Success of the Positive Action Plan: A system for teaching individual students to act within regular classroom procedures

The purpose in this study was to examine the success of the Positive Action Plan (PAP). The PAP is a system to teach individual students how to improve their behavior within the established classroom procedures and environment. Displays of interruptive behaviors were counted to see if the number of these misbehaviors would decrease when students were involved in the PAP process. The researcher collected data for statistical analysis using the Direct Observation Form (DOF) (McConaughy & Achenbach, 1988). The researcher compared two pre-observation scores and two post-observation scores of identified students to see if any changes occurred in four different behavioral areas classified in the DOF: (1) on-task behavior, (2) externalizing problems, (3) internalizing problems, and (4) total problems. The researcher compared the number of displays of interruptive behaviors counted in a ten-day baseline period to the number of displays of interruptive behaviors noted on the PAP forms within three different ten-day periods. Educators ranked the success of the PAP by using a Likert Scale and sharing their comments. Findings of the study included the following: (1) Use of the Direct Observation Form pre-observation and post-observation scores indicated a significant increase in on-task behaviors. (2) Pre-observations and post-observations indicated no significant changes in externalizing, internalizing, and total problem scores. (3) The mean number of displays of interruptive classroom behaviors dropped from over eleven displays a day before implementation of the PAP to just over four displays of interruptive behaviors during the use of the PAP. The decrease in interruptive behaviors was significant at the.001 level. (4) A majority of the educators completing a survey said they would use the process again and would recommend the PAP process to other teachers. (5) A generally positive view of the PAP was reflected in comments made by the respondents