A Classwide Peer-Assisted Self-Management Program All Teachers Can Use: Adaptations and Implications for Rural Educators

Many teachers feel unprepared to deal with disruptive student behavior, which can drastically decrease instructional time. This concern also contributes to general educators' reluctance to include students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Teachers will not use research-proven behavioral interventions unless they can be implemented with available resources and have clear simple instructions. These needs are met by the classwide peer-assisted self-management (CWPASM) program, which is based on two existing research-proven strategies: total class involvement in teams of peer partners and self-appraisal and self-monitoring strategies. CWPASM helps students learn to follow classroom rules, use appropriate social skills, and work productively within a teacher-managed, peer-assisted reinforcement system, with responsibility shifting gradually from teacher to peer-partner to student. The program has been used successfully with grades 4-8. This paper briefly describes evaluation of the program with seventh-grade inner-city students, lists procedures for teaching CWPASM, reports time and materials requirements, and discusses adaptations during an ongoing field test of the program in a rural school. Findings suggest that CWPASM is an effective and feasible approach to teaching students to take responsibility for their own behavior. Preliminary data from the rural setting suggest that CWPASM may be more effective in heterogeneous ability groupings. (Contains 24 references.) (SV)