Sadly enough Robert Slavin has passed away, but his work is being continued so today I received a new Best Evidence in Brief.

I’ve picked this study from the newsletter, but do join this great mailing list:

University of Missouri’s Keith C. Herman and colleagues evaluated the efficacy of the CHAMPS classroom management program in a randomized control trial of urban middle schools in the Midwest United States. CHAMPS, a teacher training program, encompasses six dimensions that facilitate teachers’ delineation of expectations in any setting: Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement, Participation, and Signal [CHAMPS]. Embedded in the CHAMPS program is the assumption that all behavior is learned and can be explicitly altered. Using this mode of thinking, teachers who develop an effective classroom management plan that is at once preventative, upbeat, and behaviorally instructive will be able to better structure their classrooms and reduce off-task behaviors.

Middle school teachers and students were recruited from two urban school districts to participate in a group randomized control trial of the CHAMPS program. Participants were assigned to the CHAMPS intervention condition (teachers n=50, students n=607) or to a wait-list control condition (teachers n=51, students n=636). Pre- and post-intervention assessments, including academic assessment, were completed at the beginning and end of the respective cohort’s school year. The CHAMPS intervention comprised two full-day group trainings and one follow-up session as well as an on-site coach who supported teacher implementation. The control condition entailed business-as-usual teaching and professional development opportunities.

Statistical analysis revealed significant effects on students’ MAP English scores (ES=+0.14) as well as SAT-10 problem solving scores (ES=+0.17). Additionally, the CHAMPS intervention had a significant effect on student time-on-task (ES=+0.16) as reported by students’ teachers. The authors found that students’ increased English scores were partially mediated by improvements in observed time-on-task. These findings highlight the importance of improving teacher classroom management training for increasing student achievement at scale.