Natural rates of teacher approval and disapproval and their relation to student behavior in intermediate school classrooms.

Studied the natural rates of teacher approval of appropriate student behavior and off-task student behavior and disapproval of off-task behavior in 84 intermediate school 6th–9th grade classrooms. Six students were selected at random from each class, and their behaviors were recorded using a behavioral assessment instrument. Teachers' interactions with students were recorded using an event-recording procedure. Higher rates of approval of off-task behavior were associated with lower rates of on-task behavior. The lowest rates of teacher disapproval were associated with the highest rates of student on-task behavior. Mean rates of teacher approval were found to exceed rates of disapproval, in contrast to previous studies. Inappropriate approval also appeared to be a relevant factor in managing classroom behavior. Results suggest that to achieve an acceptable level of on-task behavior, teachers must provide high rates of appropriate approval combined with low rates of both inappropriate approval and disapproval. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)