Writing Rockstar: An Independent Group Contingency for Improving Classroom Behavior During Writer’s Workshop

To meet the elusive goal of translating educational research into educational practice, the expertise of both researchers and teachers is required, each informing the roles and practices of the other. In this chapter, the authors show how the bidirectional influences might be augmented by directly involving teachers, preservice and in-service, in the research. The authors use a case study format to illustrate how early career teachers utilized a nine-step research process designed to emulate a databased decision-making model for implementing socially valid, evidence-based interventions with fidelity. The authors highlight how they designed and implemented an independent group contingency with mystery motivators across three classroom settings using a rigorous yet feasible approach to address a meaningful problem of practice.