Behavior Briefs

Every Adult Shapes School Climate. So Why Aren’t They All at the Table?

Tue, 10 Nov 2026 00:19:28 GMT

Jessica Sprick | September 23, 2026

Every Adult Shapes School Climate. So Why Aren’t They All at the Table?

Ms. Elena is one of the school custodians. She spends time in all areas of the school. She sees which grade levels struggle with responsibility in the cafeteria. She notices when students are roaming in the hallways during class times and where students loiter during passing periods and become late for their next class. Ms. Elena may also have great awareness about which students always appear disconnected from peers or when there are changes in group dynamics that may impact students’ connectedness and well-being.

Ms. Elena has valuable insights about behavior in the school, but why is she almost never a part of the conversation about behavioral improvements? Every day, every staff member shapes the climate; therefore, every staff member should help shape priorities and plans for improvement.

Seek Staff Input

One of the most valuable ways to get meaningful engagement from staff is to give them a voice in the process of change. Identify multiple ways to solicit feedback from staff about things that are going well and should be celebrated, as well as any ongoing concerns they may have regarding behavior, climate, and safety. Some possibilities include:

Use staff surveys to determine staff perceptions of safety, respect, and behavioral concerns in different areas of the school (e.g., hallways, parking lots, restrooms, cafeteria, etc.). Use this feedback to help determine priorities for improvement and to monitor whether changes to policies or procedures improve staff perceptions. The following scenario illustrates a simple one-question survey process:

At the end of the November staff meeting, Principal Carter takes 5 minutes to share a few numbers. Office referrals from the cafeteria have gone up since September, and teachers say they lose about 10 minutes of instruction after passing periods. Then she hands out a half-sheet with one question: “In which common area would you most like to see more safety, civility, and productivity in the coming months?” Below it are six choices: arrival, dismissal, cafeteria, playground, hallways, and restrooms. Teachers vote before they leave the meeting. The next morning, members of the climate and safety committee meet with the head custodian, front office staff, instructional assistants, and cafeteria team so they can also vote. By Friday, nearly every adult in the building has voted. The hallways win by a wide margin. When the climate team rolls out a new hallway plan, staff don’t feel it was handed to them. They chose it.

Provide regular opportunities for all staff to participate in structured observations of common areas, especially areas or activities that they are not part of their primary job responsibilities. If some teachers never spend time in the cafeteria, have someone take over their class for 10–15 minutes so they can get a better picture of the routines and student behavior during that time of day. Or allow front office staff to rotate out of the office for 10–15 minute intervals to observe hallway passing periods, recess, arrival, or dismissal.

If your school uses the STOIC framework, encourage staff to make notes during these observations on strengths and weaknesses regarding the STOIC variables: Structure, Teach, Observe, Interact Positively, Correct fluently. For example, were staff able to clearly see and understand expectations for student and staff behavior? Did they hear staff members using positive and corrective feedback that is aligned with those expectations?

Share data with all staff about behavior (common area observation data, survey data, incident referrals, suspensions, and so on). Data should highlight strengths and be used to celebrate staff efforts and encourage them to continue effective practices. Also use these data with staff to aid in their decisions as they give feedback on priorities for improvement.

Ensure that all staff members—custodial staff, instructional assistants, food service personnel, interventionists, teachers, etc.—have an identified representative on the team that drives schoolwide climate and safety improvements (e.g., Foundations, PBIS, behavioral MTSS). This staff member is responsible for conveying information to their constituents and should seek input throughout the year on priorities for improvement and any proposed changes to policies or procedures.

It is important to actively involve all staff members in the process of analyzing and addressing strengths and needs within the school. While some staff members naturally have more direct influence on students’ daily experience because of teaching or administrative responsibilities, every staff member impacts schoolwide climate and safety efforts. So every staff member should have a voice in the process of change and school improvement. Another way to actively involve all staff members is to invite them to be part of the problem-solving process to address identified priorities. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this behavior brief to learn about additional ways to meaningfully engage your staff in the process of improvement.

