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Behavioral Monitoring and Reinforcement Program (BMRP)

Public Health & Prevention: School-based
  Literature review updated February 2020.
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The Behavioral Monitoring and Reinforcement Program (BMRP) is a school-based intervention that aims to prevent juvenile delinquency, substance use, and school failure for adolescents at high-risk for school dropout. For two school years, beginning in 7th grade, students' school records are monitored for attendance, tardiness, and disciplinary action by program staff, often a teacher at the school. Program staff informs parents of their student's progress in school. Mentoring teachers submit weekly reports to classroom teachers that assess students' punctuality, preparedness, and behavior in the classroom. Students with good evaluations earn rewards. Each week, small groups of students meet with a staff member to discuss their problem behaviors, the consequences for those behaviors, and role-play prosocial alternatives.

Student participants in the studies are "at-risk" if they presented low academic motivation, were living in families where household members exhibited substance use problems, or received several office discipline referrals over a semester.
In this analysis, we include evaluations of the Behavioral Monitoring and Reinforcement Program, the Achievement Mentoring Program, and the Early Secondary Intervention Program as they are all iterations or adaptations of the same general program.
 
ALL
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic in order to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the types of program impacts that were measured in the research literature (for example, 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.

Adjusted effect sizes are used to calculate the benefits from our benefit cost model. WSIPP may adjust effect sizes based on methodological characteristics of the study. For example, we may adjust effect sizes when a study has a weak research design or when the program developer is involved in the research. The magnitude of these adjustments varies depending on the topic area.

WSIPP may also adjust the second ES measurement. Research shows the magnitude of some effect sizes decrease 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. We also report the unadjusted effect size to show the effect sizes before any adjustments have been made. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Adjusted effect size(ES) and standard error(SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Dropout
Leaves school for any reason before completing school with a high school diploma.
 15 1 87 -0.252 0.282 16 -0.663 0.021
Grade point average
Non-standardized measure of student performance calculated across subjects.
15 5 170 0.188 0.122 16 0.389 0.002
Office discipline referrals
Referrals of a student to an administrative office for disciplinary reasons.
15 1 49 -0.304 0.223 15 -0.304 0.173
School attendance
Number or percentage of school days present in a given enrollment period.
 15 5 137 0.192 0.161 16 0.516 0.003
Illicit drug use before end of high school
Any use of illicit drugs by the end of high school, typically between ages 14 to 18. When possible, we exclude cannabis/marijuana use disorder from this outcome.
 15 1 30 -0.166 0.542 18 -0.436 0.426

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Bry, B.H., & George, F.E. (1979). Evaluating and improving prevention programs: A strategy from drug abuse. Evaluation and Program Planning, 2(2), 127-136.

Bry, B.H., & George, F.E. (1980). The preventive effects of early intervention on the attendance and grades of urban adolescents. Professional Psychology, 11(2), 252-260.

Bry, B.H. (1982). Reducing the incidence of adolescent problems through preventive intervention: One- and five-year follow-up. American Journal of Community Psychology, 10(3), 265-276.

Bry, B.H. (2001). Achievement mentoring makes a difference: 1999-2001 program evaluation results for Bry’s Behavioral Monitoring and Reinforcement Achievement Mentoring Program. Rochester, NY: Rochester City School District.

Holt, L., Bry, B., & Johnson, V. (2008). Enhancing school engagement in at-risk, urban minority adolescents through a school-based, adult mentoring intervention. Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 30(4), 297-318.

Taylor, A.L. (2010). Testing a model of change in achievement mentoring for school behavior problems (Doctoral Dissertation). New Brunswick, NJ.