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Coach Effectiveness Training (CET) has been shown to have positive effects on a range of outcome variables, especially in young athletes (Smith & Smoll, 2005). Based on CET principles, and coupled with behavioral feedback, an individualized goal-setting intervention was developed and assessed using a replicated case study approach. Outcome variables included observed, athlete-perceived, and coach-perceived behaviors measured before the intervention and late in the season, as well as coaches’ evaluations of the intervention. Four soccer coaches selected three target behaviors that they wished to improve after viewing videotaped behavioral feedback. Behavioral assessment revealed that two of the coaches achieved positive changes on all three of their targeted behaviors. A third coach improved on two of the three targeted behaviors. The fourth coach did not achieve any of the established goals. We conclude that this approach is sufficiently promising to warrant additional research, and we discuss strengths and limitations of the study.

Based on sequential behavior analysis (SBA) approaches to clinical practice activities (Sharpe, Lounsbery, & Bahls, 1997) and on results from school-university collaboration approaches to teacher education (Sharpe, Lounsbery, Golden, & Deibler, 1999), this study analyzed the effects of different supervisory personnel and practice-teaching settings on the relative effectiveness of SBA feedback and goal-setting practices. Teaching performances of two matched groups of undergraduates (N = 4) were observed. An A-B-A-C multiple baseline design with a treatment reversal across participants was used. The B-phase consisted of school-based practice teaching, the C-phase consisted of peer-based practice teaching, and the multiple baseline represented the differing times in which the same SBA feedback treatment was administered. Results demonstrated substantial improvement in select teacher and student practices in the school-based setting but a limited effect in the peer-based setting. Participant response data provided additional support for school-based activities. This study endorses a collaborative field-based approach to teacher education and contradicts the literature in nonsupport.

Audio-cueing was used as the intervention to increase an experienced male physical educator’s use of verbal positive behavior feedback and specific positive skill feedback. The intervention was introduced by using a multiple baseline design across behaviors, with percent of management time as a concurrent baseline. Visual analysis of graphs showed the effectiveness of the intervention. Across both target behaviors, audio-cueing produced immediate and substantial changes as evidenced by changes in level and the absence of data overlap. Subsequent statistical analysis was possible in light of the absence of serial dependency in the data. T-test results supported the findings established through visual analysis. For both target behaviors, differences between baseline and intervention data were statistically significant (p<.01).

Supervision patterns of elementary physical educators were analyzed in relation to work involvement patterns of students in each teacher’s class. The supervision patterns analyzed included teacher location, rate of movement, and provision of verbal feedback. Work involvement by students was categorized into on-task, off-task, total motor engagement, and successful motor engagement (ALT-PE). Results showed that teachers spent more time along the periphery of the activity area, and that they were positioned more along the sides. They were active movers, averaging six sector changes per minute, and active in providing verbal feedback (3.2/min). Teacher feedback patterns did not correlate with teacher location/movement patterns. Teachers’ location (periphery) and movement correlated significantly with students’ total motor engagement. Teacher movement also correlated significantly with ALT-PE. Positive behavior feedback correlated with students’ on-task behaviors. Findings indicate that active supervision is important in maintaining students’ involvement with learning tasks in physical education.

Little League Baseball coaches were exposed to a preseason training program designed to assist them in relating more effectively to children. Empirically derived behavioral guidelines were presented and modeled, and behavioral feedback and self-monitoring were used to enhance self-awareness and to encourage compliance with the guidelines. Trained coaches differed from controls in both overt and player-perceived behaviors in a manner consistent with the behavioral guidelines. They were also evaluated more positively by their players, and a higher level of intrateam attraction was found on their teams despite the fact that they did not differ from controls in won-lost records. Children who played for the trained coaches exhibited a significant increase in general self-esteem compared with scores obtained a year earlier; control group children did not. The greatest differences in attitudes toward trained and control coaches were found among children low in self-esteem, and such children appeared most sensitive to variations in coaches' use of encouragement, punishment, and technical instruction.