A Check-up for Check-in, Check-out

(how difficult was that title to mentally read?)

We are approaching the half-way mark of the school year, which is insane to think about. Where the heck did it go?!

Here is a rather delayed update on Check-in, Check-out (CICO), our Tier II Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) initiative. We currently have 63 students involved in CICO, but 5-8 will be leaving the intervention by the end of January, due to moving to another setting (smaller classroom out of our building or an alternative school). Honestly, I haven't been as diligent with data entry as I should have been. With the state review and an intense Committee on Special Education (CSE) caseload lately, it hasn't been on the forefront of my mind. But, it's been steadily plugging along in the background, with some great and not-so-great things to report:

The Not-So-Great Observations:

1. CICO is hard to implement with fidelity when one of the mentors decides to stop seeing kiddos, but doesn't tell you for two weeks. It is equally as difficult to maintain when the second mentor assigned to that caseload leaves her position and doesn't return to your building. We ended up fixing this when two interns with our community mental health providers came on full-time, as we had two more mentors available, but for two months 10 kids were not receiving CICO because of a lack of volunteers. Recommendation: choose people to be CICO mentors who WANT to participate, not who are assigned to or who are apt to change their minds. Make sure they are people who understand the power of consistent, positive behavior interventions, and who are invested in making change.

2. Your administration needs to be fully on board with PBIS and behavioral interventions in general. Recommendation: make sure they understand the positive effects that PBIS can have on the culture and climate of a school building, stress the need for consistency and continuity, get them involved in the positive aspect of PBIS, rather than promoting punitive consequences (i.e. suspension), and emphasis patience, as change does not happen over night. Having the support of the administration is vital to any effective, well-run program.

3. Kids are not always honest. At the beginning of the observation, some eager students were filling out their own sheets, rating their behavior as "great" when it may not always have been. Recommendation: having adults initial each part of the Daily Report Card that they complete, to show that it wasn't done by little hands.

4. Middle school kids are less than responsible when it comes to getting their Daily Report Cards filled out. I have MANY days of incomplete data  because our 7th & 8th graders forget to have their sheets filled out, lose their sheets, or choose not to participate in CICO. Still working on a good fix for this issue--suggestions welcome. Recommendation: we have removed some kiddos from CICO and put them on other Tier II interventions because of their lack of responding (carrying around a sheet about your behavior isn't the most thrilling idea for some kids). Also, add an extra incentive that will entice kids to participate--see below.

The Great Observations:

1. CICO produces real change, if you give it time and provide kiddos with positive reinforcement for a job well done. Sometimes the only thing that kids need to have a productive, on-track day is a good interaction with an adult. We have been able to "graduate" some kids off of CICO due to progress, which has been sustained after the intervention ended.

2. Lines of communication have been expanded. Staff members are talking about behavior in concrete terms and are referring children they think would benefit from CICO. They're better able to describe behaviors, as they can pinpoint areas of difficulty during the day and make changes accordingly (i.e. if Ahmed receives low scores in '"being responsible" because he forgets to complete homework, his CICO mentor can spend more time at the end of the day helping him prepare to take the right materials home. Or, if Sue receives low scores in "being safe" in math, which is after lunch, her teacher can give her a reminder about appropriate classroom behaviors vs. what's acceptable in the lunch room as she transitions).

3. In a similar vein, collaboration between colleagues has increased. We're able to secure services and/or other interventions quickly by sitting down with the data, talking to providers, and seeing which kids need something more, like a small group, individual counseling, or a Functional Behavior Assessment/Behavior Intervention Plan (FBA/BIP). When kids are showing steady improvement behaviorally, staff have let me know that we can try phasing CICO off. We've talked about a bigger reward when kids who typically have a tough time have a stellar day, and bounce ideas off each other about what might work for kids who need a little modification to their CICO plan (i.e. like the one kid who kept losing his Daily Report Card sheet, so we laminated one that can be re-written on, and stapled it inside his agenda).

