Marlene Gross-Ackeret and Linda Stead
Wisconsin RtI Center/Wisconsin PBIS Network
PBIS Technical Assistance Coordinators
“Middle School,” Griffin repeated. “Where
did they come up with that, anyway? We’re
in the middle of what, exactly? Too old for
elementary school, but not old enough for
high school. So they shove us here. Look
around. There’s not one interesting person
in sight, just a bunch of clones who want to
be like everyone else.”
James Preller, Bystander
“People always talk about how great it is to
get older. All I saw were more rules and more
adults telling me what I could and couldn’t
do, in the name of what’s ‘good for me.’
Yeah, well, asparagus is good for me, but it
still makes me want to throw up.”
James Patterson: Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
“ Middle School is kind of like Middle-earth. It’s
a magical journey filled with elves, dwarves,
hobbits, queens, kings, and a few corrupt
wizards. Word to the wise: pick your traveling
companions well. Ones with the courage and
moral fiber to persevere. Ones who wield their
lip gloss like magic wands when confronted with
danger. This way, when you pass through the
congested hallways rife with pernicious
diversion, you achieve your desired destination –
or at least your next class.”
Kimberly Dana, Lucy and CeCee’s How to Survive (and Thrive) in Middle School
Higher-performing middle schools build a
culture of success by consistently maintaining
these five common elements:
1. Trusting and respectful relationships
2. Students’ social and emotional well-being
3. Teamwork
4. Evidence-based decision making
5. Shared vision of mission and goals
”The Blueprint for Middle School Success”
New York City Dept. of Education
What research has shown for
schools implementing PBIS



Creates learning environments that
proactively deal with behaviors.
Improves support for students with
specialized behavioral needs.
Maximizes on-task behavior and
increases learning time for all students
Perfect match!!!!
or maybe not……..
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
McIntosh, 2013
Middle School Barriers
Middle School Barriers
‣ Peer attention trumps adult attention
‣ Increased expectation for student selfmanagement
‣ Greater physical size of building
‣ Coordination among staff

Maintain Tier 1/Universal

Develop and Maintain Tier 2 Interventions
Foundation of the entire system




CICO
SAIG
FBA
BIP

Academic Supports

Move to Tier 3
 From
this:
Tier I
To this:
Be Respectful
Be Responsible
Be Safe
Be A Learner

Be Respectful (cell phones, texts, etc.)
•
•
•
•

Be Responsible
•
•
•
•

Be on time
Put materials away
Clean up after yourself
Take pride in your learning
Be Safe
•
•
•

Speak quietly and politely
Listen actively to others
Raise hand to share
Respond positively to teachers and students
Move about safely
Keep aisles clear
Keep hands and feet to yourself
Be a Learner
•
•
•
•
•
Fill out assignment notebook
Complete assignments and homework on time
Ask questions
Do your best
Keep electronics off and in lockers





Teach all behaviors
Use data to determine what to re-teach,
when, how often
Consistently use and update you your
student acknowledgement system
Acknowledge all staff for being a part of
PBIS
Engage families



Professional development is aligned to
the needs of the workers.
Leaders invest in the development if
individual and collaborative efficacy of a
whole group or system.
If people are asked to act differently,
then their capacity must be developed to
do so.
Fullan, M. (2008)
Content Building Knowledge
 Time to observe modeling
 Opportunity to practice
 Provide feedback
 Coaching

 For every 1 hour of content, 7 hours
should be given for these 4
components
Tier 2
From this:
Tier 2
To this:

Tier 2 team selection
 Membership
 Coordinator/Coach
Define purpose
 Data decision rules
 Professional development on all
interventions

Administrator
 Tier 2 Coordinator/Coach
 Pupil Services Staff (counselor, school
psychologist/social worker)
 General Educator(s)
 Special Educator(s)






Overall planning and coordination of Tier
2 systems
Regularly review student data
Develop and coordinate Tier 2
interventions
Provide staff training
Ongoing sharing of data and general
information with staff

Facilitates the following:
• Student nominations for Tier 2
interventions
• Professional development for Tier 2
interventions
• Data collection system
• Parent/family notification and explanation
• Introduction and teaching students

Supports PBIS at all tiers

Staff availability to provide interventions

Access to space to provide interventions

Time to provide interventions

Access to data and data system

Time to develop and meet

Current data





Attendance
Discipline (Majors/Minors)
Tardies
Grades (D and F lists)
Team establishes decision rules – indicators?
What interventions to provide?

