chapter 3 identified a number of features of school and classroom environments related to problem behavior. Many are characteristics of the way the school is organized and managed. The research implies that principals and faculty can control behavior by setting rules, communicating clear expectations for behavior, consistently enforcing rules, and providing rewards for rule compliance and punishments for rule infractions. They can also perform general management functions (such as coordination and resource allocation and communication) well, establish and maintain clear goals for the organization, deliver instruction in ways that promote maximal learning, and encourage a sense of community. They can create an extended network of caring adults who interact regularly with the students and who share norms and expectations about their students. The research implied that when educators succeed at creating such “communal social organizations,” they increase social control and therefore reduce the likelihood that youths will engage in problem behavior.

Can these findings from nonexperimental research be translated into specific policies and practices that can be implemented in schools? Are such programs effective for reducing problem behavior? This chapter examines evidence from experimental and quasi-experimental studies of attempts to implement changes to the way schools and classrooms are organized and managed.

Overview of Studies

Although the intent in this chapter is to focus on school-or classroom-level interventions, the multicomponent nature of school-based prevention makes it impossible to isolate these types of programs or practices.