The Good Behavior Game is a two-year classroom management strategy designed to improve aggressive/disruptive classroom behavior and prevent later criminality. After teachers establish shared behavior expectations in their classroom, teams of students play the game throughout the day and may receive rewards by minimizing negative behaviors. The program is universal and can be applied to general populations of early elementary school children (1st and 2nd grades).

 

^{^}WSIPP’s benefit-cost model does not monetize this outcome.

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured	Treatment age	Primary or secondary participant	No. of effect sizes	Treatment N	Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) used in the benefit-cost analysis						Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
					First time ES is estimated			Second time ES is estimated
					ES	SE	Age	ES	SE	Age	ES	p-value
High school graduation On-time completion of high school with a diploma (excluding GED attainment).	7	Primary	2	181	0.075	0.145	20	0.075	0.145	20	0.198	0.183
Smoking before end of middle school Any smoking of tobacco by the end of middle school, typically by age 13.	7	Primary	1	263	-0.238	0.092	11	-0.238	0.092	13	-0.238	0.010
Regular smoking Smoking tobacco on a regular basis.	7	Primary	2	181	-0.107	0.206	20	-0.107	0.206	30	-0.280	0.175
Alcohol use disorder Clinical diagnosis of alcohol use disorder or symptoms measured on a validated scale.	7	Primary	1	176	-0.118	0.322	20	-0.118	0.322	30	-0.312	0.374
Major depressive disorder Clinical diagnosis of major depression or symptoms measured on a validated scale.	7	Primary	3	424	-0.118	0.145	15	0.000	0.310	17	-0.126	0.388
Illicit drug use disorder Clinical diagnosis of illicit drug use disorder or symptoms measured on a validated scale. When possible, we exclude cannabis/marijuana use disorder from this outcome.	7	Primary	2	181	-0.095	0.209	20	-0.095	0.209	30	-0.242	0.264
Anxiety disorder Clinical diagnosis of an anxiety disorder (e.g., general anxiety, panic, social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder) or symptoms measured on a validated scale.	7	Primary	3	424	-0.089	0.138	15	-0.035	0.071	16	-0.069	0.615
Externalizing behavior symptoms Symptoms of externalizing behavior (e.g., aggressive, hostile, or disruptive behavior) measured on a validated scale.	7	Primary	2	425	-0.586	0.124	8	-0.322	0.158	11	-0.586	0.001
Suicide attempts^ An attempt to die by suicide resulting in survival.	7	Primary	1	178	-0.118	0.173	20	n/a	n/a	n/a	-0.309	0.106
Antisocial personality disorder^ Clinical diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder or symptoms measured on a validated scale.	7	Primary	1	179	-0.112	0.294	20	n/a	n/a	n/a	-0.295	0.350
Smoking before end of high school Any smoking of tobacco by the end of high school, typically between ages 14 and 18.	7	Primary	1	348	-0.073	0.083	13	-0.073	0.083	18	-0.193	0.023
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms Clinical diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or symptoms measured on a validated scale.	7	Primary	1	263	-0.270	0.092	9	0.000	0.141	10	-0.270	0.004
Suicidal ideation^ Thinking about and/or planning death by suicide.	7	Primary	1	178	-0.159	0.151	20	n/a	n/a	n/a	-0.420	0.015
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