Walking the Fine Line: How High School Teachers “Manage” Behavioral Issues

Abstract

As teachers make daily decisions regarding how to address behaviors in their classrooms, they are walking a fine line of behavior management. In order to be successful in modifying student behaviors, teachers need to analyze the purpose of their strategies and predict the outcome of their actions. This article reports the results of a survey given to secondary teachers working with students with disabilities. Participants were asked to identify the frequency with which they intervened with certain problematic behaviors, which strategies they used, and to what extent they found these strategies useful for modifying student behavior. The implications of their responses are discussed in relation to how they make decisions about improving students' behavioral outcomes.

Keywords:

• behavioral strategies
• special education
• adolescents
• high school
• teacher perceptions