Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher [Paperback]

Robert J. Marzano (Author), Jana S. Marzano (Author), Debra J. Pickering (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0871207931 | ISBN-13: 978-0871207937 | Publication Date: October 2003

How does classroom management affect student achievement? What techniques do teachers find most effective? How important are schoolwide policies and practices in setting the tone for individual classroom management? In this follow-up to What Works in Schools, Robert J. Marzano analyzes research from more than 100 studies on classroom management to discover the answers to these questions and more. He then applies these findings to a series of "Action Steps"--specific strategies that educators can use to

• Get the classroom management effort off to a good start, • Establish effective rules and procedures, • Implement appropriate disciplinary interventions, • Foster productive student-teacher relationships, • Develop a positive "mental set," • Help students contribute to a positive learning environment, and • Activate schoolwide measures for effective classroom management. Marzano and his coauthors Jana S. Marzano and Debra Pickering provide real stories of teachers and students in classroom situations to help illustrate how the action steps can be used successfully in different situations. In each chapter, they also review the strengths and weaknesses of programs with proven track records. With student behavior and effective discipline a growing concern in schools, this comprehensive analysis is a timely guide to the critical role of classroom management in student learning and achievement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 143 pages
• Publisher: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Deve (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871207931
• ISBN-13: 978-0871207937
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 130 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What if this is as good as it gets?, January 14, 2006

By 

Kevin Henry (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher (Paperback)

First, I should start by saying I'm a 23-year-old teacher who graduated from Penn State University. I've been teaching now for about 5 months.

I have bought about a dozen education "how-to" books from Amazon over the past year, and the best purchase I have made (by far) is the first book by this author, "Classroom Instruction that Works." So I think that my expectations when buying this book may have been too high.

The best part of this book is, like the first book, everything is based solidly in research which is outlined in a detailed, yet easy to understand format. However, this book just doesn't thrill me...here's why:

1) Part of this book focuses on school-wide discipline systems. This is pretty much useless to me as a classroom teacher.

2) Unlike "Classroom Instruction...," this book's design is to break each item down by first talking about the issue in an elementary school setting and then in a secondary school setting. Therefore, right off the bat, about half the book is useless to me.

3) This book describes the biggest management factors and where specific problems can arise, but it doesn't go into specific solutions.

4) Lastly, I feel that this book isn't as in-depth as I was hoping for. I think any teacher with any amount of experience is probably beyond the suggestions in this book. Overall, my students are well behaved, but I have one class that is consistently a problem. I was hoping this book would give me a new idea or approach. It didn't. Honestly, I'm way past making eye contact and proximity, if you know what I mean.

Overall, this isn't a bad book, but I can't say I found it helpful. Honestly, I hope the author got lazy or was rushed when writing this. Part of me is afraid that maybe this book is top quality and I'm the reason the management tools aren't working in my troubled class.

While, I haven't been very successful in finding a good, practical book about classroom management, if you're looking for a book about instruction techniques, I would recommend "Classroom Instruction that Works."

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This title is a bit misleading, December 22, 2006

By 

John Pearson "Author of Learn Me Good" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher (Paperback)

I think like many classroom teachers, one of my main difficulties is finding a good classroom management style that works. So I was looking forward to reading this book and getting some new ideas and information. However, the book does not really go into much detail about how to implement the strategies that they list. They really just kind of scratch the surface, naming a few effective strategies, but then spending the majority of their time talking about HOW effective these strategies are.
Imagine if your favorite television show was Lost on ABC. You found a book in the store called Lost -- America's New Classic. So you bought it, expecting to find cast information, episode synopses, and spoilers for upcoming seasons. Instead, upon opening the book, you find the results of studies done with Nielsen families and network executives, proving with hard data just how popular Lost is. No real information about the show, just a lot of tables, pie graphs, etc. to show its popularity.
This is effectively what Classroom Management That Works does. It does give a few tiny samples of some strategies to try, but mostly, they give charts and graphs about how many standard deviations away from the norm you can expect to be if you implement these strategies.
In some cases, in fact, I was not sure exactly how accurate I could take these results to be. When one study is done with 1,021 subjects, and another is done with only 109 subjects -- can you really compare the results side-by-side?
Overall an interesting read, but to be honest, not all that helpful.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classroom Management, October 4, 2007

By 

Mermaid - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher (Paperback)

I bought this book for a graduate course I'm currently taking. I wish I had this book years ago, when I first started teaching. Classroom management is the most important part of effective teaching. This book combines research and clearly explains what's most effective and what isn't.