Start the School Year Strong: Strengthen Common Area Supervision
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.”
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
