Effective Teachers for Students With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: Active Ingredients Leading to Positive Teacher and Student Outcomes

Teachers of students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) have varied skills and abilities. Within the field there are some teachers, who teach students with E/BD by actively engaging them in learning tasks and who have few behavior problems in comparison to other teachers, who struggle with classroom management. Many researchers have found that the teacher's use of effective instructional practices that promote positive teacher-child interactions and a positive classroom climate is one of the key ingredients for promoting engagement and minimizing problem behaviors. In this article, the authors discuss how effective teachers of students with E/BD demonstrate competence across two critical implementation areas: (a) high quality use of effective instructional practices, and (b) the creation of positive teacher-student interactions and relationships and classroom climate. In conclusion, they discuss the positive teacher and student outcomes associated with these practices. (Contains 1 figure.)