Feasibility of and teacher preference for student‐led implementation of the good behavior game in early elementary classrooms

Donaldson et al. (2018) asked if five- and six-year-olds could run the Good Behavior Game on their own.

They trained kindergarteners to pick teams, watch for rule breaks, and hand out points.

Then they compared student-run games to teacher-run games in general-ed classrooms.

Disruptive behavior dropped just as much when kids ran the game.

Teachers liked the idea, but some still wanted to stay in charge.

Amore et al. (2011) already showed teacher-led GBG works in kindergarten. Donaldson simply moved the clipboard from adult hands to kid hands.

Peltier et al. (2023) later repeated the same test with more classes and found the same result: kids can lead and still cut disruption.

Groves et al. (2019) eased a worry—student-led GBG did not spark negative peer pressure in special-ed rooms either.

You can hand the game to the class after one short training. Students gain self-management skills while you keep teaching. Try it on a Friday: let two student captains run the rules and watch if chaos drops. If it works, you just gained extra minutes for instruction.