Sample DPR form for Middle School???

Planner DPR from AMS???
Identify Student Needs/Wants:
‣ Peer attention seeking
‣ Adult attention seeking
‣ Skill deficit
‣ Work Avoidance

Professional Development
 Staff buy in/commitment
 Staff understand purpose (shift in thinking)
 Staff understand procedures and
responsibilities
 Share data with staff

How to implement CICO and SAIG
 Room/location
 Personnel
 Intervention time

Role of classroom teachers





Teacher accountability for honest data points
Teacher feedback to student
Not using DPR as a sounding board
Make it “work” for all students
Student Buy in
 Understanding intervention – All students
 Viewed as part of positive school culture (not
just for “bad” kids)
 Can’t be a burden or embarrassment

Warning Signs
 Accepting frequent low data points
 Teachers not filling out DPR
 Student loss of interest
 Support the student at the present level
without system review or adjustment
 Statistically, DPR does not reflect similar
data trends compared to current student
data
“Teaching middle school is an
adventure not a job.”
Angela K. Bennet

Enrollment:
American Indian:
Asian:
African American:
Latino:
White

Students with Disabilities: 10.8%





885 students
0.6%
6.0%
9.3%
3.4%
80.4%

2011-12: Year 1 of Tier 1 was tough – big
learning curve for all
• Procedural changes
• Cultural changes
o 370 days of OSS in 2010-11
• Referrals: Majors vs. Minors
o Lack of materials
o Incomplete homework
o Refer any time?
• PRC Cards (Positive Referral Card – blue)
• Began Restorative Practices

2012-13: Year 2 of Tier 1 saw many
improvements
• Refined behavior descriptions and referral form
• Created Classroom Discipline Cycle
o Universal for all classrooms posted but not limiting
• Golden Bus Tickets
o Drivers can recognize students for good behavior
• Reflect and Refocus Form/Room

2012-13 continued
• Developed and filmed Cool Tool Videos
• Created Gold PRC Cards
o Collect 2 completed blue cards for a $5 gift card
• Participated in training for Culturally Responsive
Practices
• District-wide PBIS Meetings
• 2012-13 School of Merit

2013-14: Year 3 of Tier 1; Tier 2 Training
• HS began PBIS; MS and HS rebranded PBIS as
“Falls Pride”
• Minor tweaks to Referral forms
• Continued filming Cool Tool Videos to build bank
of resources
• Trained all teachers, educational assistants, and
student services staff in Restorative Practices and
Circles
o Flex classrooms “circled” with students twice a week –
Mondays and Fridays

2013-14 continued
• Began 6 month test pilot of Flex Rep Council Allows students to:
o Have a voice in setting grade level behavior goal
o Have a voice in next steps to achieve the goal
o Have a voice in the reward and celebration for meeting
the goal
• BoQ and SAS scores steadily increased over the
last two years
• Tested CICO with 10 students for 3 months
• 2013-14 School of Merit

2014-15 Moving Forward with Tiers 1 and 2
•
•
•
•
PEP Assembly for Falls Pride Kick-Off!!!
Increase students on CICO (20)
Train support staff in Restorative Practices
Continue Flex Rep Program
o Refine students involvement and attempt to address
monthly
School website:
http://nms.sdmf.schoolfusion.us
Scott Marty, Associate Principal
martsco@sdmfschools.org
Jess Gieryn, 7th Grade Teacher
gierjes@sdmfschools.org
PBIS – Scaling from
Tier 1 to Tier 2
Frank Lloyd Wright
Intermediate School
WA-WM Schools

Demographics: 1,055 total students.

Tier 1 implementation (Fall 2012).

