NYSTCE ATAS Classroom Management and Behavioral Support Strategies 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student regularly disrupts the class by making jokes during direct instruction. The teacher ignores the behavior. This approach is called:
- Punishment
- Planned ignoring or extinction (Correct answer)
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
Correct answer: Planned ignoring or extinction
Planned ignoring (extinction) removes the social attention that reinforces attention-seeking behavior, reducing its frequency over time.
Question 2: A behavior intervention plan (BIP) instructs the teaching assistant to provide a token when the student completes work quietly. This is an example of:
- A token economy system used as positive reinforcement (Correct answer)
- A punishment-based intervention
- Negative reinforcement by removing an unpleasant task
- A response cost system
Correct answer: A token economy system used as positive reinforcement
A token economy awards tokens (positive reinforcement) for desired behaviors, which can be exchanged for rewards, increasing the target behavior.
Question 3: A student frequently leaves their seat without permission. What is the FIRST step in addressing this behavior?
- Immediately call the student's parents
- Observe and document when, how often, and under what conditions the behavior occurs (Correct answer)
- Physically block the student from leaving the seat
- Remove all seating options and have the student stand all day
Correct answer: Observe and document when, how often, and under what conditions the behavior occurs
Systematic observation and data collection identify patterns that inform effective, individualized interventions for chronic off-task behaviors.
Question 4: Which statement BEST describes the teaching assistant's appropriate role in classroom discipline?
- Make and enforce disciplinary decisions independently from the teacher
- Support the teacher's classroom management plan consistently and refer major discipline issues to the teacher (Correct answer)
- Discipline students more harshly to reinforce that rules must be followed
- Avoid addressing any behavioral issues so as not to overstep the role
Correct answer: Support the teacher's classroom management plan consistently and refer major discipline issues to the teacher
Teaching assistants support and reinforce the teacher's established classroom management plan while referring serious discipline to the supervising teacher.
Question 5: A student with a behavior intervention plan earns a break after completing five math problems. What behavioral principle does this schedule use?
- Continuous reinforcement
- Fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement (Correct answer)
- Variable interval schedule of reinforcement
- Punishment schedule
Correct answer: Fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement
A fixed ratio schedule provides reinforcement after a set number of responses, in this case after every five completed problems.
Question 6: A teaching assistant should avoid using sarcasm or public humiliation when addressing student misbehavior because:
- It takes too much time away from instruction
- It damages the student-adult relationship, reduces trust, and can escalate rather than de-escalate behavior (Correct answer)
- Other students may imitate the sarcastic behavior
- School policy prohibits any verbal correction
Correct answer: It damages the student-adult relationship, reduces trust, and can escalate rather than de-escalate behavior
Sarcasm and public humiliation damage trust, undermine the relational foundation of effective support, and are more likely to escalate than correct behavior.
NYSTCE ATAS Classroom Management and Behavioral Support Strategies 2
A student regularly disrupts the class by making jokes during direct instruction.
The teacher ignores the behavior.
This approach is called: