The Social Shape Up System

Purpose: In prior research, prosocial behaviors in grade school have been correlated with later academic achievement while anti-social behaviors have been associated with later poor academic achievement and deviance. To help teachers monitor students' social behavior, this project will develop a classroom conduct system that includes a mechanism for teachers to monitor social behavior. Project Activities: In Phase I, the researchers developed a prototype of a classroom management system and tested the feasibility of implementation of the system in 10 classrooms. In general, teachers reported that the system was easy to use and helpful in tracking student behavior. In Phase II, development will focus on designing support materials for teachers and refining the system to provide both data processing and presentation functions. All basic aspects of the system (e.g., user access control, the behavior monitoring and reporting functions, and management functions) will be tested and refined. To gather data on the promise of the product to support improvements in student behavior, a pilot study will be conducted to test the product with 30 teachers over a two-month period. Half of the teachers will use the product and the other half will use the business-as-usual approach. Analyses will examine students across several areas of socio-emotional competence.