Managing Student Behavior in a Middle School Special Education Classroom Using CW-FIT Tier 1
Orr, Robyn K.; Caldarella, Paul; Hansen, Blake D.; Wills, Howard P. (2020). Journal of Behavioral Education, v29 n1 p168-187. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1243841
-
examining23Students, grades7-9
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: March 2023
- Single Study Review (findings for Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT))
- Single Case Design
- Meets WWC standards without reservations
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
To view more detailed information about the study findings from this review, please download findings data here.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
-
Female: 57%
Male: 43% -
Suburban
-
- B
- A
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- I
- H
- J
- K
- L
- P
- M
- N
- O
- Q
- R
- S
- V
- U
- T
- W
- X
- Z
- Y
- a
- h
- i
- b
- d
- e
- f
- c
- g
- j
- k
- l
- m
- n
- o
- p
- q
- r
- s
- t
- u
- v
- x
- w
- y
Utah
-
Race Other or unknown 30% Pacific Islander 4% White 65% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 30% Not Hispanic or Latino 70% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 56% No FRPL 44%
Study Details
Setting
This study took place in one self-contained special education classroom at a suburban Title I middle school in Utah.
Study sample
Participants included 12 students with disabilities in one self-contained classroom and 11 typically developing peer tutors who worked with the students. The students were in grades 7 through 9. The class was taught by one special education teacher and three aides. Approximately 57% of the 23 students were female. Sixty-five percent were White, 4% were Native American, and the rest did not report race. Thirty percent were Hispanic or Latino. Across the entire school, 56% of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch.
Intervention Group
Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a classroom management system designed to improve student behavior. The program includes establishing classroom rules and appropriate behaviors, playing a team-based game to reinforce appropriate behaviors, minimizing social attention to inappropriate behaviors, and providing self-management tools to individual students who need extra support. In this study, the teacher organized the students into five teams and asked the peer tutors to help students with disabilities on their team complete tasks. During three initial sessions, each lasting 10 to 15 minutes, the teacher taught three target skills: following directions the first time, correctly getting the teacher’s attention, and ignoring peers’ inappropriate behavior. The lessons included explanations and role-playing of each skill. The teacher also displayed the skills on posters in the classroom. During the remaining sessions, the teacher provided behavior-specific praise and points to teams during 3- to 5-minute intervals if students displayed the target skills. The peer tutors were included in point decisions during later sessions of CW-FIT. The teacher tracked points on a poster that students could see, and at the end of each session, the teacher gave a reward, such as playing a game or watching video clips, to teams that met the goal for that session. Sessions took place during a 75-minute period focused on functional independent life skills, such as using money.
Comparison Group
There is no comparison group in single case designs. In the baseline and withdrawal phases of the single case designs, the teacher posted classroom rules on the wall, and students with disabilities worked with peer tutors to track their own behavior, such as following directions, keeping their hands to themselves, using kind words, and working on assignments. At the end of each session, the teacher or peer tutor placed a sticker on each student’s tracking sheet if they followed the rules. Students who earned enough stickers could earn 5 minutes of free time at the end of the period.
Support for implementation
The researchers described the CW-FIT strategies and rationale during one 2-hour training that included videos of teachers modeling CW-FIT. The researchers also provided scripted lessons, posters, timers, and point charts, and provided feedback following role-playing sessions and the first CW-FIT session of the study.
Additional Sources
In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.
-
Wright, R. K. (2017). The effects of Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Team (CW-FIT) tier 1 in a middle school special education classroom. [Postgraduate thesis, Brigham Young University]. BYU ScholarsArchive. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/7299.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).