SI 2026: Breakout Session #1

Creating and maintaining a building’s positive climate and culture is essential in earning buy-in from staff and students. Each year, our goal is to strengthen the foundation of what works well as we strive to keep our learning environment fresh and exciting. Representatives from Bingham Middle School are thrilled to share smiles, successes, and some of our favorite things from our school’s culture and climate.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Experience multiple strategies for increasing opportunities to respond in any content area
• Sample our building’s SW-PBS website, behavioral lessons, common language, incentive ideas, and culture
• Collaborate, plan, and ask questions as participants prepare for the upcoming school year

This session will equip participants with practical strategies to strengthen communication with adolescents by leading with listening, empathy, and calmness. Participants will learn a framework for productive conversations, explore how adolescent brain development influences interactions, and identify approaches that build trust and confidence. Through reflection and application, participants will discover how to support teens’ autonomy, guide them through challenges, and respond in ways that foster resilience.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Be able to implement listening-centered approaches to support adolescents’ autonomy, emotional growth, and confidence-building
• Identify and avoid common conversation crashers that undermine trust and confidence in teen interactions
• Learn how to apply the B.R.I.E.F. communication strategy to create calm, productive conversations with adolescents

Are you just starting your implementation of Tier 2 practices in your school? Are you currently implementing Tier 2 but feel it has lost some of its pizazz? In this high-energy session, participants will hear about the most-important lessons the presenters have learned about successful Tier 2 implementation in the early childhood setting. Walk away with ideas you can use to get your Tier 2 journey started, or polish up strategies you are already using that have lost their shine.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Receive tips for implementing Tier 2 strategies successfully
• Explore ways participants can implement tips learned through the session
• Understand what actions to take if Tier 2 strategies are unsuccessful

This session will explore how SW-PBS flows in our school. Participants will discuss our school’s strategies including golden ticket drawings, staff tickets, monthly incentives, family groups, SW-PBS weekly lessons, the culture of encouragement in our school, class compliments, minors and majors and how we track them, and much more. The presenters are from a rural school that supports its students in a myriad of amazing ways.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Identify the responsibilities of a Tier 1 team
• Learn how to use Google sources to track minors, majors, and positive office referrals
• Learn how to create incentives for each month of the school year

This session will describe how multiple high schools moved from piloting to scaling up Check In, Check Out (CICO). The presenters will share year one and year two data highlighting changes to Tier 2 systems and core CICO features that support CICO implementation. Come discover our lessons learned related to coordination, training, and data-based decision-making that supported fidelity and student success.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Identify key strategies to support CICO implementation in high school
• Identify variations in implementing CICO
• Identify district-level structures and supports that facilitate consistent implementation of CICO

This session will provide a basic overview of what trauma is; its effects on the brain, body, and development; and what educators can do to provide a safe, supportive, and calming environment to promote growth in students and families. Participants will complete an assessment on adverse childhood experiences to provide insight on how their own previous life experiences could be impacting their relationships and interactions. Participants will also learn what secondary trauma is, what it can look and sound like, and how to handle it if they notice symptoms within themselves or others.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Receive a basic overview of what trauma is, what could be a traumatic event, and the effects of trauma on the brain and development
• Understand what trauma might look like in your students, their families, or yourself
• Learn what traumatic responses are and what secondary trauma can look and sound like, along with examples of trauma-informed strategies to use within the classroom

This session will introduce participants to the purpose and structure of peer coaching within SW-PBS along with how collaborative reflection strengthens both implementation fidelity and effective teaching and learning practices. Explore practical peer-coaching strategies you can use to support colleagues in refining classroom systems and instructional routines. This session will also highlight tools and resources that are designed to promote meaningful self-reflection.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Understand the purpose and structure of peer coaching within SW-PBS
• Learn about peer-coaching strategies that support colleagues
• Learn about resources from MO SW-PBS and tools to help participants engage in self-reflection of the effective teaching and learning practices

Are you looking for strategies to take your positive-behavior systems to the next level? How about ways to honor students’ worth and to foster student leadership This session will provide opportunities for leaderization, highlight successful schoolwide and community practices, and offer an efficient PDSA-cycle template for analysis and data-driven decision-making.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Identify opportunities to integrate SW-PBS systems with Leader in Me practices
• Be able to use a Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle to follow an efficient data-driven process for intervention
• Consider multiple strategies for schoolwide and community focus

This session will offer some tips and successful strategies that the presenters have used to get their school’s culture moving in a positive trajectory. Participants will discuss both Tier 1 and Tier 2 strategies in this session.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Consider positive elements to incorporate in schoolwide procedures
• Learn about smaller-scale behavioral interventions that discourage office discipline referrals
• Discover strategies to reduce the number of office discipline referrals year-over-year by creating a positive school culture

Reinforcement at the high school level is often met with skepticism. Many believe it is ineffective or has to be paired with a ticket system. This session will challenge that narrative. Presenters from Fulton High School will highlight the power of intentional, meaningful positive feedback and will share real examples of schoolwide practices and systems that have led to buy-in. Participants will explore how these approaches have positively impacted student behavior, engagement, and overall school climate.

SESSION OUTCOMES:

• Review how developmentally appropriate reinforcement can increase student buy-in and positive behavior at the high school level
• Receive practical reinforcement strategies and systems
• Analyze outcome data and qualitative feedback