Another way to actively involve all staff members is to invite them to be part of the problem-solving process to address identified priorities. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this behavior brief to learn about additional ways to meaningfully engage your staff in the process of improvement.

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:44:56 GMT

Jessica Sprick | September 23, 2026

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

Practical strategies to understand noncompliance, strengthen relationships, and help students meet expectations.

Now that you’ve been with your students for a few weeks, you may be noticing a student or group of students who frequently struggle to follow adult directions. This is an important time to reflect on possible reasons that students may be failing to comply and to use logic and problem-solving to consider what alterations are most likely to make a difference in helping the student(s) meet expectations.

While refusal to comply with a reasonable adult request should be viewed as a serious misbehavior, it is not always necessary to put a complex plan in place. Consider small but meaningful strategies as outlined below.

Provide clear, consistent directions.

Ensure that any directions you give are clear and relate to observable behaviors (things you can actually see or hear). Deliver all directions in a calm and businesslike manner, and focus on what you want the student to do rather than what you want them to stop: “Sydney, please sit in your assigned seat, then open your book to page 75,” rather than “Stop wandering around and wasting time.” It may also be helpful to focus on simple one-step directions instead of giving multiple steps at one time: “Sydney, please sit in your assigned seat.” When the student has met that expectation, deliver the next: “Thank you. Now, open your book to page 75.”

Explicitly teach expectations for activities, transitions, and skills.

Reflect on whether you have adequately taught expectations for activities, transitions, and skills. With some students, what looks like willful refusal to comply can actually be because they don’t understand expectations or because they are struggling to keep track of different expectations throughout the day. Students encounter hundreds of different expectations in a single school day as they move to different environments, teachers, and common area supervisors. Some students or groups will require more active teaching and practice opportunities to be able to master all of the different expectations throughout their day.

Develop positive relationships.

Some students develop patterns of noncompliance after negative interactions with adults. In general, people are less likely to engage in power struggles when they feel that someone supervising genuinely likes and values them—and is not there merely to direct or criticize them. For students who frequently fail to follow directions, aim for at least three positive interactions for every corrective one. Talk with the students often enough to learn something new about them each week. Greet them warmly and avoid carrying past behavior struggles into current interactions. Consider ways to apply “trust generators,” outlined by Zaretta Hammond in Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain . These are specific actions teachers can use to develop more authentic, vulnerable, and trusting connections with their students. Click here for a summary of trust generators from CHAMPS (3rd ed.).

When any student who typically struggles to follow directions actually complies without argument or the need for redirection, make a special effort to connect with them and use the opportunity tos trengthen your relationship. Also work to avoid unnecessary directions so that you can reduce frequency of opportunities for noncompliance.

Consider One or More Structured Interventions

If a student continues to struggle after these efforts, it may be necessary to put a more structured plan in place. Some possibilities that may be helpful include:

Hold a planned discussion at a neutral time to share your concerns, get the student’s perspective on why they are not following directions, and collaboratively problem solve solutions. See Early-Stage Interventions for steps for conducting a planned discussion.
Increase the student’s sense of power and responsibility through a meaningful job within the school or class, especially during or directly before times or activities in which the student typically struggles. This can give them a sense of purpose and positive power, and increase their positive connection with the school or teacher.
Conduct lessons at a separate time from when the student struggles to teach the student how to respond appropriately to directions and/or how and when to appropriately self-advocate. Have the student practice responding to a variety of directions in appropriate ways. Some students have a knee-jerk reaction to respond defiantly. Intervention must teach them appropriate ways to respond to and carry out directions as well as communicate when they don’t understand a direction or need to voice concerns or questions.
Implement a system for monitoring the student’s frequency of appropriately following directions. Have the student graph and use goal setting to reduce instances of not following directions and increase instances of following directions. For older students (upper elementary through high school), it may be especially beneficial for the student to self-monitor with a tallying form on the desk to help them become more aware of when they are responding appropriately or inappropriately. Here is a tally form you can use.
Optionally, you might add a structured reinforcement system to the monitoring of the student’s rate of following directions. Consider whether earning points toward a desired activity for increasing directions followed might give the student a boost in the initial stages of working on following directions.

