Universal interventions are designed to systematically teach and reinforce consistent behavioral expectations. The purpose of this study was to provide an example of a group contingency classwide intervention called Anchor the Boat that operationally defined behavioral expectations, taught those expectations using teacher-directed instruction and role playing, and reinforced students when they met the behavioral criteria. Ten students attending a fourth- and fifth-grade learning-support classroom participated in the study. A multiple baseline design across three subject areas (i.e., reading, language arts, math) was used to evaluate the effects of the program on three target behaviors: talk outs, out of seat, and incomplete assignments. Following the classwide intervention, a substantial and steady decrease in level and rate was observed for talk-out behavior across all three classes. However, results for incomplete assignments and out-of-seat behavior are ambiguous and inconclusive.
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