If you need help managing the data your Tier 2 Interventions require LiveSchool is here to help!
Early identification of the support that is needed is crucial. By quickly identifying students who need Tier 2 and Tier 3 support, schools can address the problem behaviors before they further interfere with the student’s growth or escalate into chaos in their hallways.
I have seen this work in my own school. We had a student who I will call “Dave”. To put it simply, Dave wouldn’t do anything unless he wanted to do it. However, when he was in his English teacher’s class, he had no problem following directions.
There is no doubt that his English teacher was fantastic… but we needed Dave to succeed in the rest of his classes as well!
His parents, teachers, and administrators knew that with the right support and interventions, he could learn to follow directions consistently in all of his classes.
In the spring of that school year, we implemented Tier 2 support in the form of our Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) program. By the end of the year, Dave only needed the same Tier 1 support that we provide for all students. Our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Team and the CICO behavior strategy they implemented were pivotal to his success.
MTSS stands for “multi-tiered system of support.” It’s used to address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional concerns. MTSS has 3 tiers, with students on each tier requiring more specialized attention.
Everyone receives Tier 1 support, but MTSS uses evidence-based interventions to provide targeted support for students in Tiers 2 and 3. Examples of Tier 2 supports and interventions include mental breaks and CICO (Check-in/Check-out). If a student’s needs aren’t met on Tier 2, they enter Tier 3 where they receive extra interventions such as one-on-one time with a specialist in addition to Tier 2 support.
In this episode of the Flywheel Effect, school psychologist Cathy Emerson highlights that teamwork is the glue that makes MTSS effective.
The MTSS team is typically made up of teachers, administrators, counselors, and other professionals based on the student’s specific needs. Parents also play a large role by providing more insight into the student’s life.
CICO (Check-in/Check-out) is a behavior strategy where the student checks in with a mentor teacher at the beginning and end of the school day to review goals, address concerns, and celebrate progress.
Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is an effective behavior strategy because it’s built on relationships, accountability, and data.
CICO uses relationships rooted in mentorship to motivate students to perform or avoid certain behaviors. Students tend to behave better in classes where they have a positive relationship with the teacher, so MTSS teams should choose a mentor teacher who the student already respects and has a positive relationship with.
CICO gives the student the opportunity to self-reflect and take accountability for positive and negative behaviors. The student goes throughout the day knowing that he or she will have to check out with the mentor teacher to discuss his or her behavior. If there’s a strong relationship between the student and mentor teacher, the student will want to make their mentor proud.
Lastly, CICO allows the MTSS team to track data and monitor the student’s progress. Since MTSS is data-driven, the CICO data can be used to help the team set new goals, analyze the effectiveness of the current supports and interventions, and determine if the student would be better served on a different tier.
Schools can increase CICO effectiveness by encouraging school staff to collect and share the behavior data with the mentor teacher throughout the day.
Teamwork and collaboration increase the impact of behavioral interventions and strategies like CICO. When parents, teachers, and other school staff can easily communicate and provide feedback on the student’s behaviors, the behaviors can be addressed more quickly.
Although educators juggle a million tasks, it’s impossible for anyone to remember every positive and negative behavior that each Tier 2 and Tier 3 student exhibits and communicate it with each student’s mentor teacher before the daily check-out.
Convenience is the key to gathering, tracking, and communicating data in a timely manner.
Here’s how LiveSchool helps during every step of the process:
The MTSS team can use LiveSchool to create a CICO category where you identify the points that students can receive. Looking through the examples below, you can choose to be specific with these behaviors or more generic.
Students can use the LiveSchool app to view the desired behaviors. For example, my student Dave’s goal was to not lose points for the “Following Directions'' category.
School staff can quickly record positive and negative behaviors in LiveSchool by adding or subtracting points on the behavior rubric. The mentor teacher, student, and parents can instantly see points and prepare for the check-out meeting.
The mentor teacher can view positive and negative behaviors on one screen as well as notes from teachers detailing the behavior incidents.
LiveSchool allows students to redeem their points for rewards. A big reward can motivate students to achieve their behavior goals and collect points.
