Missouri Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support

As the school year comes to a close, we want to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of our educators, staff, administrators, and school partners for your commitment to PBIS.

Your dedication to creating positive, predictable, and supportive learning environments has made a meaningful difference for students every single day. Through your hard work, collaboration, and consistency, you have helped strengthen school culture, support student success, and build communities where all students can thrive.

Thank you for the passion, perseverance, and care you bring to this work. We hope you have a safe, fun, and relaxing summer—you’ve earned it!

Students come to high school with many educational experiences. Unfortunately, some of these experiences have lasting negative impacts. Join Lisa and Jamie for a conversation with high school math teacher, Melissa Hough. Melissa strongly emphasizes the importance of creating a safe environment for students to actively engage in classroom activities leading to improved thinking skills and creating connections to other learning. From the beginning of her courses, Melissa encourages students to question as they problem solve--"What am I doing?" and "Why am I doing it?" Melissa's approach is not only effective teaching practice, it just makes sense.

Listen here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1776790/episodes/19068686

As educators, we've all had experience with some version of Check-In, Check-Out (CICO) as an intervention for at-risk students. What has CICO looked like for you? Is it an intervention that can be easily used for ALL students? Most importantly, has the use of CICO been impactful for your students and provided a path to graduation? Listen in as Lisa and Sara Estrapala discuss some very promising preliminary results of a 5-year study focusing on a simplified, standardized, formalized version of CICO. Then, Lisa and Jamie will continue the discussion with reflections of the study. You'll discover lessons that were learned from the perspectives of all involved including what worked as well as challenges along the way. If you are ready to revise your CICO processes to provide the greatest benefit for your students, this podcast may provide just the kickstart you need!

Listen here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1776790/episodes/19018144

As a general educator, if you are wondering if function-based support should be part of your behavior management focus, wonder no more. As we have learned, especially in the previous two podcasts, questioning and understanding the "why" of behavior is key to preventing as well as de-escalating challenging behaviors. Join Lisa and Jamie for a conversation with our first high school guest for the Classroom Series, Shelby Kurtz, 9th grade social studies teacher. This is not a how to (click on the resource below). However, Shelby provides the rationale behind incorporating function-based support into everyday lessons. Her goal is to create an educational environment where students with challenging behaviors are able to stay in the classroom and learn. Don't assume, ask. Question rather than tell. Show students that you are interested in them as people.

Listen here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1776790/episodes/18932753

Educators, mark your calendars for June 9 and 10, when the 20th, yes 20th MO SW-PBS Summer Institute 2026 will be held at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, Missouri! So much is happening at this year's institute that you will need to listen to featured podcast guest, Jody Baker, district coach and Summer Institute Coordinator, as she outlines many institute features including the keynote speaker, breakout sessions, poster sessions, and karaoke, of course. Breakout sessions include something for everyone--all tiers of intervention, all levels of education, and a special emphasis on self-care and caring for colleagues. Jody also gives many helpful recommendations for how your team can create a plan for before, during, and after the institute to get the maximum impact for your experience. Click on the important links below for even more details. What We Do Matters!!

Listen here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1776790/episodes/19083696

Time is running out to take advantage of our Early Bird special rate! Register for Summer Institute by May 1st to save $50 on your registration fee!!

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED!!
https://pbismissouri.org/summer-training-institute/registration-2/

As the weather warms up and schedules get busy, we often see an increase in student behavior challenges. The good news? Strong Tier 1 Universal supports can keep things on track and help everyone finish the year strong.

Here are a few simple ways to reset and refocus:

Re-teach expectations – Don’t assume students remember. A quick refresh in all settings can go a long way.
Boost positive feedback – Aim for that 4:1 or 5:1 ratio to reinforce what’s going well.
Increase active supervision – Move, scan, and interact to prevent issues before they start.
Provide more opportunities to respond – Keep students engaged and involved in learning.
Tighten routines – Consistency creates calm, especially during high-energy times.

Spring doesn’t have to mean chaos—it can be a time to re-energize your systems and celebrate success

Understanding and having tools to work through the phases of behavioral escalation and de-escalation are such significant aspects of teaching. They're so important that we're devoting another episode to this topic! Listen in as Hannah Hergenrother, a 3rd grade teacher, emphasizes building strong relationships as well as explicitly teaching and practicing co-regulation/self-regulation skills. She also stresses the role that neuroscience plays in behavior and one's ability to accept intervention. This is the perfect addendum to our last podcast. You will have some new considerations regarding de-escalating student behavior safely and effectively!

Listen here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1776790/episodes/18895501

Have you registered yet? Early Bird rates end May 1st!

Summer Institute Registration - Learning System Missouri Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Supporting Missouri schools with a research-based, multi-tiered behavior framework that builds positive, safe, and effective learning environments.