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Incredible Years (IY): Teacher Classroom Management (TCM)

Category

Early Care and Education

Child's Age

4-5 years

Participant

ECE Teachers

Languages

English, Other

Brief Description

Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) is a prevention program designed to strengthen teacher classroom management strategies and promote children’s prosocial behaviors and school readiness (reading skills).

Expected Impact

  • Improved teacher-child relationships
  • Decrease in behavior problems in the classroom
  • Lower risk of clinically significant behavioral and socio-emotional problems in young children
  • Improvements in children’s social skills

Core Components for Model Fidelity

  • Video Vignettes: Group leaders follow monthly workshop session checklists, which include recommended vignettes to be shown at each session, and Collaborative Process Checklists. The group leaders introduce the new topic, discussing benefits and barriers and tailoring to each child’s unique developmental level. The group leader introduces video vignettes, pausing to pull out key principles and relating them to each unique child, and teachers’ goals to encourage group discussion.
  • Role-Play: Group leaders engage in large group and small group role-play practices with teachers, tailoring to child developmental levels. 
  • Tailored Behavior Plans: The group leaders help teachers develop tailored behavior plans for students and strategies for parent involvement. 
  • Homework: Homework is assigned after each session to highlight key principles and encourage teachers to practice their skills outside of the session.

Languages Materials are Available in

English, Other*

*Contact purveyor about additional available languages.

Delivery Mode

Groups of 10-20 teachers of children ages 4-8 years* meet with two trained group leaders for in-person training sessions. 

*Please note that Smart Start funds may only be used to provide this training program to educators of children ages 4-5 years.

Dosage

TCM requires 42 hours to complete. Ideally, TCM is delivered through 6 full-day (7 hour) sessions occurring once a month for 6 months. The program may be delivered through 12 half-day sessions and/or spread out weekly, monthly, or bimonthly to meet the needs of participants.

Infrastructure for Implementation

Materials: Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program curriculum kit; Incredible Teachers: Nurturing Children’s Social, Emotional, and Academic Competence books for teachers; Audiovisual equipment for showing video vignettes; Paper, pens, flipchart, markers, name tags, stickers or other prizes.

Space: Room large enough to seat 10-20 people in chairs in an open circle, with space for small group breakouts.

Other: Toys for role-play practice, name tags, snacks, and other considerations.

Staffing Requirements

Group sessions are led by 2 trained leaders who have completed the Teacher Classroom Management Training provided by Incredible Years. At least one group leader must have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Group leaders have experience as teachers, school psychologists, school counselors, behavior interventionists, and administrators. They also have classroom experience, have completed coursework in child development and educational best practices, and can work in a supportive and collaborative way with the teacher groups. 

Training for Model Fidelity

Group leaders must complete the Teacher Classroom Management Training provided as a 5-session virtual training or a 3-day in-person workshop in Seattle, WA. On-site, in-person training can be arranged if enough individuals are interested in becoming group leaders. For more information, please contact Lisa Wallace-Gloria at lisawg@incredibleyears.com.

Once trained, group leaders can begin their work with teacher groups. It is highly recommended that group leaders seek certification and connect with Incredible Years for ongoing, virtual consultation after completing the initial training to ensure they are delivering the program to teachers with fidelity.

Please view the Fact Sheet for Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management and the Incredible Years webpage for Teacher Classroom Management Program Group Leader Training for more information.

Contact Information

https://www.incredibleyears.com/early-intervention-programs/teachers

Lisa Wallace-Gloria, M.Ed.: incredibleyears@incredibleyears.com or lisawg@incredibleyears.com; 206-285-7565

Malaysia Guzman: IY Solutions Consultant; malaysiag@incredibleyears.com  

Cost Estimates

Startup Costs: 

  • Facilitator training ($890 per person) for 2 facilitators = $1780
  • IY-TCM Program curriculum kit = $1725
  • Textbook for teachers = $34 per copy. 
  • Other costs, such as photocopy costs, snacks, meeting room and staff time. 

Ongoing Costs: 

  • Facilitator consultation sessions with IY trainer (recommended, optional) = $265 per hour
  • Group leader certification (recommended, optional) = $920 per person for 2 facilitators = $1840. 
  • Teacher textbooks = $34 each. 
  • Other costs, such as photocopy costs, snacks, meeting room and staff time.

Purpose Service Code (PSC)

3109 - Training and Coaching/Mentoring 

Program Identifier (PID)

Incredible Years (IY) - Teacher Classroom Management (TCM)

Minimal Outputs for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  • Number of child care staff participating
  • Number of child care facilities with at least one staff person participating * 

Minimal Outcomes for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  •  More children on track for typical and/or enhanced development

Minimal Measures for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  • Child Behavior Checklist

NCPC Evidence Categorization

Evidence Based- 2 studies, both of which used control groups.

Research Summary

Two of the most recent and relevant studies on Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) include a quasi-experimental study in the Azores of Portugal during COVID-191 and another quasi-experimental study in Norway.2 The studies sampled early childhood educators of children ages 3-6 years. Many of the children served lived in urban areas and were eligible for free lunch. Measures included demographic questionnaires, reports of maternal education level, the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales- Second Edition (PKBS-2), the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF), and the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale Short Form (STRS-SF). Assessments were completed before and after the intervention, with the Portuguese study including a follow-up assessment at the one-year mark. Results of these studies found that participation in TCM was associated with improvements in children’s social skills, a decrease in behavior problems in the classroom, and improved teacher-child relationships. Children whose teachers completed TCM were less likely than their peers in the control group to score in the clinical range for behavior and socio-emotional problems. Teachers reported less conflict and greater closeness with their preschoolers after completing TCM. These findings were consistent for children who were impacted by COVID-19, who were in preschool for the first time, who scored in the clinical range for internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and who received free lunch.

