TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF LEVEL SYSTEM EFFECTIVENESS ON THE BEHAVIOR OF STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL OR BEHAVIORAL-DISORDERS

Students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) present signific ant academic and behavior management challenges for educators. As such , educators are constantly seeking interventions that are effective in assisting students with EBD to manage their own behavior and achieve success in school. One behavioral management approach that educators f requently recommend is the level system. As a first step to better und erstand level systems, we conducted a large-scale survey to determine the extent of level system use, the characteristics of teacher acid st udents who use level systems, level system characteristics and procedu res, teacher perceptions of level system effectiveness, and teacher sa tisfaction with level systems. Analysis of data revealed extensive use of level systems, similarities and differences between level system u sers and nonusers, characteristics common to level systems, and incons istencies in perceptions of effectiveness and satisfaction. Finally, w e offer implications of our findings for educators and provide suggest ions for further level system research.