Using Public Posting and Group Consequences to Manage Student Behavior during Supervision

The effect of response cost and public posting as a group contingency procedure to reduce the number of inappropriate behaviors of an entire elementary school population during teacher supervision times was examined. Specific misbehaviors that represented breach of established school rules were counted. Each class was given 10 points per day during the intervention and a student who displayed an inappropriate behavior lost a point for his or her class. Winning classes were those that had accumulated 45 or more points at the end of each week. A multiple baseline design was used across the primary and intermediate grade levels of the school to assess the effects of the intervention. The results indicated that the number of inappropriate behaviors was reduced when each negative behavior resulted in point loss to an individual’s class. This procedure was cost and time efficient, used available school personnel, and was effective in reducing inappropriate student behaviors during supervision times.