4. Kids are getting rewards for good behavior. This may seem like a no brainer, but many people have difficulty understanding that what is fair is not always equal and what is equal is not always fair. Kids receiving Tier II interventions need the extra incentive towards shaping good behavior; they don't automatically do what they're "supposed to" and need guidance to do what is expected. Personally as a CICO mentor, I give every child who meets their daily point goal a Tiger Ticket, which goes into a pot for daily prize drawings within the classroom and monthly prize drawings for big items (amusement park tickets, zoo tickets, Lasertron passes). If a kiddo meets their goal for 4 of 5 days in a week, I buy them the candy bar of their choosing. The middle school CICO mentor throws a pizza party for all students who meets a certain amount of points within that month. You just need to find out what works for your staff and students.

Are you doing Check-in, Check-out in your building? What observations and recommendations do you have to help the intervention run smoothly? I hope to continue refining the program for the rest of the year and into next year, so suggestions are ALWAYS welcome!

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Question from a Student Reader

I got a question at my Facebook page, and I wanted to share my response for any other undergraduate students considering graduate school and a career in school psychology. Please share your own experiences as those who survived graduate school and found a successful career!

May I ask what it is that initially drew you to the field as an undergraduate student and how you went about securing yourself a place in a grad program? - Monica

My response:

I majored in psychology and sociology as an undergraduate and I always knew I wanted to work with children. My godmother is a school psychologist, so she made me aware of the field (because God knows no one really knows what we do unless they know a school psych). I knew I didn't have the patience to be a teacher, and didn't want to be a school counselor and do counseling/career involvement, so school psychology sounded like a great way to put my enjoyment of working with children and my love of psychology and the field of education together.

During my undergrad, I was a "psychology scholar" (honor given to 2 freshman every year, who then help professors with research and receive a small stipend for the duration of undergrad), secretary of Psi Chi, and a TA for three years for the statistics & research methods class. Any kind of stuff like that shows an involvement in and appreciation for the field will be great for a resume. I also did two semester long internships. My first one was with a social worker at an alternative school, for students who either had dropped out or who couldn't make it at the public high school and were there to get a GED. There, I did academic tutoring, individual counseling, and group social skills/life planning work. My second internship was with a school psychologist at a middle & high school. I got to do academic Response to Intervention (RTI) work with kindergarten classes using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), do screening tests for incoming students to the school, sit in on CSE meetings, observe students and gather behavioral data for intervention planning, and do a small group intervention on academic/organizational skills. Between the two of them, I got a great taste of the work that professionals can do to help students struggling in the classroom. I graduated a semester early from my undergrad program, and during the semester in between my graduation and when I started grad school, I continued working with kids at the local library, particularly with preschoolers.

I interviewed at a handful of graduate programs in the area, and I think that the fact that I had experience working with kids, had done research, understood the demands and expectations of a teacher (from my time as a TA, which was even discussed at my internship interviews), and understood the field all were factors that helped me get in. As a graduate student, I was on the interview panel in my 2nd and 3rd years to help choose the incoming 1st year graduate students. I can't remember exactly what our criteria were, but I know we looked at some of the following things in our candidates: experience with children, research experience/interests, why they want to be a school psychologist, knowledge about the field, and knowledge about education.

What drew you to the field of school psychology? How did you get into a graduate program? What advice do you have for students considering the field?

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Checking In, Hopefully Not Checking Out

After blogging about a universal Tier I PBIS support our school has, our Tiger Ticket program, I wanted to share another initiative new this year in our building. Check-in, Check-out is an evidenced-based Tier II intervention program promoted by the gods at the OSEP Center on Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports. Tier II are secondary prevention measures designed for 10-15% of the school population, or those who do not respond to the universal measures enacted for the whole school at Tier I. Behavioral Tier II typically looks like small group interventions and mentoring in my district.

Check-in, Check-out (hereafter referred to as CICO, because I'm too lazy to type it out every time) is a simple, individualized mentoring program. A mentor is given a case load of approximately 10 students to meet with individually during the first 15 minutes of the school day. Students were chosen for CICO by examining data from last year. If a student had 10+ office discipline referrals during the 2010-2011 school year, or if they have a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP), they were put into CICO. From this data, we started the year with 55 students on CICO. Yeah... we've got some behavior problems.