Tier 2 readiness (Fall 2013).
– 15% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 70% White, 6% Black, 4% Other,
14% students with disabilities.
 Successes – More than 10,000 That’s How We Roll cards were
earned by students through school-wide behavior recognition,
where students can redeem for classroom incentives, chance for
monthly sundae bar and/or visit to the Magic Bookstore.
 Barriers – Fidelity and perception of card participation.
 Student - Student Service Watch List – Big “5”
• SAIG – Student Service mini lessons (on website).
• Positive Expression, Working Appropriately, Self-Esteem, Social Media
• CICO – Attendance - 85% target
• Lunch bunch/Breakfast Club
◦ Sundae Bar/Magic Bookstore
 Staff - Stars of the month (2)
Frank Lloyd Wright Overview
Lunch Program – Tier 1 and 2
Lunch Bunch and Homework Club
Value Added – Tier 1 and 2
That’s How We Roll – Sundae Bar and Magic Bookstore
http://animoto.com/play/JPFmgM5I0iy6iS6VrWoc5w
Staff - Tier 1 and 2
Stars of the Month
Contact Information
Website - http//wright.wawm.k12.wi.us
Adam Freund, Internal Coach
freunda@wawm.k12.wi.us
Ryan Hammernik, Associate Principal
hammr@wawm.k12.wi.us
Phone Number - 414-604-3400
Liz Ptaschinski
JYMS PBIS Internal Coach, JYMS CICO Coordinator, PBIS External Coach, Teacher
Kristin Mashak
PBIS External Coach, Academic Seminar Teacher


Check-In/Check-Out (CICO)
Individualized CICO
◦ CICO with specific goals (ie: brings materials to
class)



Academic CICO
Social Academic Instructional Groups (SAIG)
Brief Functional Behavioral Assessment
(FBA)/Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)

Students on basic CICO 2014-2015: 42
◦ Academic CICO: 1

Students on basic CICO 2013-2014: 39
◦ Individualized CICO: 23
◦ Academic CICO: 2

Students on basic CICO 2012-2013: 61

Not getting enough data
◦ Kids not participating (or sporadically participating)

Teachers not buying in/participating
◦ Teachers not doing CICO with fidelity
◦ Teachers not prompting students for sheet

In year 1(2012-2013): Tier 2 team analyzes
data and makes decisions for all students
◦ Team does not know all students
 Difficult to make appropriate modifications
◦ Too many students to effectively manage
◦ Lack of teacher ownership and participation

February 2013-present
◦ Grade level teams analyze data and make decisions
for their students
 Teachers know students
 Easier to make appropriate modifications
 Smaller number of students to manage
 Teachers make decisions for their students
 More ownership and participation
 Better knowledge of which students are participating in
CICO

Student Data Slides
◦ Created by CICO Coordinator
◦ Contains basic information




When student started on CICO
How they qualified
Updates from previous months
Plan modifications
◦ Contains graph (individual student reportCICO/SWIS)
◦ Contains number of ODRs

Google Form

Fidelity checklist
◦ Teachers take monthly to assess fidelity of
implementation
 Improved fidelity-helps to have a reminder of all the
components



Students will begin to circle their own numbers
after 2 weeks of participation on any CICO
intervention (teachers can change)
Students participating on individualized CICO will
be able to set their own goals and rating scales
(with CICO Coordinator)
Add TWO additional levels of CICO support
◦ Individualized CICO with “SAIG” instruction
 Quick lesson taught during intervention block (in the
classroom)
 Strategies reinforced in EACH classroom throughout the day
◦ Individualized CICO with “SAIG” instruction and
additional support
 Provide additional materials/supports EACH hour to help the
student in meeting their goals
Website: www.baraboo.k12.wi.us
Paul Anderson, Internal Coach
panderson@barabooschools.net
Liz Ptaschinski, Internal Coach
eptaschinski@barabooschools.net
What has been your biggest success
and your greatest challenge?
If you had a “do over” what would you
do differently? How would you do it?
What actions will you take to maintain
Tier 1 and Tier 2?
Describe your next steps for the
2014-15 school year and beyond.
What general advice would you give
to other middle schools?