For step-by-step sample intervention plans to address noncompliance, see the Encyclopedia of Behavior Intervention .

While noncompliance can be a frustrating behavior to manage, work to maintain a sense of calm, belief in the student’s ability to change the behavior across time, and willingness to continue problem-solving and trying reasonable approaches to help the student succeed.

If you would like to explore professional development options for this content, contact us at info@safeandcivilschools.com .

Jessica Sprick

Safe & Civil Schools

Resources mentioned in this Behavior Brief:

CHAMPS (3rd ed.)

Student misbehavior has always been the leading cause of teacher frustration. CHAMPS empowers teachers to improve student behavior and motivation by creating classrooms where all students can thrive.

Early-Stage Interventions

A set of simple, teacher-friendly interventions to use as a starting place in addressing an individual student’s chronic misbehavior— disrespect, noncompliance, lack of motivation, bullying, and more.

Encyclopedia of Behavior Intervention (3rd ed.)

Even with a solid classroom management plan in place, some misbehavior is bound to happen. Fortunately, teachers and other educators can implement simple interventions without the help of a specialist to reduce problem behavior.

Start the School Year Strong: Strengthen Common Area Supervision

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:57:46 GMT

Jessica Sprick | September 23, 2026

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

Protect, Expect, Connect, Correct, and Reflect—five essential skills for creating safe, positive, and well-managed common areas.

The presence and management skills of supervising adults in common areas have a major impact on school climate. Whether it is teachers gently reminding students about expectations—“Please walk on the right side of the hallway”—or cafeteria supervisors making positive connections with students—“Gentlemen, it is great to see you today!”— friendly, confident adults in common areas can deter the majority of misbehavior.

A critical responsibility of administrators and members of a schoolwide climate and safety team is to ensure that all staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills to improve their supervision practices. School leadership should also communicate clear expectations for all supervisors about what their role should look and sound like for each location, such as cafeteria, hallway, playground, etc.

Consider the strengths and areas in need of improvement for supervision in each common area location. Analyze the following five skill sets—staff must be empowered to protect, expect, connect, correct, and reflect.

Protect— Do staff know the specific zones they are expected to supervise? Is the schedule set up to prevent gaps in supervision? Do supervisors know how to use continuous circulation and scanning to monitor their assigned areas?

Consider whether any areas of the school, such as stairwells, have spotty or nonexistent supervision. Should there be adjustments to where supervisors stand or how they circulate so that adults can see and get to all areas quickly?

Expect— Are supervising staff well prepared to consistently communicate and follow through with any rules, procedures, expectations, and basic civilities students are expected to use while in the setting? Behaviors you want to see and hear must first be taught to supervisory staff so they are all on the same page, then taught to students.

A common non-example on the playground occurs when one supervisor allows students to climb up a slide and another corrects students later in the day for the same behavior. Ensure that all supervisors are clear about the nuanced expectations that are being taught to students for each setting, procedure, piece of equipment, and so on.

Connect— Do all supervisors understand the importance of interacting with students in a welcoming and positive manner? Do supervisors use specific positive feedback when they notice students meeting or making growth toward expectations? Throughout the day, staff should be heard frequently greeting students (and families) and making connections as they move from arrival, through the hallways, to dismissal. Also reflect on how often you hear staff give descriptive praise, such as “Thank you for keeping your hands to yourself while going through the cafeteria line.”

Correct— Do all staff provide effective corrections to students making behavioral errors? Are corrections instructional—providing clear, specific directions about what to do instead? When correcting students, do staff remain calm and unemotional, and use the mildest response that reasonably fits the misbehavior?