  1. ^ See Major et al. (2024). This article reports findings from a quasi-experimental study of Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY-TCM) with a non-randomized control group based in the Azores of Portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic. The final sample population included 30 public preschool teachers from five school districts. Together, the teachers serve 476 children with a mean age of 4.41 years. Most children lived in urban areas (56.6%) and about half were eligible for free lunch (44.4%). The authors used a mixed methods approach to assigning participants to the control and intervention groups. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, half of the participating teachers were assigned to a group based on their availability and the other half were randomly assigned to a group. Children whose teachers were randomly assigned to the IY-TCM group were significantly less likely than the children in the control group to be eligible for free lunch (p = 0.004). Most teachers held a bachelor's degree (45.5%) or a license in education (54.4%). The IY-TCM training was provided by trained facilitators in person via 7 monthly workshops, each lasting about 6 hours for a total of 42 hours of instruction. Measures included demographic questionnaires, reports of maternal education level, and the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales- Second Edition (PKBS-2). Assessments were completed at pre- and post-intervention (1 month after the IY-TCM group completed the training) as well as a follow-up 1 year after the training. After completing IY-TCM, teachers reported statistically significant improvements in children's social skills compared to the control group, with scores on the PKBS-2 Social Skills scale increasing over time (p = 0.001). Teachers also indicated that children in the IY-TCM group demonstrated a significant decrease in behavior problems over time as measured by the PKBS-2 Problem Behavior and Supplemental subscales (p-values ranged from p = 0.001 to p = 0.043). Children in the IY-TCM group were more likely than the control group to move out of the high-risk level for socio-emotional problems, with 7.3% of children in the IY-TCM group included in the at-risk level at follow-up compared to 14.3% of the control group. Similarly, children in the IY-TCM group were less likely to be in the at-risk level for behavioral risks at follow-up, with 7.3% of the IY-TCM children scoring in the at-risk level compared to 16.8% of children in the control group. When exploring interaction effects, the authors found that children who were in preschool for the first time and children receiving free lunch demonstrated significantly greater improvements in social skills from pre-intervention to follow-up (p = 0.031). These results indicate that IY-TCM has positive effects on children's socio-emotional development, including social skills in preschool, as reported by their teachers, even a year after completing the training. Study limitations include potential impacts due to COVID-19 and a high dropout rate for children (49.9%) which may be attributed to older children transitioning to primary school. The authors also emphasized a need for additional long-term follow-up assessments.
  2. ^ See Tveit et al. (2020). This study used a quasi-experimental pre-post design with a matched control group to assess outcomes of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY-TCM) program. The sample population included 1,065 children ages 3-6 years (M = 4.28) from 89 child care centers in Norway. The child care centers were assigned to the control (n = 535) or intervention (IY-TCM, n = 530) groups based on willingness to participate in the intervention and matching based on geographical location and number of children enrolled. The authors also analyzed outcomes for subsamples of children based on their scores on the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF). Children scoring in the clinical range (90th percentile) on the C-TRF for internalizing (n = 47 intervention, 48 control) or externalizing behavior problems (n = 46 intervention, 50 control). Participants completed assessments 1-3 weeks before IY-TCM began and 1-3 weeks after the final session. Measures included a demographical survey, the C-TRF, and the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale Short Form (STRS-SF). The intervention group completed 6 full-day workshops over the course of 8-9 months. Workshops were led by two qualified, trained facilitators with backgrounds in education and psychological services who completed intensive training and had higher education qualifications in relevant fields such as psychology, teaching, or special education. By follow-up, 121 children had dropped out of the study. Analyses indicated that children in the control group who were lost to follow-up scored lower on the STRS-SF for Closeness (p = 0.003) and scored higher on the STRS-SF for Conflict (p = 0.036) and C-TRF for internalizing behaviors (p = 0.008). There were no other significant differences between groups or attrition interactions. Compared with the control group, teachers who completed IY-TCM reported greater improvements in Closeness (p < 0.001) and Conflict (p < 0.001) in their teacher-child relationships as measured by the STRS-SF. The subsample of children who scored in the clinical range for internalizing behaviors demonstrated improvements on the STRS-SF for Closeness (p = 0.006) and Conflict (p = 0.024). The externalizing group also improved significantly on the STRS-SF for Closeness (p = 0.033) and Conflict (p = 0.011). These results indicate that participation in IY-TCM was associated with improved teacher-child relationships. Study limitations include the lack of long-term follow-up assessments to see if the impacts last or change over time as well as the reliance on child care centers to opt in to participating which could introduce biases into the study. The authors also note that the facilitators were trained by IY Norway, not the researchers themselves, so they were unable to control for model fidelity, and the assessments reflect teachers' perceptions of problem behaviors, rather than what is considered behavioral problems.

Researched Population

  • Early childhood educators of children ages 3-6 years
  • Early childhood educators of children who live in urban areas and are eligible for free lunch

Major, S. O., Gaspar, M. F., Palos, A. C., & Pereira, M. D. (2024). Effectiveness of the Incredible Years® Teacher Classroom Management program: Preschool children's outcomes. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 90. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2023.101616

Tveit, H. H., Drugli, M.B., Fossum, S., Handegård, B. H., & Stenseng, F. (2020). Does the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program improve child–teacher relationships in childcare centers? A 1-year universal intervention in a Norwegian community sample. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 29. 625–636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-019-01387-5



Local Partnerships Currently Implementing

Local Partnerships in purple have adopted Incredible Years (IY): Teacher Classroom Management (TCM). Local Partnership contact information can be found here.