In addition to the many contributions for education that have been achieved by the behavioral sciences, a focus on the various educational settings during at least 20 years has yielded an intervention technology for the achievement of behavior change that is effective, reliable, and easy for application by teachers or other school personnel.

The school wide intervention focuses on improvements at the whole-school or classroom level as well as at an individual level. We attempt to meet the needs of the students, families and schools, by encouraging team work and a flowing communication.

Our objectives are directed towards achieving:

• A team approach for solving behavior issues.
• Clear and operational definitions of acceptable and unacceptable conduct.
• Practice based on data collection and continuous evaluation.
• Education for appropriate social values, such as responsibility, respect and self-control.
• Creating a structured, reinforcing and encouraging learning and social environment.

Sugai and Horner (2002) discussed the effectiveness of such a comprehensive intervention, which “(a) targets all students, (b) emphasizes measurable outcomes that are valued…(c) uses data to guide policy decision making, (e) is dominated by positive reinforcement and skill building approaches, (f) stress prevention, and (g) integrates all elements of the school culture…”.

Whole-School Intervention

To achieve a durable and extensive classroom behavior change, a school-based plan is developed that is sensitive to and considers the diverse needs of the population (students, parents and staff). Strategies are developed to be adaptive and practical (user friendly).

The emphasis is put on:

• Values
• Respect and self-control
• Intolerance of violent behavior
• Individual contribution to the general atmosphere of the school environments 

Classroom Level

First, it is important that teachers recognize their important role as “chief contingency managers” of their classroom. The teacher is the one responsible for academic and social development of the students. We attempt to shape teachers’ view and awareness of behavioral strategies available for application, in order to transfer the classroom into a positive learning environment, characterized by attention, participation, patience, respect, motivation, and achievement.

Strategies such as peer tutoring and modeling, manipulation of peer attention, motivational systems, and organization, amongst others, can highly contribute to the classroom management skills of the teacher.

Intervention strategies must be implemented with integrity, consistently and accurately, which makes the training stage the most crucial. Teachers and parents have been successfully trained in conducting assessments and observations, as well as applying behavioral strategies that result in positive behavior change. The training can take individual, group or pyramidal form. Each one is chosen according to necessities, environmental conditions and the existing reality that influences both needs and possibilities.

Specifically, the intervention process in the school will include, amongst other things:

• selecting behaviors to encourage or strengthen
• selecting behaviors to reduce or eliminate
• identifying individuals’ existing academic and social repertoires
• matching procedures of change to the identified repertoires
• selecting reinforcing contingencies to increase and maintain appropriate conduct
• emphasizing use of reinforcement and other planned consequences in the natural environment
• emphasizing the importance of environmental organization and structure

Individual Level

It is clear that anti-social behavior results in poor academic achievement. Also, the presence of an anti-social student or a student with behavioral difficulties such as impulsivity, hyperactivity and inattention, amongst others, could seriously hinder the fluency of the teaching and therefore the academic achievement of peers and of the classroom as a whole.

In addition, the unacceptable behavior of a specific student can at times lead to negative attitudes on the part of the teacher, harming the teacher-pupil relationship, which presents further risks for personal achievement and further decreases probability of behavior change.

By analyzing what happens before the occurrence of the behavior (antecedents) and the different ways in which the environments react to the occurrences of behavior (consequences), we can plan to systematically avoid or gradually change it. By observations and systematic manipulations of environmental variables and their effects on behavior, it becomes possible to generate hypotheses regarding triggers and function of behaviors targeted for change. 

A plan of intervention based on these hypotheses will use behavioral strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness, in order to achieve behavior change. The strategies used are chosen according to the individual needs, through the consideration of application practicality (e.g. time, ease, etc.). The main objectives are achieving self-control, self-regulation, and on-task behavior, amongst others.

The individual level school-based intervention is directed at students who:

• are consistently uncooperative
• did not achieve a significant behavior change after implementation of whole-school intervention
• present severe anti-social behaviors
• have specific and/or unique difficulties
• present an elevated rate of inappropriate behaviors 

Finally, positive behavior change had been seen on many occasions to improve academic functioning, and increase motivation and independency. On the other hand, it also serves to reinforce the teachers’ efforts and to free their time from dealing with inappropriate behavior, so they are available to teach.