Student “Check In, Check Out” System – for Behavior

Raise your hand if you have one (or two, or five, or 10) of those students who need just a little extra adult attention feedback? This is what we tried at the end of this year and it was AMAZING!

“Check In/Check Out” is an idea we borrowed from Esther Elementary in Lebanon, MO. The idea is that some students benefit from starting and ending their day with a special adult to set goals and receive feedback.

Here is how this worked with a student that I worked with. (It seemed to work best when the child was paired with a staff memeber he/she had a strong relationship with.)

Morning time: (Whatever time works best for you.) Student meets with his/her adult and plans for a successful day using the daily behavior chart. (You might consider something more simple that what you see in the next picture. This is too much and we are tweaking.)

The “Triage Questions” were the key. What conversation do you need to have with your student in the morning? The questions can be whatever behaviors you are working on with your assigned student. These were compatible to my student.

Points vs. Percentage: We ended up just doing % because the points were obnoxious as you can see. We will change this part of our form to equal only % I think. So this student’s goal was 90% per day and he met it most of the time as you will see in the next picture. We really had to talk through the days he didn’t meet is goal. It took him a few times to realize it was okay and that the next day was a new day.

Consistency: We have a bazillion different behavior charts floating around our building. This is GREAT for the teachers but when a team comes together for intervention on a student it takes 15 min. to interpret and understand the behavior charts. We would like ONE consistent chart and this was our first try.

End of the Day: My student looked forward to this part of the day! He calculated his own percent using the BIG calculator on my iPad. After he met his goal for so many days we would spin the “prize wheel.” We kept track of the prizes he won at the top of the day he spun. (Hard to see on the chart.) If he spun the same thing twice, he could keep that item or spin again. His choice.

We will make some changes in our system for next year but this is a system that is worth keeping!

Worth knowing: This student really needed a positive adult relationship. ALL the adults in his life had failed him up to this point and he needed some consistency. He was a 2nd grader. He and I had built a pretty good relationship in a short time and he got over the fact that I was the Principal too. He had to come to my office to cool down a few times but he recovered and went about his day.