Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a classroom program designed to increase academic, social, and behavioral success for students. The program emphasizes group contingencies and self-management. It teaches positive social skills, uses teacher praise and group points for good behavior, incorporates goal setting, and provides rewards.
In order to build CW-FIT's research base, a randomized controlled trial was carried out over four years, designed to replicate one site's original study by adding two more research groups and to include investigators who were not the developers of the program.
Seven elementary schools each in Missouri, Tennessee, and Utah participated. Students were in grades K-6, 55% were of minority ethnicities, and 69% received free- or reduced-price lunch. Within each school were experimental and control classes - 83 experimental and 74 control in total. Baseline data collection included measures of student time-on-task and teacher use of reinforcement during business-as-usual conditions for 2-3 weeks. At baseline, no teacher was observed using token rewards or group rewards. During the study, control group teachers received a 2-hour training in general classroom management and were referred to district protocol when student behavior problems occurred. Experimental group teachers implemented CW-FIT during one targeted period 3-5 times per week from October to March. During CW-FIT sessions, after teaching students the appropriate way to get attention, follow directions, and ignore inappropriate behavior, the teacher set a timer at 2-5 minute intervals, awarding a point to teams with all members behaving at that moment. At the end of class, awards were given to all team members who met specific goals.
At the end of the study, results favored the CW-FIT group. On-task behavior for CW-FIT students increased from 55% to 80%, while the control group remained close to baseline at 58%. Teacher classroom management behaviors increased from 52% to 86% for the CW-FIT group but remained at 55% for the control group. These results are reflective of earlier studies' findings.