Consider using “one liner” corrections. If there is an expectation that students walk and talk in the hallway rather than clustering and impeding traffic, all staff can use the one liner “walk and talk” when students are not meeting the expectation.

Reflect— Are common area supervisors given the opportunity to reflect on the things they are doing well and things they could improve upon in their supervisory duties? Do they regularly receive positive and corrective feedback from their supervisors about how to be as effective as possible in their role?

For schools that have Foundations: A Proactive and Positive Behavior Support System see Module B, Presentation 4 and 5, and have staff use Reproducible B-08: Supervisory Skills Checklist to review and boost effective staff supervision practices. Para Pro: Supporting the Instructional Process also includes a Supervisory Skills Checklist (pp. 102–104) designed for paraprofessionals tasked with common area supervision.

Every staff member will have opportunities to provide common area supervision. Start your school year strong by reviewing effective supervision skills with all staff members—administrators, interventionists, teachers, classified staff members, and even substitutes. For staff members who regularly supervise particular common areas as part of their assigned duties, spending some time highlighting the specific ways they can protect, expect, connect, correct, and reflect can go a long way in ensuring that common areas are well managed, safe, civil, and positive places for students and staff to be.

If you would like to explore professional development options for this content, contact us at info@safeandcivilschools.com .

Jessica Sprick

Safe & Civil Schools

Kicking Off The Year

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 15:57:59 GMT

Jessica Sprick | September 23, 2026

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

A thoughtful Classroom Management Plan helps build the routines and relationships that support learning all year.

We hope you’ve had lots of opportunities to relax and recharge over the summer! As you make your final preparations for the school year, consider some of the most essential tasks that can help ensure a smooth start and a productive school year.

Spend a little bit of time clarifying what you would like to accomplish with your students—your vision and long-term goals. If you have a destination in mind from the start of the school year, it can help you take meaningful actions to reach your goals and course correct if the class is veering off course. Think about the climate you want to create for your students, yourself, and families. What does behavior look and sound like in different types of activities and transitions? What habits, attitudes, and behavioral skills would you like students to learn as a result of being in your class?

Think about whether adjustments to your Classroom Management Plan would move students closer to your vision from the start of the school year. Your Classroom Management Plan is a working document that you will change across time as you adjust to meet the needs of each group of students, but starting with a clearly defined and well-thought-through plan can help ensure that students are academically engaged and emotionally thriving. Some of the essential considerations to define include:

Level of support needed for the group of students
Guidelines for Success
Classroom rules
Attention signal
Beginning and ending routines
Expectations for activities and transitions
Procedures for family contact: Click here for a sample letter that would be sent home to families on or before the first day of school*
Procedures for managing student assignments
Procedures for managing technology use
Long-range goals
Procedures for interacting positively with students
Correction procedures for misbehavior

*Family contact sample letter:

See Chapter 1, Task 3, in CHAMPS or DSC for more information on designing your Classroom Management Plan.

A core component of your plan is clarifying the expectations you have for students during various classroom activities and transitions. Carefully plan how you will teach students to meet those expectations, and remember that teaching is not telling. Your behavioral lessons should incorporate principles of effective teaching practice, such as providing rationale; using model, lead, test formats; teaching using examples and non-examples; and having lots of active participation during lessons.

When you teach students how to behave responsibly during the first month of school, you dramatically increase the chances of having a productive year. Follow the three-step Teach–Observe–Feedback process:

Teach your expectations right before an activity or transition begins.
Observe and monitor student behavior by circulating and visually scanning during the activity or transition.
Provide positive and instructional corrective feedback during and at the conclusion of the activity.

When you have finalized your Classroom Management Plan, make final preparations to ensure an orderly, respectful, and comfortable first day for you and your students. You want to make a great first impression that has students thinking, “This class is going to be great!”. Plan to greet students individually at the door and introduce yourself. Outline your modified schedule for Day 1 that will help get students acclimated and give you time to convey the most important information about your class and deal with logistics. Click below for more tips on launching your management plan, planning the first day of school, and continuing to establish a positive classroom culture with clear expectations and routines across the first month of school.