The mentor teacher can track goal progress and share the info with the student’s parents and the MTSS team.
CICO is just one of many behavior strategies your MTSS team can implement with students in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Other behavior strategies such as “Take a Break” and Small Group Social Skills meetings are evidence-based strategies that can effectively address behavior issues.
Whether you’re managing 1 or 10 students in Tiers 2 and 3, it’s important to provide each student with the support they need to succeed. This is becoming more and more difficult for teachers to do as their workloads and class sizes continue to increase.
Manual data collection, analysis, and sharing are time-consuming and inconvenient. With LiveSchool, every member of the MTSS team can record and share behavior data at the moment. When educators have the tools they need to help their students, everyone succeeds.
Early identification of the support that is needed is crucial. By quickly identifying students who need Tier 2 and Tier 3 support, schools can address the problem behaviors before they further interfere with the student’s growth or escalate into chaos in their hallways.
I have seen this work in my own school. We had a student who I will call “Dave”. To put it simply, Dave wouldn’t do anything unless he wanted to do it. However, when he was in his English teacher’s class, he had no problem following directions.
There is no doubt that his English teacher was fantastic… but we needed Dave to succeed in the rest of his classes as well!
His parents, teachers, and administrators knew that with the right support and interventions, he could learn to follow directions consistently in all of his classes.
In the spring of that school year, we implemented Tier 2 support in the form of our Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) program. By the end of the year, Dave only needed the same Tier 1 support that we provide for all students. Our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Team and the CICO behavior strategy they implemented were pivotal to his success.
MTSS stands for “multi-tiered system of support.” It’s used to address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional concerns. MTSS has 3 tiers, with students on each tier requiring more specialized attention.
Everyone receives Tier 1 support, but MTSS uses evidence-based interventions to provide targeted support for students in Tiers 2 and 3. Examples of Tier 2 supports and interventions include mental breaks and CICO (Check-in/Check-out). If a student’s needs aren’t met on Tier 2, they enter Tier 3 where they receive extra interventions such as one-on-one time with a specialist in addition to Tier 2 support.
In this episode of the Flywheel Effect, school psychologist Cathy Emerson highlights that teamwork is the glue that makes MTSS effective.
The MTSS team is typically made up of teachers, administrators, counselors, and other professionals based on the student’s specific needs. Parents also play a large role by providing more insight into the student’s life.
CICO (Check-in/Check-out) is a behavior strategy where the student checks in with a mentor teacher at the beginning and end of the school day to review goals, address concerns, and celebrate progress.
Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is an effective behavior strategy because it’s built on relationships, accountability, and data.
CICO uses relationships rooted in mentorship to motivate students to perform or avoid certain behaviors. Students tend to behave better in classes where they have a positive relationship with the teacher, so MTSS teams should choose a mentor teacher who the student already respects and has a positive relationship with.
CICO gives the student the opportunity to self-reflect and take accountability for positive and negative behaviors. The student goes throughout the day knowing that he or she will have to check out with the mentor teacher to discuss his or her behavior. If there’s a strong relationship between the student and mentor teacher, the student will want to make their mentor proud.
Lastly, CICO allows the MTSS team to track data and monitor the student’s progress. Since MTSS is data-driven, the CICO data can be used to help the team set new goals, analyze the effectiveness of the current supports and interventions, and determine if the student would be better served on a different tier.
Schools can increase CICO effectiveness by encouraging school staff to collect and share the behavior data with the mentor teacher throughout the day.
Teamwork and collaboration increase the impact of behavioral interventions and strategies like CICO. When parents, teachers, and other school staff can easily communicate and provide feedback on the student’s behaviors, the behaviors can be addressed more quickly.
Although educators juggle a million tasks, it’s impossible for anyone to remember every positive and negative behavior that each Tier 2 and Tier 3 student exhibits and communicate it with each student’s mentor teacher before the daily check-out.
Convenience is the key to gathering, tracking, and communicating data in a timely manner.
Here’s how LiveSchool helps during every step of the process:
The MTSS team can use LiveSchool to create a CICO category where you identify the points that students can receive. Looking through the examples below, you can choose to be specific with these behaviors or more generic.
