The effects of Three Jars on the disruptive behavior of a secondary English Language Arts (ELA) class.

Abstract

A considerable amount of evidence suggests that disruptive classroom behavior interferes with the teaching and learning process. In the current situation, a novice teacher was challenged by high rates of disruptive behavior during her 9th grade self-contained English Language Arts (ELA) class. In response she examined the effects of three jars, an intervention package consisting sting of group contingencies with randomized components, on three specific disruptive behaviors (i.e., talk outs, out of seat, and noncompliance). Results indicated that the three jars intervention produced immediate and noticeable decreases in her students’ disruptive behaviors. In fact, overall disruption dropped by approximately 67% when the intervention was in effect. additional analyzes suggested that the intervention had the most noticeable impact on student talk outs. In addition, consumer satisfaction data indicated that students found three jars to be socially acceptable for the most part, although some questions were raised about its fairness and impact on peer relationships. Implications for research and practice are discussed.