Cooperative Behavior Management: Strategies for Promoting a Positive Classroom Environment

Abstract

Public school students with mild mental retardation and severely disruptive classroom behaviors participated in an intervention intended to promote cooperative behavior management, in which an ABAB’ design was used to monitor treatment effectiveness. After one week of baseline, a cooperative behavior manage-ment strategy was implemented. This strategy consisted of dividing the class into two teams, and rewarding members of the team that had exhibited the highest level of appropriate classroom behavior. The intervention was found to be effective in reducing inappropriate behavior for all but one student. Following a second baseline condition, a variation of the first intervention was employed, in which individuals as well as teams were reinforced, and direct prompting was provided to a target student. Results indicated that both interven-tion conditions were successful in decreasing inappropriate behavior for the class, and the second interven-tion condition facilitated appropriate behavior of all students. Implications for classroom practice are provided.