Students can use the LiveSchool app to view the desired behaviors. For example, my student Dave’s goal was to not lose points for the “Following Directions'' category.
School staff can quickly record positive and negative behaviors in LiveSchool by adding or subtracting points on the behavior rubric. The mentor teacher, student, and parents can instantly see points and prepare for the check-out meeting.
The mentor teacher can view positive and negative behaviors on one screen as well as notes from teachers detailing the behavior incidents.
LiveSchool allows students to redeem their points for rewards. A big reward can motivate students to achieve their behavior goals and collect points.
The mentor teacher can track goal progress and share the info with the student’s parents and the MTSS team.
CICO is just one of many behavior strategies your MTSS team can implement with students in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Other behavior strategies such as “Take a Break” and Small Group Social Skills meetings are evidence-based strategies that can effectively address behavior issues.
Whether you’re managing 1 or 10 students in Tiers 2 and 3, it’s important to provide each student with the support they need to succeed. This is becoming more and more difficult for teachers to do as their workloads and class sizes continue to increase.
Manual data collection, analysis, and sharing are time-consuming and inconvenient. With LiveSchool, every member of the MTSS team can record and share behavior data at the moment. When educators have the tools they need to help their students, everyone succeeds.
Early identification of the support that is needed is crucial. By quickly identifying students who need Tier 2 and Tier 3 support, schools can address the problem behaviors before they further interfere with the student’s growth or escalate into chaos in their hallways.
I have seen this work in my own school. We had a student who I will call “Dave”. To put it simply, Dave wouldn’t do anything unless he wanted to do it. However, when he was in his English teacher’s class, he had no problem following directions.
There is no doubt that his English teacher was fantastic… but we needed Dave to succeed in the rest of his classes as well!
His parents, teachers, and administrators knew that with the right support and interventions, he could learn to follow directions consistently in all of his classes.
In the spring of that school year, we implemented Tier 2 support in the form of our Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) program. By the end of the year, Dave only needed the same Tier 1 support that we provide for all students. Our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Team and the CICO behavior strategy they implemented were pivotal to his success.
MTSS stands for “multi-tiered system of support.” It’s used to address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional concerns. MTSS has 3 tiers, with students on each tier requiring more specialized attention.
Everyone receives Tier 1 support, but MTSS uses evidence-based interventions to provide targeted support for students in Tiers 2 and 3. Examples of Tier 2 supports and interventions include mental breaks and CICO (Check-in/Check-out). If a student’s needs aren’t met on Tier 2, they enter Tier 3 where they receive extra interventions such as one-on-one time with a specialist in addition to Tier 2 support.
In this episode of the Flywheel Effect, school psychologist Cathy Emerson highlights that teamwork is the glue that makes MTSS effective.
The MTSS team is typically made up of teachers, administrators, counselors, and other professionals based on the student’s specific needs. Parents also play a large role by providing more insight into the student’s life.
CICO (Check-in/Check-out) is a behavior strategy where the student checks in with a mentor teacher at the beginning and end of the school day to review goals, address concerns, and celebrate progress.
Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is an effective behavior strategy because it’s built on relationships, accountability, and data.
CICO uses relationships rooted in mentorship to motivate students to perform or avoid certain behaviors. Students tend to behave better in classes where they have a positive relationship with the teacher, so MTSS teams should choose a mentor teacher who the student already respects and has a positive relationship with.
CICO gives the student the opportunity to self-reflect and take accountability for positive and negative behaviors. The student goes throughout the day knowing that he or she will have to check out with the mentor teacher to discuss his or her behavior. If there’s a strong relationship between the student and mentor teacher, the student will want to make their mentor proud.
Lastly, CICO allows the MTSS team to track data and monitor the student’s progress. Since MTSS is data-driven, the CICO data can be used to help the team set new goals, analyze the effectiveness of the current supports and interventions, and determine if the student would be better served on a different tier.
Schools can increase CICO effectiveness by encouraging school staff to collect and share the behavior data with the mentor teacher throughout the day.
Teamwork and collaboration increase the impact of behavioral interventions and strategies like CICO. When parents, teachers, and other school staff can easily communicate and provide feedback on the student’s behaviors, the behaviors can be addressed more quickly.
