Lesson 9

Putting the Seven Strategies Into Practice

The seven WWC recommendations are most useful when they become part of a structured consultation process rather than a list of isolated techniques. This final lesson focuses on selecting strategies, combining supports, evaluating implementation, and deciding when a student needs something more intensive.

Integration Consultation Intervention Selection Fidelity Data-Based Decisions

Reading Assignment

Teacher-Delivered Behavioral Interventions in Grades K–5

Review the seven recommendations and revisit the sections most relevant to your practice.

For this final lesson, review the recommendation overview and select at least two recommendation sections that would be especially useful in your own consultation work. Pay attention to implementation guidance, obstacles, examples, and tools—not only the recommendation titles.

Open Practice Guide →

Course Integration

Seven Strategies, One Problem-Solving Process

The seven recommendations address different ways teachers can alter the classroom environment, increase engagement, support expected behavior, and provide students with feedback.

In practice, a school psychologist does not need to select exactly one recommendation and use it in isolation. Multiple strategies may work together when they address different parts of the same classroom problem.

1. Establish and Teach Expectations Make expected behavior clear, observable, teachable, and meaningful.

2. Use Reminders and Precorrections Prompt expected behavior before predictable difficulties occur.

3. Acknowledge Expected Behavior Use positive attention, behavior-specific praise, and meaningful rewards.

4. Offer Instructional Choices Increase student agency while preserving instructional expectations.

5. Increase Opportunities to Respond Give students frequent and varied opportunities for active participation.

6. Teach Self-Monitoring Help students observe and reflect on their own behavior when appropriate.

7. Use Behavior Ratings Provide structured feedback and data about behavioral performance.

School psychology connection: The important question is rarely “Which intervention is best?” in the abstract. The more useful question is, “Which support best matches the behavior, context, student need, and level of intervention required here?”

A Consultation Framework

From Classroom Concern to Intervention Decision

Define the concern.
Translate broad descriptions such as “unmotivated,” “defiant,” or “disruptive” into observable behavior and identify the routines or conditions in which the concern occurs.

Examine the instructional environment.
Ask what expectations have been taught, what prompts and acknowledgment are already present, how students participate, and whether meaningful choices or feedback are available.

Select the smallest reasonable intervention.
When appropriate, begin with a feasible low-intensity strategy rather than automatically moving to a more complex individual intervention.

Operationalize implementation.
Specify who will do what, when it will happen, how frequently it will occur, and what materials or supports are required.

Monitor fidelity and student response.
If behavior does not improve, determine whether the strategy was ineffective or whether it was not implemented as intended.

Adjust intensity when needed.
Continue, modify, combine, intensify, or move toward individualized assessment based on the pattern of student response and implementation.

Why This Matters for School Psychologists

The Strategy Is Only One Part of the Intervention

Consultation often fails because a strategy is named without specifying how it will actually be implemented. “Use more praise,” “give choices,” or “try a behavior chart” are not complete intervention plans.

Match Before You Add More interventions are not necessarily better. Select supports that address the actual barrier to successful behavior.

Feasibility Matters An intervention that cannot reasonably be implemented in the classroom is unlikely to produce meaningful results.

Fidelity Matters Before concluding that an intervention failed, determine whether it was delivered with sufficient consistency and quality.

Student Response Matters Decisions should be based on meaningful change in student behavior, not simply whether adults like the intervention.

Intensity Matters Low-intensity teacher-delivered supports are not designed to replace individualized intervention when student needs are more significant.

Iteration Matters Consultation is a cycle: define, implement, evaluate, adjust, and repeat.

Interactive Activity 1

Match the Strategy to the Problem

Choose the recommendation that most directly addresses the primary classroom barrier in each situation.

Case 1:
Students are repeatedly told to “be respectful” during group work, but the teacher has never defined or taught what respectful group participation looks like.

Case 2:
Students know the hallway routine but frequently forget it during the transition immediately after recess.

Case 3:
During a 30-minute lesson, students primarily listen while the teacher talks. Several students become off-task after the first ten minutes.

Case 4:
A student consistently delays beginning a required assignment but becomes more engaged when allowed some control over materials, location, or task order.

Interactive Activity 2

Build an Integrated Classroom Plan

Select the strongest components for a consultation involving multiple classroom variables.

A third-grade teacher reports frequent calling out during whole-group instruction. Observation shows that students know the hand-raising expectation, but lessons involve long stretches of passive listening. The teacher usually corrects calling out after it occurs and rarely acknowledges appropriate participation.

Which environmental change should be considered?

What should happen before likely calling-out periods?

How should appropriate participation be supported?

How should the plan be evaluated?

Interactive Activity 3

When Is It Time to Intensify?

Work through a final consultation case and decide when a low-intensity classroom strategy should be maintained, modified, or supplemented with more individualized problem solving.

Decision 1 of 4

A student frequently leaves independent work unfinished. The teacher has not yet tried a clearly defined classroom intervention.

What is the most appropriate starting point?

The teacher implements a choice-based strategy for two weeks, but student behavior does not improve.

What should be examined before calling the intervention ineffective?

Fidelity data show that the strategy was implemented as intended. The choices were meaningful to the student, but the target behavior has still shown little improvement.

What is the strongest next step?

The team now has data showing persistent, significant behavior across settings despite well-implemented classroom supports.

What is the best conclusion?

Interactive Activity 4

Build an Integrated Consultation Plan

Apply the seven recommendations as a coordinated problem-solving process. Use the case information in the activity to identify the primary classroom barrier, select appropriate supports, consider implementation fidelity, and determine how student response should guide the next decision.

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From Course to Practice

A Practical Consultation Checklist

1. What is the observable concern? Define behavior before selecting an intervention.

2. What is happening in the environment? Examine expectations, antecedents, engagement opportunities, feedback, and instructional context.

3. Which strategy best matches the barrier? Select based on need rather than habit or convenience.

4. Can the teacher realistically implement it? Adjust the plan without losing the essential intervention component.

5. How will fidelity be checked? Define what adequate implementation should look like.

6. How will student response be measured? Decide in advance what meaningful improvement would look like.

Course Summary

Bringing the Seven Recommendations Together

The WWC practice guide provides seven low-intensity, teacher-delivered approaches that can strengthen classroom behavior support in grades K–5.
School psychologists can use these recommendations to structure consultation rather than simply provide teachers with isolated strategy suggestions.
Intervention selection should begin with a clearly defined concern and an examination of the classroom context.
More than one recommendation may be appropriate when different components address different barriers.
Feasibility and implementation fidelity must be considered when evaluating whether an intervention is working.
Student response data should guide decisions to maintain, modify, combine, intensify, or discontinue a strategy.
Low-intensity classroom supports remain valuable, but they do not replace individualized assessment and intervention when student needs require a higher level of support.

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