Every day in the morning the mentor "checks in" in the classroom during breakfast and gives CICO students a daily report card. There are three goals they are working on in our building: be safe, be kind, and be responsible. The student then goes through their day and teachers rate their behavior on a 0-2 point scale in every subject area. During the 15 minutes before dismissal, the mentor returns to "check out" and see how the student did for the day. They record the number of points they earned on their daily report card, make sure they're ready to go home, and praise them for (hopefully) great behavior. Here are our daily report cards:

This is the card for our PreK-5th graders.

This is the card for our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.

Due to a staff shortage and my principal's preference, I took on a CICO caseload. I have seven 6th grade boys, all in self-contained classrooms, two of whom were part of my social skills/anger management group last year. I also have one 8th grade girl who is new to our school this year who has already proven to be an interestingly behaved young lady. I shall have my hands full.

I'm really looking forward to getting into the data. Every two weeks, CICO mentors will be turning in a data sheet with all the point totals from the daily report cards, which will be entered into an online behavioral database. From there, we'll be able to analyze the data at 6-week intervals to make decisions about what the students need. Are they meeting their goal of 80% of their points? Should we prepare to phase them off CICO? Are they holding steady just below their goal? Should we continue CICO or add more mentoring to the program (Check and Connect)? Are they not meeting their goal? Do we need to look into more individualized services at the Tier III level, like individual counseling or a BIP?

Check back in, hopefully I'll have some interesting info for you to check out! (oh word play, I am so witty)

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Generosity

My mother always said, "It never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is, 'no.'" She was a smart cookie.

As I discussed previously, I'm in charge of the Students of the Month and Homeroom of the Month initiatives at my building. Over the summer, my principal discussed a few changes to the way the students and homerooms are chosen with me, which I don't really agree with. I'm of the opinion that we should reward kids frequently, consistently, and for relatively simple and minute things. Build up the sense of self-esteem and self-worth in knowing that they can "do it," then increase the expectations and level of performance for a reward, otherwise you'll have no student buy-in. My principal has very high expectations for our students, which in theory is a great thing, but it's hard to expect high poverty, low performing students to have 95% attendance, 100% uniform use, etc. But I digress.

My principal did make some great suggestions though. She wanted to reward our star homerooms with a pizza or ice cream party every month and award repeat winners with a special class field trip at the end of the year. Our student winners get some neat things already--their picture taken and put on a bulletin board, their name announced over the loud speaker and put in the school newsletter, and a certificate--but, I suggested more meaningful incentives, like gift cards or "good for" coupons to local restaurants. My principal also suggested a special field trip for multiple student winners, to really recognize their substantial achievements. Bigger and better rewards for being a kick butt student? Sign me up.

Off I went to fundraise. I totally spammed the postal service asking local fast food chains, grocery stores, dollar stores, etc for donations and funds. Mind you, I'm absolutely prepared to shell money out of my pocket to reward my kiddos, but I knew this was going to be too big of a cost. We typically have 20 students and 1-2 homerooms crowned every month. At first, I had no bites and only rejections, and I was bummed. Then, I started playing phone tag with our local McDonald's corporate office, who wanted to donate coupons. When they asked me what I was looking for, I said that we expect to give out 25 coupons to kids a month, and left it up to them to determine their contribution. Well, they offered me 25/month for the ENTIRE YEAR, all personalized for "McStudents of the Month." Later that week, I received 10 certificates for a free pint of ice cream at a local frozen custard store, 100 coupons to Wendy's, and today, 50 coupons to Burger King, all personalized for my school. Woah.

I was so totally blown away by the generosity of the local business community. True, I understand that they have a commitment to donations and giving to causes in the area, but I never expected such a great response. I'm so thrilled and excited to shower my school with incentives and rewards!

Moral of the story: if you want something, ask for it, because you just might get 250 McDonald's hamburgers and fries out of it.

 

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When Getting a Ticket is a Good Thing

With the first week back to school coming to a close, I thought I'd write about one of the new Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) programs we're going to be rockin' this year. In past years before I came around, the Tiger Ticket system was in place, but not used extensively or to it's fullest potential, so we're trying hard this year to make the most of it. The Tiger Ticket program (aptly named after our mascot) is a typical school-wide, ticket incentive system that fulfills the universal stage of PBIS, which is supposed to meet the needs of 80% of our students (the green base of the pyramid below).