Although educators juggle a million tasks, it’s impossible for anyone to remember every positive and negative behavior that each Tier 2 and Tier 3 student exhibits and communicate it with each student’s mentor teacher before the daily check-out.
Convenience is the key to gathering, tracking, and communicating data in a timely manner.
Here’s how LiveSchool helps during every step of the process:
The MTSS team can use LiveSchool to create a CICO category where you identify the points that students can receive. Looking through the examples below, you can choose to be specific with these behaviors or more generic.
Students can use the LiveSchool app to view the desired behaviors. For example, my student Dave’s goal was to not lose points for the “Following Directions'' category.
School staff can quickly record positive and negative behaviors in LiveSchool by adding or subtracting points on the behavior rubric. The mentor teacher, student, and parents can instantly see points and prepare for the check-out meeting.
The mentor teacher can view positive and negative behaviors on one screen as well as notes from teachers detailing the behavior incidents.
LiveSchool allows students to redeem their points for rewards. A big reward can motivate students to achieve their behavior goals and collect points.
The mentor teacher can track goal progress and share the info with the student’s parents and the MTSS team.
CICO is just one of many behavior strategies your MTSS team can implement with students in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Other behavior strategies such as “Take a Break” and Small Group Social Skills meetings are evidence-based strategies that can effectively address behavior issues.
Whether you’re managing 1 or 10 students in Tiers 2 and 3, it’s important to provide each student with the support they need to succeed. This is becoming more and more difficult for teachers to do as their workloads and class sizes continue to increase.
Manual data collection, analysis, and sharing are time-consuming and inconvenient. With LiveSchool, every member of the MTSS team can record and share behavior data at the moment. When educators have the tools they need to help their students, everyone succeeds.
Deiera Bennett is a freelance EdTech copywriter with a background in marketing and 6 years of experience as an educator. When she’s not writing, you can find her binge-watching The Office for the 5th time, spending time with family, or looking up recipes on Pinterest.
Early identification of the support that is needed is crucial. By quickly identifying students who need Tier 2 and Tier 3 support, schools can address the problem behaviors before they further interfere with the student’s growth or escalate into chaos in their hallways.
I have seen this work in my own school. We had a student who I will call “Dave”. To put it simply, Dave wouldn’t do anything unless he wanted to do it. However, when he was in his English teacher’s class, he had no problem following directions.
There is no doubt that his English teacher was fantastic… but we needed Dave to succeed in the rest of his classes as well!
His parents, teachers, and administrators knew that with the right support and interventions, he could learn to follow directions consistently in all of his classes.
In the spring of that school year, we implemented Tier 2 support in the form of our Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) program. By the end of the year, Dave only needed the same Tier 1 support that we provide for all students. Our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Team and the CICO behavior strategy they implemented were pivotal to his success.
MTSS stands for “multi-tiered system of support.” It’s used to address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional concerns. MTSS has 3 tiers, with students on each tier requiring more specialized attention.
Everyone receives Tier 1 support, but MTSS uses evidence-based interventions to provide targeted support for students in Tiers 2 and 3. Examples of Tier 2 supports and interventions include mental breaks and CICO (Check-in/Check-out). If a student’s needs aren’t met on Tier 2, they enter Tier 3 where they receive extra interventions such as one-on-one time with a specialist in addition to Tier 2 support.
In this episode of the Flywheel Effect, school psychologist Cathy Emerson highlights that teamwork is the glue that makes MTSS effective.
The MTSS team is typically made up of teachers, administrators, counselors, and other professionals based on the student’s specific needs. Parents also play a large role by providing more insight into the student’s life.
CICO (Check-in/Check-out) is a behavior strategy where the student checks in with a mentor teacher at the beginning and end of the school day to review goals, address concerns, and celebrate progress.
Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is an effective behavior strategy because it’s built on relationships, accountability, and data.
CICO uses relationships rooted in mentorship to motivate students to perform or avoid certain behaviors. Students tend to behave better in classes where they have a positive relationship with the teacher, so MTSS teams should choose a mentor teacher who the student already respects and has a positive relationship with.
