Caldarella, Paul; Wills, Howard P.; Anderson, Darlene H.; Williams, Leslie (2019). RMLE Online: Research in Middle Level Education, v42 n7. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1226018
Reviewed: February 2023
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.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT).
To view more detailed information about the study findings from this review, please see Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) Intervention Report (289 KB)
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
| Black | 30% | |
| Other or unknown | 15% | |
| White | 55% |
| Hispanic | 15% | |
| Not Hispanic or Latino | 85% |
| Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) | 63% | |
| No FRPL | 37% |
The study took place in nine classrooms in five public, Title I schools located in urban areas of the Midwest and western United States.
Participants included 20 focal students in grades 6 through 9. Across the focal students, 55% were White, 30% were Black, and 15% were Hispanic or Latino. Seventy percent of the focal students were male. All 20 focal students were identified by their teachers as at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders based on their externalizing or internalizing behavior. Across all five schools, approximately 63% of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The study also provided class-level findings across 234 students in the nine classrooms and teacher-level findings for nine teachers.
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, CW-FIT was implemented during the class period teachers identified as having the most challenging student behavior and included periods with instruction in social studies, language arts, math, and science. Prior to implementing CW-FIT, teachers shared CW-FIT target skills and classroom expectations with students during 10-minute lessons, which included following directions, listening to the teacher, staying on task, collaborating with peers, and showing respect to others. Teachers also posted the expectations in their classrooms so all students could see them. Teachers then organized students into teams of three to five students and explained that teams could earn points and rewards if they demonstrated the expected behaviors. Teachers told students the daily point goal, observed teams in 5-minute intervals, and awarded points to teams that demonstrated expected behaviors during the interval. They praised good behavior and reminded the teams that did not earn points about the expectations for behavior. The teachers tallied points at the end of each class period, and teams that met the daily point goal received a group reward, such as school supplies, snacks, or free time.
There is no comparison group in single case designs. In the baseline and withdrawal phases of the single case designs, teachers instructed their students as they normally would.
Researchers trained teachers on CW-FIT procedures during one 60-minute session or in two 30-minute sessions. Training consisted of a presentation with embedded video clips of CW-FIT implementation in other middle school classrooms and emphasized providing behavior specific praise. Researchers also provided teachers a copy of the procedural fidelity checklist and offered coaching and modeling. Researchers continued to provide feedback and support throughout the intervention sessions.
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).
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