- A field experiment was conducted to determine whether descriptivecorrelational results from classroom management research could be implemented by junior high school teachers and whether such implementation would result in improved classroom management. An experimental group (n = 18) received management materials and workshops while a control group did not. Resuits from the study indicated greater use by the experimental teachers of the recommended management behaviors and activities along with improved student classroom behavior during the first two months of the school year. However, observations made during the middle of the year did not detect significant effects, although the absence of differences may have been the result of differential attrition in the two groups. Improving junior high –1 Teaching effectiveness literature from the past 10 years suggests the importance of classroom conditions that depend directly.on the ability of teachers to organize and manage the classroom, including the productive use of class time (Borg, 1980; Frederick & Walberg, 1980), student attention to or ,involvement with learning activities, a goaloriented, structured classroom environment, and opportunities for students to interact with the teacher in instructional activities of appropriate difficulty levels (Bloom, 1976; Brophy, 1979; Fisher, Berliner, Filby, Marliave, Cahen, & Dishaw, 1980; Good, 1979; Medley, 1977; Rosenshine, 1979; Good, Note 1). Studies that afford a comprehensive picture of classroom management in typical school settings include Kounin’s (1970) well known study and large scale studies conducted by the Classroom Organization and Effective Teaching Project (now named the Classroom Learning and Teaching Program) at the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, the University of Texas at Austin. Kounin analyzed videotapes of 49 first and second grade classrooms and coded the behavior of selected children for work involvement and deviancy. He identified several dimensions of teacher management behavior that laid the groundwork for further classroom management research: Teacher withitnes3 (or awareness and prompt and accurate desistance of deviant student behaVior), smoothness and momentum during lesson presentations, group alerting and student accountability, and seatwork variety and challenge. Building upon Kounin’s work and related findings from teaching effectiveness research, Emmer, Evertson, and Anderson (1980) conducted a descriptive study of 28 elementary classrooms that included extensive observations starting on the first day of school and continuing throughImproving junior high –2 out the year. At the end of the study, identification of effective and less effective teachers (in terms of student behavior criteria, other teacher management criteria, and classroom achievement gains) and analysis of classroom data for these’ groups resulted in identification of effective classroom management strategies for establishing and maintaining good learning environments in elementary schools. Subsequently a large scale experimental study in grades one through six confirmed the importance of most of the variables identified in the descriptive study (Evertson, Emmer, Sanford, Clements, 5 Martin, in press). Junior High School Management Studies Relatively few longitudinal studies of classroom management in junior high grades have been conducted. One exception was a study by Moskowitz and Hayman (1976). This study compared management behaviors of “best” teachers (as nominated by students) and first year teachers in an inner-city junior high school. Classroom observations that began on the first day of school and continued periodically throughout the school year indicated that the two groups differed greatly on student off task behavior and that compared to first year teachers, best teachers used more orienting and climate setting behaviors at the beginnin of school, gave more academic reinforcement and encouragement, and were more effective in controlling and responding to student behavior. The direct precursor of the current experimental study was the Junior High-Classroom Organization Study (JHCOS) (Evertson & Emmer, 1982; Emmer, Note 2) which investigated classroom management and organization in seventh and eighth grade English and mathematics classes, using a variety of classroom observation data and outcome measures. A total of 51 teachers in 11 schools participated in theÂ
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