CICO gives the student the opportunity to self-reflect and take accountability for positive and negative behaviors. The student goes throughout the day knowing that he or she will have to check out with the mentor teacher to discuss his or her behavior. If there’s a strong relationship between the student and mentor teacher, the student will want to make their mentor proud.
Lastly, CICO allows the MTSS team to track data and monitor the student’s progress. Since MTSS is data-driven, the CICO data can be used to help the team set new goals, analyze the effectiveness of the current supports and interventions, and determine if the student would be better served on a different tier.
Schools can increase CICO effectiveness by encouraging school staff to collect and share the behavior data with the mentor teacher throughout the day.
Teamwork and collaboration increase the impact of behavioral interventions and strategies like CICO. When parents, teachers, and other school staff can easily communicate and provide feedback on the student’s behaviors, the behaviors can be addressed more quickly.
Although educators juggle a million tasks, it’s impossible for anyone to remember every positive and negative behavior that each Tier 2 and Tier 3 student exhibits and communicate it with each student’s mentor teacher before the daily check-out.
Convenience is the key to gathering, tracking, and communicating data in a timely manner.
Here’s how LiveSchool helps during every step of the process:
The MTSS team can use LiveSchool to create a CICO category where you identify the points that students can receive. Looking through the examples below, you can choose to be specific with these behaviors or more generic.
Students can use the LiveSchool app to view the desired behaviors. For example, my student Dave’s goal was to not lose points for the “Following Directions'' category.
School staff can quickly record positive and negative behaviors in LiveSchool by adding or subtracting points on the behavior rubric. The mentor teacher, student, and parents can instantly see points and prepare for the check-out meeting.
The mentor teacher can view positive and negative behaviors on one screen as well as notes from teachers detailing the behavior incidents.
LiveSchool allows students to redeem their points for rewards. A big reward can motivate students to achieve their behavior goals and collect points.
The mentor teacher can track goal progress and share the info with the student’s parents and the MTSS team.
CICO is just one of many behavior strategies your MTSS team can implement with students in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Other behavior strategies such as “Take a Break” and Small Group Social Skills meetings are evidence-based strategies that can effectively address behavior issues.
Whether you’re managing 1 or 10 students in Tiers 2 and 3, it’s important to provide each student with the support they need to succeed. This is becoming more and more difficult for teachers to do as their workloads and class sizes continue to increase.
Manual data collection, analysis, and sharing are time-consuming and inconvenient. With LiveSchool, every member of the MTSS team can record and share behavior data at the moment. When educators have the tools they need to help their students, everyone succeeds.
A successful behavior management plan starts with implementing strong Tier 1 supports that apply to all students, such as classroom expectations. However, even with a strong Tier 1, there will always be students who need additional support and interventions.
Early identification of the support that is needed is crucial. By quickly identifying students who need Tier 2 and Tier 3 support, schools can address the problem behaviors before they further interfere with the student’s growth or escalate into chaos in their hallways.
I have seen this work in my own school. We had a student who I will call “Dave”. To put it simply, Dave wouldn’t do anything unless he wanted to do it. However, when he was in his English teacher’s class, he had no problem following directions.
There is no doubt that his English teacher was fantastic… but we needed Dave to succeed in the rest of his classes as well!
His parents, teachers, and administrators knew that with the right support and interventions, he could learn to follow directions consistently in all of his classes.
In the spring of that school year, we implemented Tier 2 support in the form of our Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) program. By the end of the year, Dave only needed the same Tier 1 support that we provide for all students. Our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Team and the CICO behavior strategy they implemented were pivotal to his success.
MTSS stands for “multi-tiered system of support.” It’s used to address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional concerns. MTSS has 3 tiers, with students on each tier requiring more specialized attention.
Everyone receives Tier 1 support, but MTSS uses evidence-based interventions to provide targeted support for students in Tiers 2 and 3. Examples of Tier 2 supports and interventions include mental breaks and CICO (Check-in/Check-out). If a student’s needs aren’t met on Tier 2, they enter Tier 3 where they receive extra interventions such as one-on-one time with a specialist in addition to Tier 2 support.
