Designing and Implementing Group Contingencies in the Classroom

Group contingencies are an evidence-based proactive classroom behavior management system designed for teachers to implement during instruction. These practical programs reward groups or teams of students’ contingent on following explicitly stated behavioral expectations. Research on behavior management strategies that incorporate group contingencies have demonstrated these programs to be generally effective for improving student academic and social outcomes and have also demonstrated an increase in teacher attention to and praise of appropriate classroom behaviors. The current paper describes the evidence base supporting group contingencies, explains the essential components of the intervention, and provides a guided example of how to set up a personalized classroom group contingency.