Program Goals/Target Population
Consistency Management & Cooperative Discipline® (CMCD®) is a classroom and school reform model where teachers and students jointly become responsible for learning and classroom organization. It is designed to improve student behavior, instructional management, and classroom climate, with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement.
The model seeks to address the needs of students, teachers, and administrative staff in schools from prekindergarten through 12th grade. The target population is inner city youth.
Program Components
CMCD® seeks to prevent disruptive behavior before it begins and diminishes productive time in the classroom. Though it is implemented initially in individual classrooms, the model is meant to be implemented as a schoolwide program. The components of the model are designed to foster a classroom environment that concentrates on active learning through a climate of respect and discipline. The model endorses five central themes: prevention, caring, organization, cooperation, and community.
The consistency management component concentrates on classroom instructional organization and planning arrangement by the teacher (seating arrangements, passing out papers, etc.). The teacher acts as an instructional leader, striving to create a predictable environment where distractions are reduced. For instance, lesson objectives and assignments are listed on the board daily, so students recognize and follow routine activities. The classroom thereby becomes an agent of change.
The cooperative discipline component expands leadership roles to the students by giving each student multiple leadership opportunities. For instance, students take over many of the tasks traditionally managed by teachers (e.g., tracking forms, passing out papers). Classroom meetings provide an opportunity for students to share their opinions, as well as learn how to solve disputes and work in groups. Together, the consistency and cooperative components are meant to create a sense of belonging for all students.
To be implemented, 70 percent of the staff must vote in support of the project. CMCD® is then phased in, in three stages: first in the classroom, then in the broader school environment (e.g., in common areas such as hallways or the cafeteria), and finally through the development of site capacity (e.g., through leadership training).