In this episode of the Flywheel Effect, school psychologist Cathy Emerson highlights that teamwork is the glue that makes MTSS effective.
The MTSS team is typically made up of teachers, administrators, counselors, and other professionals based on the student’s specific needs. Parents also play a large role by providing more insight into the student’s life.
CICO (Check-in/Check-out) is a behavior strategy where the student checks in with a mentor teacher at the beginning and end of the school day to review goals, address concerns, and celebrate progress.
Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is an effective behavior strategy because it’s built on relationships, accountability, and data.
CICO uses relationships rooted in mentorship to motivate students to perform or avoid certain behaviors. Students tend to behave better in classes where they have a positive relationship with the teacher, so MTSS teams should choose a mentor teacher who the student already respects and has a positive relationship with.
CICO gives the student the opportunity to self-reflect and take accountability for positive and negative behaviors. The student goes throughout the day knowing that he or she will have to check out with the mentor teacher to discuss his or her behavior. If there’s a strong relationship between the student and mentor teacher, the student will want to make their mentor proud.
Lastly, CICO allows the MTSS team to track data and monitor the student’s progress. Since MTSS is data-driven, the CICO data can be used to help the team set new goals, analyze the effectiveness of the current supports and interventions, and determine if the student would be better served on a different tier.
Schools can increase CICO effectiveness by encouraging school staff to collect and share the behavior data with the mentor teacher throughout the day.
Teamwork and collaboration increase the impact of behavioral interventions and strategies like CICO. When parents, teachers, and other school staff can easily communicate and provide feedback on the student’s behaviors, the behaviors can be addressed more quickly.
Although educators juggle a million tasks, it’s impossible for anyone to remember every positive and negative behavior that each Tier 2 and Tier 3 student exhibits and communicate it with each student’s mentor teacher before the daily check-out.
Convenience is the key to gathering, tracking, and communicating data in a timely manner.
Here’s how LiveSchool helps during every step of the process:
The MTSS team can use LiveSchool to create a CICO category where you identify the points that students can receive. Looking through the examples below, you can choose to be specific with these behaviors or more generic.
Students can use the LiveSchool app to view the desired behaviors. For example, my student Dave’s goal was to not lose points for the “Following Directions'' category.
School staff can quickly record positive and negative behaviors in LiveSchool by adding or subtracting points on the behavior rubric. The mentor teacher, student, and parents can instantly see points and prepare for the check-out meeting.
The mentor teacher can view positive and negative behaviors on one screen as well as notes from teachers detailing the behavior incidents.
LiveSchool allows students to redeem their points for rewards. A big reward can motivate students to achieve their behavior goals and collect points.
The mentor teacher can track goal progress and share the info with the student’s parents and the MTSS team.
CICO is just one of many behavior strategies your MTSS team can implement with students in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Other behavior strategies such as “Take a Break” and Small Group Social Skills meetings are evidence-based strategies that can effectively address behavior issues.
Whether you’re managing 1 or 10 students in Tiers 2 and 3, it’s important to provide each student with the support they need to succeed. This is becoming more and more difficult for teachers to do as their workloads and class sizes continue to increase.
Manual data collection, analysis, and sharing are time-consuming and inconvenient. With LiveSchool, every member of the MTSS team can record and share behavior data at the moment. When educators have the tools they need to help their students, everyone succeeds.
A successful behavior management plan starts with implementing strong Tier 1 supports that apply to all students, such as classroom expectations. However, even with a strong Tier 1, there will always be students who need additional support and interventions.
Early identification of the support that is needed is crucial. By quickly identifying students who need Tier 2 and Tier 3 support, schools can address the problem behaviors before they further interfere with the student’s growth or escalate into chaos in their hallways.
I have seen this work in my own school. We had a student who I will call “Dave”. To put it simply, Dave wouldn’t do anything unless he wanted to do it. However, when he was in his English teacher’s class, he had no problem following directions.
There is no doubt that his English teacher was fantastic… but we needed Dave to succeed in the rest of his classes as well!
His parents, teachers, and administrators knew that with the right support and interventions, he could learn to follow directions consistently in all of his classes.
