Good Behavior Game spotlight

Faculty Focus is spotlighting a March 30, 2026 article that says college instructors can use the Good Behavior Game to turn isolated classroom management habits into a shared team strategy. (facultyfocus.com) The article was written by Karen Poland, Jennifer M. Owsiany, and Jeff Faunce, who said the idea grew out of a College of Education initiative called Supporting Our Scholarship and a side conversation about low student engagement. (facultyfocus.com) The Good Behavior Game is a team-based system first described in 1969 that has students earn points for meeting classroom rules, such as answering content questions and avoiding cell-phone use or side conversations. (facultyfocus.com; ies.ed.gov) The model has a larger research base in kindergarten through grade 12 than in college classrooms. A 2024 revision of the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse report said 16 studies met its standards and found strong evidence of positive effects on student behavior. (ies.ed.gov) That evidence review said the program is used from prekindergarten through grade 12 and aims to reduce disruptive behavior while improving academic engagement and prosocial behavior. The same review rated evidence on teacher practice, writing conventions, and writing productivity as promising rather than strong. (ies.ed.gov) Faculty Focus is pushing the idea into higher education at a time when its authors describe texting, distraction, and uneven participation as shared problems across disciplines rather than isolated instructor failures. (facultyfocus.com) The article argues that the collaboration matters as much as the game itself. Poland, Owsiany, and Faunce said one faculty member brought instructional design experience, another brought relationship-building work from kindergarten through grade 12, and a third brought experience using behavioral strategies in both school and college classrooms. (facultyfocus.com) Newer research suggests the approach is still being tested and adapted outside its original settings. A December 23, 2025 cluster-randomized trial in PLOS Mental Health followed 43 classrooms across five schools and found classroom conduct, on-task behavior, and climate moved in a positive direction, but the estimates were imprecise. (journals.plos.org) That leaves the higher-education pitch in an early stage: a well-studied behavior tool from kindergarten through grade 12 is being recast for college instructors who want common rules, team incentives, and fewer siloed responses to distraction. (facultyfocus.com; ies.ed.gov)