Tickets are awarded to kids "caught" showing good behavior that reflects the values of responsibility, respect, and success. All tickets go into a tub in the classroom and every day, each teacher draws a winner from their tub to receive a small prize (pencil, crayons, stickers). All the tickets go back into the tub, and at the end of every week, a winner is chosen to win a bigger prize (small gift card, small toy or game, homework passes, special lunches). Then, once a month, all the tickets go into one large tub for the whole school, and a winner is chosen for an uber prize (large gift card, passes to a local event or amusement park, video games, etc).

We also are giving out Tiger Tickets to homerooms, in addition to individual kids. If a whole homeroom is "caught" showing good classroom, hallway, cafeteria, or auditorium behavior, or generally going above and beyond expectations, they'll get a Homeroom Tiger Ticket. The homeroom tickets will be one of the criteria for a class to win Homeroom of the Month.

I've decided that every day I'm going to make a point to leave the office and go hand out Tiger Tickets to kids and classrooms. First, it gets me out of my office, and one of my goals is to be more visible and involved in the classes this year. Giving out tickets gets me seeing kids and visiting rooms looking for positive things, not going because someone is throwing a chair, running around the building or has a weapon. Second, it reinforces the PBIS initiative in our building, and gives both the students and staff buy-in to the program. If teachers see someone giving out tickets, or if their kids come back from specials with a ticket, it makes it more likely that they'll start giving tickets out too. Plus, if the kids see their peers getting rewarded, they're going to shape up to try to earn a prize.

Only thing stopping me from showering the world with Tiger Tickets? The pain as my feet get used to wearing high-heeled shoes every day again. Oy.

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Goal Setting

Well, with Labor Day tomorrow, the summer truly is coming to an end. Boyfriend and I are having a family get -together tomorrow with our parents, my grandpa, my future step-brother, and Boyfriend's niece (referenced in this blog entry).

 

Tuesday is the first day back at my building, staff only. I'll be leading much of the opening day activities for the staff, as my colleague and CSE chairperson recently had surgery and will be out until at least October. I'll be discussing new Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) initiatives for the year, the upcoming Response to Intervention (RTI) regulations, new Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) expectations, and other tidbits. Hopefully I won't be a snooze! Wednesday the kiddos return. I have to be honest, I really haven't been excited to return to school since I spent almost the whole summer working, but I am really looking forward to seeing my munchkins! My running friend S, Squirmy McAntsypants, and other blog stars will be returning, but others have moved on. D, the kiddo who Hulked out and threw a chair across my office, was placed in an agency program due to extreme unsafe behaviors, and A was placed at a different school in a class for students with Autism.

As I start the new year, I want to go back to my roots. Every year during my graduate program, we had to update a portfolio of our experiences, case studies, reports, and other important work samples. It mostly was the bane of everyone's "busy work" existence, but once we graduated, it ended up being a comprehensive testament to our Master's degrees (see me being glass half full). One document that was constantly tweaked was our "role reflection," where we had to outline three goals we had for ourselves for the coming year. Here's some new goals for the 2011-2012 school year:

1. Be more visible. As a school psychologist, I spend an insane amount of time testing, writing reports, and developing IEPs. Sometimes I don't notice I've wasted half a day at my desk until it's 1:00pm. This year, I want to be in classrooms more, whether it's assisting with a lesson, observing, doing whole class interventions, or catching kids "being good." I want to have a positive image for myself not only with the kids, but with the staff. Since I've been in the building for a year, I want to end the adjustment period and make solid, positive relationships with my staff.
2. Keep better data. Our district was evaluated by the state this year with regards to our BIPs, and only one school passed (not mine, but thankfully the school of one of my Master's cohort friends). I'm going to be a stickler this year both for myself and my staff about BIPs, hence our opening day discussion. I'm a total data nerd, so I'm going to work on getting better, more consistent progress-monitoring data for the behavior plans in our building. It requires a lot of time and energy, and often gets pushed by the way-side when other more critical things come up, unfortunately. Data will be useful not only to monitor student growth, but also for reporting out to parents and administration, and at the CSE table.
3. Be more involved in the profession. Sure, I'm a member of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), the New York Association of School Psychologists (NYASP), and my regional school psych organization, but that doesn't necessarily mean I do much more than pay dues. I recently became the co-chair representative of my NYASP chapter and am on the planning committee for the 2012 NYASP Conference, which will be held in my area. Next weekend, I'll be attending the NYASP Executive Board meeting in Albany, NY (which I'm sure to blog about), and later this month, will be enjoying a regional luncheon conference. I would love to attend the 2012 NASP Conference in February in Philadelphia, PA, which will be dependent on funds. Professional organizations can be hugely important and beneficial for your career, so I'm looking forward to cultivating those relationships.