In the spring of that school year, we implemented Tier 2 support in the form of our Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) program. By the end of the year, Dave only needed the same Tier 1 support that we provide for all students. Our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Team and the CICO behavior strategy they implemented were pivotal to his success.
MTSS stands for “multi-tiered system of support.” It’s used to address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional concerns. MTSS has 3 tiers, with students on each tier requiring more specialized attention.
Everyone receives Tier 1 support, but MTSS uses evidence-based interventions to provide targeted support for students in Tiers 2 and 3. Examples of Tier 2 supports and interventions include mental breaks and CICO (Check-in/Check-out). If a student’s needs aren’t met on Tier 2, they enter Tier 3 where they receive extra interventions such as one-on-one time with a specialist in addition to Tier 2 support.
In this episode of the Flywheel Effect, school psychologist Cathy Emerson highlights that teamwork is the glue that makes MTSS effective.
The MTSS team is typically made up of teachers, administrators, counselors, and other professionals based on the student’s specific needs. Parents also play a large role by providing more insight into the student’s life.
CICO (Check-in/Check-out) is a behavior strategy where the student checks in with a mentor teacher at the beginning and end of the school day to review goals, address concerns, and celebrate progress.
Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is an effective behavior strategy because it’s built on relationships, accountability, and data.
CICO uses relationships rooted in mentorship to motivate students to perform or avoid certain behaviors. Students tend to behave better in classes where they have a positive relationship with the teacher, so MTSS teams should choose a mentor teacher who the student already respects and has a positive relationship with.
CICO gives the student the opportunity to self-reflect and take accountability for positive and negative behaviors. The student goes throughout the day knowing that he or she will have to check out with the mentor teacher to discuss his or her behavior. If there’s a strong relationship between the student and mentor teacher, the student will want to make their mentor proud.
Lastly, CICO allows the MTSS team to track data and monitor the student’s progress. Since MTSS is data-driven, the CICO data can be used to help the team set new goals, analyze the effectiveness of the current supports and interventions, and determine if the student would be better served on a different tier.
Schools can increase CICO effectiveness by encouraging school staff to collect and share the behavior data with the mentor teacher throughout the day.
Teamwork and collaboration increase the impact of behavioral interventions and strategies like CICO. When parents, teachers, and other school staff can easily communicate and provide feedback on the student’s behaviors, the behaviors can be addressed more quickly.
Although educators juggle a million tasks, it’s impossible for anyone to remember every positive and negative behavior that each Tier 2 and Tier 3 student exhibits and communicate it with each student’s mentor teacher before the daily check-out.
Convenience is the key to gathering, tracking, and communicating data in a timely manner.
Here’s how LiveSchool helps during every step of the process:
The MTSS team can use LiveSchool to create a CICO category where you identify the points that students can receive. Looking through the examples below, you can choose to be specific with these behaviors or more generic.
Students can use the LiveSchool app to view the desired behaviors. For example, my student Dave’s goal was to not lose points for the “Following Directions'' category.
School staff can quickly record positive and negative behaviors in LiveSchool by adding or subtracting points on the behavior rubric. The mentor teacher, student, and parents can instantly see points and prepare for the check-out meeting.
The mentor teacher can view positive and negative behaviors on one screen as well as notes from teachers detailing the behavior incidents.
LiveSchool allows students to redeem their points for rewards. A big reward can motivate students to achieve their behavior goals and collect points.
The mentor teacher can track goal progress and share the info with the student’s parents and the MTSS team.
CICO is just one of many behavior strategies your MTSS team can implement with students in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Other behavior strategies such as “Take a Break” and Small Group Social Skills meetings are evidence-based strategies that can effectively address behavior issues.
Whether you’re managing 1 or 10 students in Tiers 2 and 3, it’s important to provide each student with the support they need to succeed. This is becoming more and more difficult for teachers to do as their workloads and class sizes continue to increase.
Manual data collection, analysis, and sharing are time-consuming and inconvenient. With LiveSchool, every member of the MTSS team can record and share behavior data at the moment. When educators have the tools they need to help their students, everyone succeeds.