Strategies and Structures for Successful Interventions

No matter which strategy is used, the goal of MTSS behavioral interventions is to connect students to the school and their own education. One of the most common strategies is Check-In Check-Out (CICO), where students meet with a mentor at the beginning and end of every day to set goals, receive points from teachers for meeting goals, and earn rewards based on their points.

While it’s an effective intervention, experts from the edLeader Panel, “Designing a Menu of Behavior Intervention Options: Beyond Check-In Check-Out” believe schools should have an array of choices—both to make the strongest connection with the student and to ensure that the intervention is addressing the behaviors.

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Building the Foundation for Effective Interventions

First, in order to have successful interventions at Tiers 2 and 3, schools must have solid Tier 1 practices. In other words, there are clear expectations for student behavior, and all school staff are intentionally working toward a positive school environment. Without this, not only are Tier 2 and 3 interventions not possible, but the overall school climate will suffer.

Second, the panelists differentiated between programs and strategies. While there are many MTSS programs sold to districts, they emphasized that with ongoing, effective training, strategies could often be implemented without having to purchase a proprietary system.

Next, they highlighted important aspects of intervention programs. These are proven, evidence-based actions for addressing behavior issues, and include:

• Increased adult attention, supervision, and structure
• Behavior skills instruction, practice, and pre-correction
• Providing feedback and positive reinforcement
• Focus on the possible function of problem behavior
• Facilitate academic engagement

It takes a lot of energy to engage in a new behavior, so an essential element is ongoing feedback and positive reinforcement. Also, school intervention staff need to know if the student has a skill in their repertoire or if they are choosing not to use it, because that would change how to approach an issue.

Key Elements for Effective Intervention Planning

Finally, before implementing any behavior strategies, the intervention team must consider three key elements of the plan:

1. Who: Administrators must consider who on campus has the time, knowledge, and skills to provide and support the strategy with the student.
2. Fidelity: School leaders must also have guardrails in place to make sure that the program is implemented correctly and should measure adherence, dosage, and engagement.
3. Progress: Of course, the staff member leading the intervention, the student, and their family should understand what the goal is and how progress toward the goal will be measured.

According to the panelists, fidelity is often where strategies break down. Teams need to consistently report how the student is accessing the intervention, how long they are doing it, and how well they are responding. It’s not a “gotcha” moment, but instead asking: Are students coming into contact with the full dosage and quality of what you have designed for them? Otherwise, a common problem is that staff may say an intervention isn’t working when, in reality, it hasn’t been implemented as it should be.

Related Resource: MTSS Implementation Fidelity Reference Guide

Additional Intervention Strategies

• Social/Behavioral Skills Instruction: Often better suited to elementary-aged kids, this strategy brings together students with similar needs based on screening data and uses peer feedback to help model new behaviors. The group leaders set specific, measurable goals and have a mechanism for progress monitoring.
• Structured Mentorship: This is Check-In Check-Out without the points sheet. Some students respond to connecting with a mentor and setting goals, but they have an extremely negative view of the points sheet. Combined with self-monitoring, this strategy works well with secondary students.
• Meaningful Jobs: In this strategy, instead of a mentor, students have a supervisor who oversees their work. The job should be something the student enjoys that has real value to the school, with a specific job description (e.g., morning greeter). The supervisor needs to provide regular feedback and reinforcement.
• Breaks Are Better: For students who try to avoid challenging situations, the intervention team can modify Check-In Check-Out with built-in breaks. By allowing for productive breaks, the student can develop self-awareness and accountability.
• Leadership Clubs: These can be an effective method for connecting students with positive role models, peer role models, and providing some social skills instruction. They don’t necessarily go on record as a behavior intervention, but can provide many of the same benefits.

There are also highly structured intensive programs that are typically delivered over three to five weeks. These paid programs often have a manual and bring together several strategies to aid a student.

For any successful intervention, the key is to have it ready to go before a student needs it. You need a dedicated person who has time to make sure the programs are running correctly, knows how the intervention will be put in place, and understands what supports are needed for the teachers, students, and families. Once a student is identified as needing an intervention, it should happen as quickly as possible.

You can find the original version of this article on EdWeb, available here.