We hope these strategies will help you get your school year off to a solid start. Remember, the information you present and the atmosphere you establish in the first month of school will yield valuable dividends throughout the year. If you would like to explore professional development options for this content, contact us at info@safeandcivilschools.com .

Jessica Sprick

Safe & Civil Schools

Understanding Attendance Goals

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:55:57 GMT

Jessica Sprick | September 23, 2026

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

Many schools aim for 95% attendance, but is that really the benchmark for success? Learn what attendance data reveals and how to set meaningful goals.

I recently had a conversation with a school leader about attendance metrics and goals. She shared that her district set a goal for each school to have 95% Average Daily Attendance (ADA), but there has been some pushback from a few school leaders who believe that anything above 90% ADA is sufficient. This conversation confirmed that we have a lack of clarity about attendance metrics and goals. Part of my response to her was to clarify why even 95% ADA is not quite enough as an ultimate goal. In this newsletter, we hope to provide information to help you guide your school and district in setting appropriate goals as you work to boost whole school and individual student attendance.

The Relationship Between Schoolwide Average Daily Attendance and Individual Student Attendance Metrics

A school with an ADA rate of 95% typically has between 7% to 15% of individual students chronically absent (and a similar or slightly higher percentage of students at risk of chronic absence). This is because some students will have perfect or near-perfect attendance, which pulls the average up even though many students remain in the at-risk and chronic absence categories. An interim goal of 95% ADA is great for schools to strive for, but ultimately we would like to push schools to aim for 97%–98%. At that ADA rate, a very small number of students will fall into the chronic category and require individualized support.

So, the thing to keep in mind is that regardless of a particular school’s ADA, the critical metric is how many students within that school are chronically absent and whether the school has sufficient support personnel (social workers, counselors, psychologists) to work directly with those students and their families.

Average Daily Attendance

Average Daily Attendance is a calculation of the average number of students who were present during a specific time period—a month, a quarter, a year. If you report a rate of 95% ADA for a year, it means that when you take all of the days of actual attendance for your whole school population, then divide it by the total number of possible days of attendance based on enrollment (and multiply by 100), your school had an average of 95% of your students in attendance each day.

While a schoolwide ADA of 95% can be a good starting goal for a school with problematic ADA, it is not an end goal, because even a 95% ADA could mask that many individual students have significant problems with attendance (Sprick & Sprick, 2018).

Individual Attendance

Regardless of a particular school’s ADA, the goal for each individual student in that school should be 95% or better. Regular attendance is 95% or better for an individual student (“9 days or less for school success”).**

When a student has between 90%–95% attendance, that student is considered "at risk," meaning that there are increasing risk factors for the student, especially if this is a multi-year pattern. When a student hits 90% or below (chronic absenteeism), that student is highly at risk due to the level of absenteeism.

** Regular, at-risk, and chronic metrics include excused absences, unexcused absences, and suspensions. For individual students, there are potential risks to academic growth and engagement any time they are absent from the learning environment, regardless of whether the absence is excused or not.

Graphing ADA and Chronic Absence

Using data from a large school district, the attached graph shows the relationship of a school’s ADA rate (the x axis) and the percentage of students within the school who are chronically absent.

Rates of chronic absence and average daily attendance

From Bruner, C., Discher, A., & Chang, H. (2011, November). Chronic elementary absenteeism: A problem hidden in plain sight. AttendanceWorks.

As you can see, at a 93% ADA rate, schools had ~21% of their kids in the chronic absence category (missing 10% or more of school). These students are highly at risk based on their attendance. If we continued to map this line, at 91% around 30% of kids would be chronically absent. This also doesn't include the number of kids in the at-risk category (missing 5%–10% of school), which would probably be very high in these schools. It’s not until schools reach 97%–98% ADA that the number of students chronically absent is manageable enough for most schools to design and implement individualized interventions.

