Supporting Teachers’ Use of Classroom Management Strategies via Different School-Based Consultation Models: Which Is More Cost-Effective for Whom?

Abstract

Although intensive interventions can be more costly than less intensive interventions, for some individuals, they may be more cost-effective. We extend the examination of differential cost-effectiveness to teacher consultation by examining the association between teacher-level characteristics (baseline knowledge, beliefs, skills) and change in target student behavior under standard problem-solving consultation conditions and enhanced consultation using motivational interviewing techniques. In a sample of 58 elementary school teachers (consultees), enhanced consultation was more costly and effective than standard consultation regardless of teacher-level characteristics. Enhanced consultation was particularly cost-effective in changing student behavior among teachers low in knowledge of classroom management strategies and student behavior, intervention-supportive beliefs (perceptions of responsibility for students’ problematic behavior), and baseline skills relative to standard consultation. Sensitivity analyses reveal that enhanced consultation may be more costly and less effective among teachers higher in knowledge and intervention-supportive beliefs, and/or skills. We discuss implications for multitiered professional development for teachers.

Impact Statement

Many schools have limited resources (e.g., cost, staff personnel) to provide teachers consultation to promote positive student behaviors in their classrooms. Findings from this study revealed enhanced, individualized multicomponent consultation (i.e., problem-solving consultation that integrates of techniques borrowed from motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy to address barriers to implementation) was more costly and more effective than standard, problem-solving consultation, particularly for teachers lower in class-wide management knowledge, beliefs, and skills. For schools considering how to allocate resources, educators may consider providing these teachers enhanced consultation.

Keywords:

• cost-effectiveness
• teacher consultation
• classroom management

ASSOCIATE EDITOR:

• Samuel Y. Song

DISCLOSURE

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Funding

This article was funded by the Institute for Education Sciences (grant R324A120272).

Notes

1 We recognize the need for inclusive language for this demographic (Latinx/Latine). Our demographic questionnaire asked participants if they identified as Hispanic and Non-Hispanic. We do not want to misinterpret participants’ responses or inaccurately represent what we asked participants in the current study. For future studies, we intend to use more inclusive language.

2 In the 2017 study, we had multiple measures of knowledge and beliefs. We used latent class analyses to determine if these constructs could be represented in a parsimonious way. We kept these two constructs separate from skills to examine outcomes among teachers who had “room for growth” (low skills) and those who did not (high skills) so that we could better detect the potential impact of the consultation intervention on growth in teacher skills.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emily R. DeFouw

Emily R. DeFouw, PhD, BCBA is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her research focuses on evaluating treatment intensity and implementation for research-based math interventions delivered within a Response-to-Intervention (RtI) framework and school-based consultation.

Julie Sarno Owens

Julie Sarno Owens, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Co-Director of the Center for Intervention Research in Schools (CIRS). Her research focuses on the development of classroom interventions for youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related problems; the assessment of effectiveness and feasibility of classroom interventions under typical school conditions; and the identification of factors that facilitate teachers’ high quality implementation of these interventions.

Samantha M. Margherio

Samantha M. Margherio, MA is a Clinical Psychology doctoral student at Ohio University. She is interested in the development and evaluation of interventions for youth with externalizing disorders and those at-risk of substance use disorders, including a special interest in the cost-effectiveness of these programs.

Steven Evans

Steven W. Evans, PhD is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ohio University and Co-Director of the Center for Intervention Research in Schools. His research interests are school based treatment development and evaluation for adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related problems.