First Step to Success Program - the research

In his Huffington Post blog, Robert Slavin, director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education, discusses a study that evaluated a behavior management program, First Step to Success, for students with behavior problems. 

The program has been evaluated successfully many times. In this latest study, 200 children in grades 1 to 3 with serious behavior problems were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. On behavior and achievement measures, students in the experimental group scored much higher, with effect sizes of +0.44 to +0.87.

The researchers came back a year later to see if the outcomes had been maintained. Despite the substantial impacts seen previously, none of three prosocial/adaptive behavior measures, only one of three problem/maladaptive behaviors, and none of four academic achievement measures now showed positive outcomes. However, the students had passed from teachers who had been trained in the First Step method to teachers who had not. Dr. Slavin says, "Imagine that all teachers in the school learned the program and all continued to implement it for many years. In this circumstance, it would be highly likely that the first-year positive impacts would be sustained and most likely improved over time."

Johns Hopkins University 

Research in Brief

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