Another way to think of this is that a 95% ADA rate is like a B– or C+. A 93% ADA rate would be something like a D, and anything below would be an F. With these percentages, there are just far too many kids who are highly at risk, and this level of absenteeism is likely having major impacts on grades, academic achievement, social aspects, dependability, students' readiness to enter the workforce, etc. We would never accept having over 20% of our kids highly at risk in reading and say our system is just fine. We would work on refining the system!

Setting Short-Term and Long-Term ADA Goals

As you work on addressing attendance, set a short-term goal to boost your ADA rate by 1%–2% each year. While a long-term goal of 97%–98% might sound far off and improbable, we have seen schools get closer and closer each year by building layers of prevention and intervention and applying a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) approach to address absenteeism. If you are interested in learning more about these approaches, register below for our July 21 webinar focused on designing and refining your attendance approach.

Jessica Sprick

Safe & Civil Schools

Bruner, C., Discher, A., & Chang, H. (2011, November). Chronic elementary absenteeism: A problem hidden in plain sight . Attendanceworks.

Sprick, J., & Sprick, R. (2018). School Leader's Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges . ASCD and Ancora Publishing.

Finishing Strong

Wed, 13 May 2026 23:22:48 GMT

Jessica Sprick | September 23, 2026

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

As you approach the end of the year, it is easy to let your behavioral expectations and support for students slide. However, student behavior can get predictably crazy as summer break approaches, and the last few weeks of schools will be the time that students remember!

While the end of the year often includes many wrap-up activities and fun closing ceremonies and traditions, make sure to stay focused on high expectations and learning with your students. It may be worth doing mini reteaching activities to help students remember how to meet behavioral expectations in the classroom and in common areas. This can help ensure that behavior doesn’t slide too much in the final weeks of school.

You might consider using some time to film short videos of your students demonstrating appropriate behavior and meeting expectations for things like transitions, teacher-directed instruction, cooperative activities, and independent work. Interview students about their advice for next year’s students on how to thrive in the classroom or school. These videos and messages can be used at the beginning of the next school year as part of your efforts to teach expectations to your new class. They also help reinforce with your current group what is expected for the remainder of this year.

For students who have struggled with behavior across the year, continue your efforts to provide strong behavior support until the last day of school. Make sure the students know that you value and believe in them and their potential. In resiliency studies, adults who have thrived despite high-risk childhoods consistently report that there was someone—a family member or teacher—who never gave up on them.

It is critical for you to continue your conscious efforts to provide attention to appropriate behavior for all students while continuing to provide corrective feedback. The end-of-the-year message for all school staff is to never give up on any student and to continue efforts to maintain a positive, safe, and productive learning community through the last day of school.

Jessica Sprick

Safe & Civil Schools

Behavior Briefs

Every Adult Shapes School Climate. So Why Aren’t They All at the Table?

Every Adult Shapes School Climate. So Why Aren’t They All at the Table?

Seek Staff Input

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

﻿ When Students Struggle to Follow Directions ﻿

Practical strategies to understand noncompliance, strengthen relationships, and help students meet expectations.

Start the School Year Strong: Strengthen Common Area Supervision

﻿ When Students Struggle to Follow Directions ﻿

Protect, Expect, Connect, Correct, and Reflect—five essential skills for creating safe, positive, and well-managed common areas.

Kicking Off The Year

﻿ When Students Struggle to Follow Directions ﻿

A thoughtful Classroom Management Plan helps build the routines and relationships that support learning all year.

Understanding Attendance Goals

﻿ When Students Struggle to Follow Directions ﻿

Many schools aim for 95% attendance, but is that really the benchmark for success? Learn what attendance data reveals and how to set meaningful goals.

Finishing Strong

﻿ When Students Struggle to Follow Directions ﻿

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions

When Students Struggle to Follow Directions