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Background
•Approximately 9.1% of U.S. elementary
students have been diagnosed with a behavior
or conduct disorder (Ghandour et al., 2018)
•
SAMHSA (2013) estimates an addition 20% of
students experiencing subthreshold
symptomology of any mental health condition.
•These students are more likely to exhibit
inappropriate classroom behavior, requiring
teacher intervention in comparison to their
classmates (Waschbush et al., 2015)
•Nearly 90% of teachers report educating
students with behavioral concerns; a majority
of teachers reporting an overall increase in
disruptive behavior (Scholastic, 2013)
•Teachers estimate spending an average of 2.4
hours per week, or 14.5 school days per year
managing disruptive behaviors.
•However, currently no observational data are
available to provide an estimate of the time
spent and related costs of classroom behavior
management (EAB, 2019).
•
Such data would provide vital comparison data
for the economic evaluation of teaching
practices, which has direct relevance for
school districts with limited budgets and the
Department of Education
Method
Participants
Inclusion Criteria
•Participants were referred by their teachers if they
had one more more persistent problem behaviors
that inferred with classroom functioning;
diagnosis or Special Education classification was
not required
Observation/Coding Procedures
•Trained observers completed 30-minute
observations that consisted of a 20-second partial-
interval recording procedure to capture teacher
behavior management strategies directed toward
target child were recorded and later coded:
Analysis
•Only baseline observations from the larger study
were used in the present analysis
•Data averages from the National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES) were utilized:
•21.6 students per classroom (2012)
•4.28 hours of core instruction per day (2017)
(178.4 annual school days (2018)
•186.3 teacher contract days (NCES, 2010
•$58,890 average teacher salary ($39.55 per
hour; 2017)
Implications
•This is the first study to use observational data to
estimate the time and cost of teacher’s baseline
behavior management strategies in the classroom.
•Teachers report time to implement is among the most
frequent barriers to intervention implementation
(Bambara et al., 2009).
•Present results may be beneficial for interventionists
and researchers as a baseline estimates to guide
intervention development in terms of time and cost.
•Data may benefit practitioners in “selling” an
intervention to teachers as a time-savings
•Similarly, when proposing a classroom management
system, present data may be beneficial in convincing
administrators up-front costs can be recovered through
additional instructional time.
•Limitations
•The 3-seconds of disruption per occurrence was
chosen arbitrarily, empirical work to derive a more
accurate estimate is needed.
•Present results do not include non-referred
students, and therefore represent an underestimate
for any classroom-wide comparisons.
•Data were collected in rural Midwestern classrooms
and may not generalize to other regions.
Results
Behavior Management Strategies
•Teachers averaged 8.6 behavioral strategies
across 90 intervals:
•Positive Attention: M= 2.7
•Negative Attention: M= 2.5
•Reductive Techniques: M = 1.8
•Effective Commands: M= 1.5
•Tangibles: M = 0.1
Extrapolation Across Core
Instruction
•73.62 strategies daily
•13,134 strategies per student each year
•Assuming 3 seconds of disruption per
occurrence, teachers spend 10.95 hours
responding to a single referred child’s behavior
each year, or $433.11 per referred student.
Extrapolation in the Classroom
•Accounting for average class size (21.6
students) and percentage of students exhibiting
behavioral difficulties (20%):
•Teachers spend a total of 47.26 hours
responding to student behavior
•Baseline behavior management practices
are therefore estimated to cost $1,871.02
per classroom every year year
•Nationally, classroom behavior management
exceeds $2 billion for students exhibiting
subthreshold symptomology
Purpose
•The purpose of this study is to provide an
estimate of teacher time spent in behavior
management activities for students with
challenging behaviors based on direct
classroom behavior observations and provide
an estimated annual cost of these activities
The Time and Cost of Classroom Behavior Management
Matthew J. Gormley, Ph.D., Rebecca A. Overfield, M.A., Cassidy Spradlin, M.A.,
Lauren Scanlan, M.A., & Susan M. Sheridan, PhD.
Student
•n = 186
•Mean age = 6.9
•75% male
•81% Caucasian
Teacher
•Mean age = 41.2
years
•97% female
•100% Caucasian
•Mean experience
= 15.3 years
References
•Bambara, L. M., Nonnemacher, S., & Kern, L. (2009). Sustaining school-based individualized positive
behavior support: Perceived barriers and enableres. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 11, 161-176.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300708330878
•EAB District Leadership Forum (2019). Breaking bad behavior: The rise of classroom disruptions in early
grades and how districts are responding. EAB Global Inc. https://pages.eab.com/rs/732-GKV-
655/images/BreakingBadBehaviorStudy.pdf
•Ghandour, R. M., Sherman, L. J., Vladutiu, C. J., Ali, M. M., Lynch, S. E., Bitsko, R. H., & Blumberg, S. J.
(2019). Prevalence and treatment of depression, anxiety, and conduct problems in US children. Journal of
Pediatrics, 206, 256-267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.021
•Hollands, F. M. & Levin, H. M. (2017). The critical importance of costs for education decisions. National
Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/REL_2017274/pdf/REL_2017274.pdf
•Levin, H. M., McEwan, P. J., Belfield, C. R., Bowden, A. B., & Shand, R. D. (2017). Economic evaluation in
education: Cost effectiveness and benefit-cost analysis (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
•National Center for Education Statistics (2010). An evaluation of the data from the Teacher Compensation
Survey: School Year 2006-07. https://neces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010329.pdf
•National Center for Education Statistics (2012). Schools and Staffing Survey.
https://nces.ed.gov/survey/sass/tables/sass1112_2013314_tls_007.asp
•National Center for Education Statistics (2017). Instructional time for third- and eight-graders in public and
private schools: School year 2011-12. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017076.pdf
•National Center for Education Statistics (2018). State education reforms: Number of instructional days and
hours in the school year, by state: 2018. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_13.asp
•Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2013). Integrating behavioral health and
primary care for children and youth.
https://www.integration.samhsa.gov/integratedcaremodels/Integrated_Care_System_for_Children_final.pdf
•Waschbusch, D. A., Graziano, P. A., Willoughby, M. T., & Pelham Jr., W. E. (2015). Classroom rule
violations in elementary school students with callous-unemotional traits. Journal of Emotional and
Behavioral Disorders, 23, 180-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1063426614552903
•Positive Attention •Effective Commands
•Negative Attention •Tangibles
•Reductive Techniques
The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant
R324A100115 to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of
the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education. The authors express appreciation to the myriad communities, schools, teachers,
parents, and students participating in this study, from whom we have learned a great deal about partnership.