What are your goals for the upcoming school year? T-Minus 3 days folks...

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Basking in the Dying Days of Summer

Now that I've finally finished working summer school, I can enjoy my summer vacation. Granted, I was only working half days, but there's something about having to get up at 7:00am to go into the office that puts a damper on the whole carefree summer vacation thing. So, for the next almost three weeks, I'll be pumping the lazy to the max... which will probably get old after a week, since I'm the type of person that perpetually has to be busy to be satisfied.

Here are some highlights from my summer, both professional and personal:

• Booking an all-inclusive trip to Cancun with Boyfriend for November 2011. Never been out of the country before (aside from Canada)--so excited for some tropical chillaxin'!
• Somehow finished testing, reports, meetings, and IEPs for 20 cases. Still have four more that we couldn't fully process over the summer, so they'll be completed in September. So much for a slow transition back into school!
• Moving into a townhouse with Boyfriend in a lovely little neighborhood. Upside: close to everything we could want! Downside: his sock piles on the floor. :)
• Got to see friends from undergrad that live far away. It was great catching up, playing paintball, and discovering that even though our lives have changed, some things have stayed exactly the same.
• Had a really interesting case of a student with a textbook nonverbal learning disorder. Must remember to blog about it. Done... here it is!
• Took a great field trip with some 5th & 6th graders to the local naval park and harbour downtown. What a thrill to see them explore two battleships and a submarine, and really get into the history. And the guns... pre-teen boys love guns.
• The long-awaited weddings of two of the gals from my graduate programs... ain't no party like a cohort party!
• Setting out some good plans for the school year with my colleagues in terms of PBIS, counseling groups, FBA/BIPs, and other interventions. If the year only goes 25% as we planned, it'll be a step in the right direction!

I've got a few more days vacation at my dad's house visiting him and my grandfather, then it's back home to tackle a to-do list of the things I won't get to once the school year starts. You know, exciting goodies like an oil change, haircut, time at the gym, and doctor's appointments. And of course, letting my laziness reach new lows... or would "highs" be more appropriate? Regardless, September 7th will be here before we know it!

Caring

I just stumbled upon something I'd like to share, and in the process, relate it back to something going on in my school building.

Each month, the students in my building practice a character trait as part of our character education and PBIS programs. This month, our character trait is caring. Every morning on the announcements, the school is reminded of small ways that they can be caring towards others.

I just found out about the American Red Cross' Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign, which sends American service men and women holiday cards. I forwarded the link to my staff (yep, spamming your inbox again!) because I thought it would be a great way for students (and everyone else) to demonstrate caring this December. If you choose to participate, cards must be postmarked by December 10th.

Today is a Good Day to...

This week was School Psychology Awareness Week, and the theme this year was “Today is a Good Day to… SHINE.” I emailed my psychologist colleagues a few weeks ago to see if anyone was doing something in their buildings to commemorate. After all, we have secretary’s day, teacher’s day, etc, why not a whole week to help educate and celebrate our profession and the awesome kids we work with?! Unfortunately, my colleagues were not inspired. One psychologist replied to my mass email (yep, I’m spamming your inbox) by saying that “people know [him] by the work [he] does every day.” True story.

I put up the “SHINE” poster that the National Association of School Psychologists sent out on a bulletin board in our hall, but am not doing anything special this year. Maybe next year I’ll be able to plan something.  In the meantime, I want to “shine” some light on the good/cute things going on in my building by writing a few blurbs for some of the ways NASP encourages students to “SHINE”: 

Smile

See my blog post about my student and homeroom of the month duties.  

