A note to teacher: Improving student behavior through goal setting and feedback

This study examined the effects of goal setting and feedback applied to teacher behavior as a means of producing desired changes in students' behavior during consultation. Participants were two 6-year-old male students enrolled full time in a classroom for children with emotional disturbances. Using a multiple-baseline-across-subjects design, the classroom teacher: (a) identified up to four desired behaviors to increase for each student, (b) set a goal for the number of times she was to praise each student during a daily activity period, and (c) was given a feedback note each day listing the identified target behaviors as prompts and indicating whether she did or did not meet her self-imposed goal based on classroom observation. The intervention was effective at increasing appropriate student behavior and was judged by the teacher to be acceptable. The implications of these results for incorporating teacher goal setting and feedback into consultation as a means of designing simple yet effective school-based interventions are discussed.