Disruptive behaviors requiring intervention occur across multiple school systems, including individual students and classrooms. Such behaviors, including talking aloud in class, getting out of one's seat, or more serious behaviors, can be frustrating for other students as well as teachers, who are trying to help students meet ever-increasing academic expectations. Although some behaviors are the result of an individual child who has difficulty complying with a teacher's classroom expectations, other behavior problems may be because of entire groups of students in the classroom whose behaviors are judged by school personnel as problematic. One method of encouraging desirable behaviors in classrooms involves the careful manipulation of group contingencies, a powerful dynamic within the classroom that can foster critical components of effective teaching such as classroom management and the maintenance and generalization of skills. Group-oriented contingency systems have the economic and practical advantage of minimizing the number of adults needed to manage students. In particular, it is much easier for teachers to manage a contingency for the whole class rather than multiple contingencies for individual students. This ease of implementation improves the likelihood of an intervention being carried out effectively and with integrity. However, the effective management of group contingencies requires a solid understanding of the principles underlying the concept. This article provides practitioners with an understanding of group contingencies as a means of promoting desirable behaviors and preventing problematic behaviors. (Contains 1 table.)