Insights

Ask any teacher: managing challenging behavior in the classroom isn’t easy—especially when you’re just starting out. But what if the key isn’t about control, but connection?

That question inspired us to explore what happens when pre-service educators are trained in Collaborative Problem Solving^® (CPS)—a compassionate, evidence-based approach to understanding and responding to challenging behavior.

At Think:Kids, we partnered with a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program at a small university in the Northeast to find out: Could training in CPS better prepare student-teachers to manage behavior, build confidence, and feel more ready to lead a classroom? The results of this mixed-methods study—collected between December 2023 and May 2024—suggest the answer is yes.

Here’s what we learned, and why it matters for both new and seasoned educators.

Real Tools for Real Classrooms

Over 30 student-teachers received 16 hours of CPS training while completing their student-teaching in a local district. What did they take away? Practical strategies they could actually use.

“CPS gave me concrete ideas—de-escalation tactics, sentence frames, questions to ask—it wasn’t just theory,” one participant shared.

By March—just a few months into applying what they learned—28 out of 31 participants had already used CPS strategies, and 26 had facilitated a full CPS problem-solving conversation with a student. That’s a remarkable rate of adoption for new teachers navigating the real-world challenges of classrooms.

Shifting Mindsets: From "Will" to "Skill"

Perhaps the most powerful shift was in how these pre-service educators came to understand student behavior. Before CPS, many thought misbehavior was a choice. After CPS, more began to see it differently: not as a matter of willfulness, but as a sign that a student was struggling with the skills they needed to succeed.

This shift mattered. Those who embraced this mindset saw a boost in their confidence to manage classrooms effectively. As one student-teacher put it, “It helped me reframe student behavior and feel more prepared to respond thoughtfully instead of reacting.”

What We Learned About What Works

Like any training, there’s always room for growth. Student-teachers appreciated the depth of the CPS training, but some wished it were offered earlier—and in shorter, more interactive sessions. Others wanted more time to connect CPS strategies directly to the students they were working with.

These are common requests, especially among new teachers balancing coursework, lesson planning, and classroom management. The good news? These are easy adjustments that can make the training even more effective.

Building Confidence—One Conversation at a Time

Although this was a small study, the takeaway is clear: Collaborative Problem Solving can give future educators the tools and mindset they need to thrive.

Even without formal coaching or long-term support, most of student-teachers felt that CPS helped them grow professionally. Those who aligned more with the CPS philosophy of understanding and solving problems collaboratively—not punitively—also felt more confident managing their classrooms.

That’s worth paying attention to.

Why This Matters Beyond Student Teachers

Although this study focused on pre-service teachers, many of the challenges they named—limited time and uncertainty about how to respond to student behavior—are also common among experienced educators. While we didn’t study in-service teachers in this evaluation, we would expect that the benefits of CPS—such as increased confidence and improved understanding of student behavior—would apply to current educators as well.

The early results from this small pilot suggest that when educators shift their mindset from seeing misbehavior as willful to understanding it as a signal of lagging skills, it can change how they respond—and how they feel in the classroom.

We’re excited by these initial findings and hopeful about what they mean not just for those learning to teach, but for anyone committed to doing things differently in their classroom. As schools continue to prioritize trauma-informed and relational approaches, CPS is a powerful, practical tool worth considering.