are some
strategies you could try now? “
Share
• “Class, who would like to share an
interesting mistake and tell us what they
learned from it?”
Pulling it all together
Become ego
architects
Focus on the behavior
People who fly
into a rage
always make a
bad landing.
The primary variable in the
classroom is the teacher.
Expectations
The only behavior in the
classroom that the teacher
can control is their own.
Treat everyone with respect:
 If you act like you don’t
like them, then it doesn’t
matter how much you like
them.
 If you act like you like
them, then whether you
like them at all becomes
irrelevant.
Considering expectations
Awareness of diverse students
Behaviors most often criticized are
successive approximations of desired
behaviors

In order to increase opportunities for
praise you may have to adjust
expectations, HOWEVER long-term it
will foster increased outcomes (Flora, 2000)
Consider
What student behavior
do you value?
How is the student’s
Is recognition
behavior acknowledged? benefitting student,
group, or whole class?
Strategies for increasing
praise
 Peer
coaching
 Self-evaluation
 Teach
students to
recruit teacher
praise
 Specific
strategies
Peer Coaching
Observing a colleague’s lesson & providing
feedback & assistance based on the
observation.
Conditions most useful:
 Structured observations using objective &
descriptive recordings of teacher behaviors
 Training peer coach to reliably code teacher
behaviors
 Debrief & set goals
Self-evaluation

Video-taping
instructional
behavior

Audiotape
instructional
language

Checklists
Self-assessment tool:
www.pbis.org
Teach students to
recruit praise
Direct instruction
on how, when, &
how often to ask
for help or show
work.
Strategies:
 Modeling
 Role-play
 Error correction
Strategies to consider
Personal
reminders
Tangibles
Involve
students
Scheduling
Case Example
Sutherland, Copeland, & Wehby (2000)

“Raise your hand when you are finished with your math practice and I will
collect your work; then I’d like you to get out your journal and begin writing
on today’s topic.” Mrs. Johnson waits by her desk and watches as her
students finish their math practice and transition into language arts.

Six minutes later James completes the last problem on his practice, checks
to make sure that his name is on his paper, and raises his hand. After
collecting two other students’ papers, Mrs. Johnson makes her way over to
James and takes his paper while observing Mike’s progress. James reaches
into his desk, removes his journal, and begins writing on today’s topic, “My
favorite meal is…” He writes two paragraphs and waits for his classmates to
finish.

After a couple of minutes he sees Mike, two rows over, asking a classmate
how to spell “spaghetti.” James jumps from his seat and makes his way to
Mike’s desk, saying “s – p – a – g…”

“James!” Mrs. Johnson is not happy. “Who gave you permission to get out
of your seat?”
Case Example continued

If Mrs. Johnson wanted to use praise more effectively,
1st she would determine what level of behavioral skills
James is able to exhibit.

Mastered: complete assignment, raise hand, begin
journal

Difficulty: during “down time” James has difficulty
sitting in his seat

(2) strategies:


Avoid “down time”
Catch James when he is in his seat “James, I like the way
you are sitting patiently.”
Final Thoughts
References

Beaman, R., & Wheldall, K. (2000). Teachers’ use of approval and disapproval in the classroom.
Educational Psychology, 20(4), 431-446.

Brophy, J. (1981). Teacher praise: a functional analysis. Review of Educational Research, 51, 5-32.

Burnett, P.C. (2001). Elementary students’ preferences for teacher praise. Journal of Classroom
Interaction, 36(1), 16-23.

Chalk, K. & Bizo, L.A. (2004). Specific praise improves on-task behavior and numeracy
enjoyment: A study of year four pupils engaged in the numeracy hour. Educational Psychology in
Practice, 20(4), 335-351.

Craft, M.A., Alber, S.R., & Hewardm W.L. (1998). Teaching elementary students with
developmental disabilities to recruit teacher attention in a general education classroom: Effects
on teacher praise and academic productivity. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 31(3), 399-415.

Dweck, C.S. (2007). The perils and problems of praise. Educational Leadership, 34-9.

Flora, S. R. (2000). Praise’s magic reinforcement ratio: five to one gets the job done. The Behavior
Analyst Today, I(4), 64-69.
References

Kamins, M.L. & Dweck, C.S. (1999). Person versus process praise and criticism:
Implications for contingent self-worth and coping. Developmental Psychology,
34(3),835-847.

Keller, C.L., Brady, M.P., & Taylor, R.L. (2005). Using self-evaluation to improve
student teacher interns’ use of specific praise. Education and Training in
Developmental Disabilities,40(4), 368-376.

Mueller, C.M. & Dweck, C.S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine
children’s motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
75(1), 33-52.

Selected information from Technical Assistance Center: www.pbis.org

Sutherland, K.S. & Wehby, J.H. (2001). The effect of self-evaluation of teaching
behavior in classrooms for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The
Journal of Special Education, 35(3), 161-171.

Sutherland, K.S., Wehby, J.H., & Copeland, S.R. (2000). Effect of varying rates of
behavior specific praise on the on-task behavior of students with EBD. Journal of
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 8(1), 2-8,26.