Managing Classroom Behaviors

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 Managing Classroom Behaviors

Impact of Classroom Behaviors

How students behave in class depends on a variety of factors including their age and developmental levels, experiences at home, relationships with their peers and teachers, as well as their academic, social, emotional, and behavioral skills. When students misbehave (i.e. not following instructions, talking back to teachers, aggression, bullying, etc.), there is a negative impact on the learning environment and loss of instructional time (Alkherainej & Pinkney, 2025). If these behaviors are not corrected, overtime they may lead to academic difficulties, school dropout, or disciplinary measures like suspensions or expulsions (Alkherainej & Pinkney, 2025). It is important for teachers to have an effective classroom management system in place to support students before drastic measures are taken. 

Role of School Policies in Individual Classrooms

School-wide policies, leadership, and culture set the tone for individual classroom discipline and behavior management. The rules established by the school affect how the teachers approach their own classroom discipline. For example, if the school follows the PBIS framework, teachers are more likely to adopt similar approaches in their classroom. It is important that school-wide and classroom expectations are similar and clear so that students are upheld to the same standards no matter where they are in the building. The overall climate of the school (i.e. nurturing, inclusive, strict) also impacts how students behave as well as how teachers respond to student behavior. A positive school climate that focuses on building relationships, trust, and respect will have fewer behavioral challenges (Fraser, 2024).

Evidence-Based Strategies

An effective classroom management system has many components that often need to be tailored to the individuality of its students. That being said, there are a few key components, as stated by Parsonson (2012), that create an efficient classroom with limited disruptions:
  • Clear, simple rules and expectations
  • Established routines that help make the class predictable
  • Frequent specific, descriptive praise (Try the 4:1 strategy where teachers say four positive things before using one redirecting or correcting phrase/comment)
  • Effective seating arrangements (i.e. tables, pairs, rows) and/or seating charts
  • Brisk pace of instruction to keep students engaged
  • Class-wide incentives (i.e. token economy)
  • Relationship building (i.e. student-student, student-teacher, student-administrators)

References

Alkherainej, K., & Pinkney, C. (2025). Kuwaiti Teachers’ Classroom Behavior Management Practices, Experiences, and Beliefs. Behavioral Disorders, 50(2), 105–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/01987429241292300 

Fraser, A. (2024). The Role of Individuals in Creating a Positive School Climate. BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, 16(2). 

Parsonson, B. (2012). Evidence-based Classroom Behaviour Management Strategies. In Kairaranga (Vol. 13, Issue 1, pp. 16–23). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ976654.pdf

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