Keeping it Formative with Check-in Check-out

Over the last three years I have immersed myself into the world of PBS. Our teams have attended and presented at many conferences. We have built a strong program at Excelsior Springs Middle School.  Part of maintaining a program is to provide continuous professional development so that we keep improving our practice.

At our recent all-staff collaboration I was given the opportunity to talk to the staff.  PBS was in focus to review our Check-in, Check-out (CICO) practices. But as I was preparing the presentation I started wondering, have they been listening to me the last 3 years? Yes, I have gone to lots of training, shared the knowledge I gained, but did the staff remember anything I said? I decided to have an informal assessment; a little quiz to see what they knew. Each staff member was given a white board and a dry erase marker. I started asking them questions about our Tier 2 PBS interventions. It was an exciting time. They seemed to enjoy a little competition and showing off their knowledge. It got a little loud, but most everyone was on topic. The best part was that I learned what they knew and what we will need to work on. For example, I asked “What is the main component of CICO.” If you have ever been to an Excelsior Springs Middle School presentation of our Tier 2 practices we repeatedly say “positive adult interaction.” I was not surprised when I saw on almost every whiteboard the words, positive, relationship building, or connecting. It was great to see they understand that part. Other answers that made me reflect about misconceptions. After asking “Can you write a comment on the daily progress report?” about 80% of the staff said “No.” The correct answer is yes, but only positive comments. As I told them the answer I heard the crowd give a collective “OHH” sound. If they didn’t know it before the quiz, they do now.  Through this collaborative learning time, I learned more about staff understanding of CICO procedures, but better than that I learned the power of formative assessment. Assessment doesn’t have to be boring, long or paper and pencil. Assessment should truly help us reflect on what we are doing and how we need to improve to help those we are teaching, adults or children. Keep it formative and keep learning. The video above was filmed by members of our Faculty PBIS Teams as a professional development resource and was viewed by our entire faculty during collaboration on September 16, 2013.