Professional development for classroom management: a review of the literature

ABSTRACT

The ability of teachers to manage their classrooms is critical to achieving positive educational outcomes for students. Many teachers receive limited pre-service training in classroom management, creating a need for effective in-service professional development (PD). This literature review summarizes the results of 74 empirical studies examining the effects of PD on teachers’ classroom management behaviours. It identifies the characteristics of the existing literature base, the most frequent components of effective PD, and teacher and student outcomes related to PD. The results support a prior review that also suggested effective PD (i.e., desired changes in teacher and student behaviour) is predominantly studied at the elementary school level and, in addition to generic in-service trainings, most frequently includes didactic (direct) instruction, coaching, and performance feedback. These results have important implications for developing effective PD opportunities in the area of classroom management for in-service educators.

KEYWORDS:

• Classroom management
• K–12 teachers
• professional development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Sarah Wilkinson is now at the Institute of Professional Educator Development, University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

2 Hao-Jan Luh is now at the Department of Psychology, Eastern Illinois University.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Wilkinson

Sarah Wilkinson, PhD, is an assistant Professor of Special Education in the Institute of Professional Educator Development at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. There, she teaches undergraduate courses in the teacher education program. Her research interests include preparing all teachers to work effectively with students with disabilities, developing classroom management practices that also support academic instruction, and enhancing strategies for students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders.

Jennifer Freeman

Jennifer Freeman is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and is a research scientist for the Center for Behavioral Education Research (CBER) at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Freeman studies the effects of multi-tiered systems of support such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) on outcomes at the high school level for high-risk student groups including students with disabilities. She also studies professional development methods for improving teacher’s use of evidence-based classroom management strategies and high leverage practices. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the special education program. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Connecticut, she had 10 years of special education teaching experience across grades K–8 in both urban and rural school settings and had served as a K–12 district level consultant working to implement PBIS and Response to Intervention (RtI) strategies.

Brandi Simonsen

Brandi Simonsen, PhD, is a professor of Special Education and the Co-Director of the Center for Behavioral Education and Research (CBER; www.cber.org) at the University of Connecticut. She is also the Co-Director of the National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS; www.pbis.org), Co-Principal Investigator of the National Multi-Tiered System of Supports Research Network (www.mtss.org), and a Senior Advisor to the National Center on Intensive Interventions (intensiveintervention.org).

Sandra Sears

Sandra Sears, MA, is a doctoral student at the University of Connecticut with research interests in PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) and disability, as well as in educational leadership. She has an MA in Experimental Psychology from UConn and an AB in mathematics and psychology with distinction in all subjects from Cornell University.

Sang Gyu Byun

Sang Gyu Byun is a doctoral student in the special education program in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut.

Xin Xu

Xin Xu is a doctoral student in the special education program in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut.

Hao-Jan Luh

Hao-Jan Luh is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Eastern Illinois University. In 2020, he was named the Graduate Student Intern of the Year and earned his PhD in Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut.