The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of consistent attitude, expectations and applying corrective procedures in uniform ways. This was done by using the Positive Unified Behavior Support (PUBS). This was a qualitative study that was measuring the effect of teacher-student interactions. The research questions measured the extent to which teachers demonstrated reinforcement, correction, active student monitoring and use of a warm tone. The teachers were also to demonstrate the reinforcement to correction ratio. The last research question measured the extent to which PUBS trained teaches experienced a lower level of rules violations. Observations were done in a school under the PUBS system and the results were compared to a school with similar demographics but with no structured disciplinary approach.
The sample sizes used were adequate because they provided enough data to reach saturation. Willowette School was also an ideal school because of the high number of students from various backgrounds. Both schools were suitable because of the disciplinary issues they faced. Selection of teachers and classrooms for the control group was random. This was a good choice because it gave unbiased results. The school under the PUBS system had the teachers trained beforehand. The observers were graduate students trained to observe various aspects of the application of PUBS teaching methods. The observations criteria and collection of data were not so specific because the criteria were dependent on various aspects of basic teaching practices. The breaking down of the observations periods to twice in a year was appropriate. This gave the positive behavior program adequate time to show results. However, the time gap did not allow for adequate reinforcement of the PUBS system among teachers. The second half of the observation was very good for saturation of data.
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The data collected were analyzed using t-tests. This was the not the most suitable method of analysis. It is commonly used when comparing continuous data which is similar to the PUBS system against a non-specific system of discipline and behavior management. However, T-tests are specifically used when only two variables are being compared. The most suitable analysis method would have been Anova as it would have catered for the additional number of variables. The analysis showed that there were significant differences observed in almost all variables for teachers who were using the PUBS system. The variable on positive tone of voice showed the least significant difference. Reinforcement was four times as high in the PUBS schools than in the non-systematic behavior school. The monitoring of inappropriate behavior was more frequent in the PUBS schools than the others. However, the frequency of total rule violations was higher in the schools where the teachers were not using any structured system.
The study was slightly flawed because the margin of error did not factor in the effects of the settings. The presence of observers may have influenced the behavior of both the teachers and the students. This should have been factored in as it may have affected the internal validity. Furthermore, the second observation may have been affected by the first observation. The researchers were right to consider the study as an introductory study. It could benefit from additional research that will improve the design. The methodology also needs to be refined so that the research questions are measured in a more definite way. A Likert scale would have been appropriate in this case. Finally, the validity of the PUBS system and its effect on instruction need to be ascertained before further research results can be considered conclusive.