Play

A. often comes down to my office right before lunch and at the end of the day to check-in. On his behavior plan, if he has had a good morning, he is rewarded with a positive call home at those times. Unfortunately, A.’s mom’s cell phone was recently disconnected, so he was unable to make his phone call home one day. He was about ready to blow his top, but I offered to teach him to play Uno as his reward instead. He loved it, and we played four or so games before he had to head back to his class. It was a wonderful break for me to get to play games (awesome), and helped him to hold it together! 

Laugh

As a member of my building’s Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) team, we are often called on to teach and refresh the faculty on how PBIS works in our building and how to handle behavior problems. Last night, I stayed after school with the team to film skits showing a major offense (student having a weapon) and a minor offense (horseplay in the halls). Let me tell you, there is nothing funnier than 7 adults hamming it up pretending to be rowdy kids. I can’t wait until we show the videos at our faculty meeting next week! 

Ask a Question

On my desk is a picture of Boyfriend and I on our vacation to Cedar Point Amusement Park this past June. The picture was taken after we rode Top Thrill Dragster, a massive “strata-coaster” with a racing theme.  Behind us is a drag racing car. Virtually every male student that has come into my office this year, after seeing the photo, has excitedly blurted out, “IS THAT HIS CAR?!” Yes, children, he drives a hot rod to the office every day… and gets excellent gas mileage to boot! 

Say “Thank You”

Every morning, I have an AM duty. There is a girl in 1^st grade that has narcolepsy, and she has an aide for personal safety. Because her aide is has a different duty during breakfast, I take her to breakfast and stay with her until her teacher picks her up at the start of the day. There are four classes of 1^st graders in the breakfast room in the morning, which you can imagine gets a little crazy! This morning, I saw one of the best displays of manners by a 6-year-old ever (or maybe, since they are still learning, I was just blown away that this gentleman had it down). A little boy came up to me, waited until I was available, then politely said, “Excuse me, would you please open my juice?” When I did, he said “thank you,” and I praised him from here to Sunday for his excellent manners.  

Be Proud

I’m feeling more and more confident in my job every day! 

Make a Friend

One of the students who “checks-in” with me twice a day for behavior came to the office one day before lunch with an office write-up and tears in her eyes. A. had been having difficulty with a girl in her class, K., with some relational aggression and general not niceness. I called both the girls down for a peer mediation, and it turns out that K.’s way of joking around was more aggressive than A. was expecting, which she took to mean that K. didn’t like her or want to be her friend. Once it was all out on the table, and K. understood why A. was upset, the two agreed they wanted to be friends. Earlier this week I passed them in the hall smiling and laughing with one another. Put another tally mark in my column!

PBIS: Putting Smiling Faces in Your Hallways

Our school has a Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) system in place. The first step of PBIS is to set universal rules and expectations that all students are to follow, like wearing uniforms, specific voice levels in specific parts of the building, hands and feet to self, etc. These universal rules, if done right, are to keep the whole school environment safe and successful. Of course, if Tyreke is a repeat offender at kicking Marco in reading group, obviously the universal rules aren't working for him, and we need to try another behavior intervention with him. But, that's another ball of wax!

At the beginning of the school year, my principal emailed asking the staff for a volunteer to be in charge of the students and homerooms of the month program, which rewards students for following the universal rules of our PBIS program. Since I'm part of the building's PBIS Team, I thought it would be a great way to recognize the kids that are "doing the right thing," instead of dwelling on the ones who are having trouble keeping it together. Plus, how often do I get to see the "good kids"? Our administration team chooses the homerooms of the month, and teachers nominate a student from their class to be a student of the month. They also get the option to nominate a "most improved" student, which I think is fantastic and rewarding for kids who may have hit a rough patch, but were able to get it back together.

As for my responsibilities, I am in charge of collecting names from all the teachers for their students of the month, announcing the names of the homerooms and students on the morning annoucements at the end of the month, handing out certificates and taking pictures of the winning students, and doing two bulletin boards with those pictures. The payoff is seeing all those happy teachers and students passing by the bulletin boards, pointing at pictures of themselves, their friends, or students, and realizing that their hard work is paying off.

Or at least that's how my glass-half-full mind looks at it. :)