Planned Ignoring¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Planned ignoring is a classroom management strategy in which the teacher deliberately withholds attention — eye contact, verbal response, emotional reaction — from a student's minor attention-seeking misbehavior (e.g., calling out, off-hand comments, posturing), while actively attending to and reinforcing compliant behavior. It operates on the operant principle that behaviors maintained by adult attention will extinguish when that reinforcement is removed Operant conditioning: behaviors followed by reinforcement increase; behaviors without reinforcement decline. [+S].

Design Implications¶

Attention is one of the most powerful reinforcers in a classroom; planned ignoring removes it from unwanted behavior while keeping it available for wanted behavior, making the contrast — not the withdrawal alone — the active ingredient [+S]. Ignoring must always be paired with reinforcement of the replacement behavior; withholding attention without teaching and rewarding an alternative simply removes one reinforcer without building a better option.

Context¶

Requirements¶

• The behavior is maintained by attention (not escape from task or access to a tangible) — a functional assessment judgment
• The behavior is minor and does not disrupt peers' learning or safety; disruption to others ends the ignoring option
• Simultaneous, frequent reinforcement of the desired replacement behavior (e.g., hand-raising) so the student has a productive route to attention
• Consistency across staff and settings; intermittent attention resets the behavior on a variable schedule and makes it more resistant to extinction
• Tolerance for an "extinction burst" — the behavior typically worsens briefly before it declines

Constraints¶

• Ineffective — and can escalate — when the behavior is escape-maintained: ignoring work refusal may function as a reward [~M]
• Inconsistent implementation (occasional reminders or reactions) places the behavior on an intermittent reinforcement schedule, strengthening it [~S]
• Ignoring behaviors that harm or distract peers shifts the cost to other students and models non-response to problems [-M]
• Can damage relationships if the student perceives it as coldness; pair with private check-ins rather than public silence
• Culturally contingent: what reads as "calling out" varies across norms, and ignoring can compound inequitable discipline patterns if applied without awareness [-W]

Implementation Variability¶

• Selective attention: continue teaching, redirect attention to compliant students ("I like how Marcus raised his hand") rather than visibly ignoring
• Proximity and private signaling: move near the student or use a pre-taught silent cue instead of public ignoring
• Group contingency versions: ignore the behavior while praising peers meeting expectations
• Home–school coordination: parents apply the same protocol for consistency across settings

Target Learners¶

• Young learners (preschool–elementary) whose minor misbehaviors are most often attention-maintained [+M]
• Students seeking connection through negative attention; most effective when combined with relationship-building and positive attention outside the ignored moments
• Less appropriate for adolescents in front of peers, where public ignoring can become a social contest [~W]

Target Learning Goals¶

• Not an academic goal strategy — it serves classroom climate and behavioral prerequisites for learning
• Establishing instructional routines and norms early in the year
• Replacing disruptive attention-seeking with compliant participation behaviors

Instructions¶

1. Identify the behavior and hypothesize its function; confirm it is attention-maintained and minor enough to ignore safely.
2. Define the replacement behavior explicitly and teach it (Explicit Instruction).
3. Pre-teach or privately explain the plan to the student where appropriate ("When I don't answer right away, raise your hand and I'll call on you").
4. When the behavior occurs, withhold all attention — no eye contact, pause, sigh, or verbal response — and immediately attend to a nearby student displaying the replacement behavior.
5. Reinforce the replacement behavior promptly and generously when it appears.
6. Expect an initial escalation; maintain consistency until the behavior declines, then thin the reinforcement schedule.

Related Strategies¶

• Praise and specific positive reinforcement — the necessary complement; ignoring without reinforcement is half a procedure
• Group contingencies — a variant channel for delivering attention to compliant peers
• Functional behavior assessment — the diagnostic step that determines whether ignoring is appropriate at all

Examples¶

• A first-grade teacher ignores a student's repeated calling out while narrating and calling on hand-raisers; calling out drops over two weeks as hand-raising is consistently reinforced.
• PAX Good Behavior Game (https://www.paxis.org) — team-based classroom protocol that withholds reinforcement from off-task behavior while rewarding teams meeting behavioral standards; extensive RCT evidence for reduced disruption [+S].
• A middle-school teacher privately agrees with a student on a silent cue, avoiding public ignoring that would invite peer audience.

Key Sources¶

• Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
• Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Macmillan.
• Kellam, S. G., et al. (2011). The impact of the Good Behavior Game, a universal classroom-based preventive intervention in first and second grades, on high-risk sexual behaviors and drug abuse and dependence disorders into young adulthood. Prevention Science, 12(1), 62–73. doi:10.1007/s11121-012-0296-z
• Simonsen, B., Fairbanks, S., Briesch, A., Myers, D., & Sugai, G. (2008). Evidence-based practices in classroom management: Considerations for research to practice. Education and Treatment of Children, 31(1), 351-380. doi:10.1353/etc.0.0007