How to Implement a Check-In, Check-Out (CICO) Behavior System
Check-in, check-out (CICO) is an evidence-based Tier 2 behavior intervention that pairs a student with a trusted adult for a quick meeting at the start and end of each day. It can improve behavior for many students when it's appropriately matched to their needs and implemented with fidelity.
If you had only one behavior strategy to use in your classroom, what would it be?
This question is nonsensical, as we all know it takes several strategies to be an effective teacher. But what strategy works most frequently?
Being a former teacher and principal, and now a superintendent, I have spent my career working to increase the number of tools in all my toolboxes. Whether that toolbox is for budgeting, professional learning communities, or networking, I am addicted to learning new things and meeting new people who can support me in my everyday job.
As superintendent, one thing I miss is working with the kids. I miss the relationships, the reason "why" we all have a job in education: the kids.
I also miss working with teachers who make that impact daily in the classroom with those kids.
Relationships drive education!
If this statement is true, then the most effective behavior strategies should all be based on relationships.
When I started in education, I studied Lee Canter's Assertive Discipline philosophy. This philosophy led many teachers down a wrong path, in my opinion, a path of commanding respect and requiring compliance of students, though that was not Canter's intention.
In my first year of teaching in 1998, I remember putting check marks next to a student's name every time they misbehaved. I then thought back to my own music teacher in elementary school, who used the same system 12 years earlier with me. I could walk in the door, smile or snicker, and in the first 10 seconds of class I'd see my name on the front board with a check mark. I knew in my brain I had one more free check mark before my mom, who was a teacher, was contacted. A third checkmark meant both of my parents would be contacted, and then the consequences would be substantial. My parents supported the teachers, and subsequently supported Lee Canter and his Assertive Discipline. What was missing were any strategies that built relationships.
My behavior philosophy changed when I first heard Denny McLaughlin and his High Trust Psychology® in the late 1990s. It flipped my thinking on how to support students by first building strong, trusting relationships. Then, adding in more professional development from the Love and Logic Philosophy®, I knew I had the start of a powerful toolbox where the strategies I could access worked with most of my students.
(This universal MTSS triangle example is in the public domain.)
Over the next 12 years of my career, I continued to find further strategies that fit into those first philosophies, and I was then able to support the last 4-5% of the students in my class. These students would now be considered "Tier 3" students according to the multi-tiered systems of support philosophy.
About a decade ago, I finally found a strategy that I could tailor that not only supported the 5% of Tier III students, but was also a great strategy to use with all students who were struggling with behavior. I quickly built numerous variations of this strategy to fit each individual student and story.
This strategy is called Check-In and Check-Out (CICO).
The one reason this strategy works is that it is based on strong relationships with students. It is not about shaming students by writing their names on the board or placing a check mark after their names to achieve compliance. It is a consistent, fair, and supportive strategy that connects each student with an adult in order to meet individual needs.
There are more and more books by PhDs coming out every day on CICO. After using this strategy for years, what I have found in my experience is that the strategy can be tailored to each student. If we try to put restrictions and boundaries on the strategy for our Tier 2 and Tier 3 students, the strategy will be less effective.
I agree all educators need to know how to implement a consistent CICO system first. Once an educator understands that the CICO strategy isn't working for all students it is targeting, I would then recommend exploring variations before abandoning the strategy altogether.
I believe that when it's well matched and implemented with fidelity, this strategy can improve behavior for many Tier 2 students, and a modified or adapted version can contribute to more intensive support for some Tier 3 students. Some students will need a more therapeutic setting than we can offer with our experience as educators. We can keep some of these students in our schools if we can offer mental health support in the schools. Yet, there may be a remaining few for whom even these strategies are not effective over time.
How to Create and Implement an Effective CICO System in Your School
With this caveat, let's dig into the CICO strategy. One fantastic book I have recently read that has reaffirmed much of what we have implemented is Responding to Problem Behavior in Schools: The Check-In, Check-Out Intervention by Hawken, Crone, Bundock, and Horner (©2021). They define CICO like this:
"CICO, is a school-based intervention for providing daily support and monitoring to students who are at risk for developing serious or chronic problem behavior…It is based on a daily check-in/check-out system that provides the student with immediate feedback on their behavior via teacher rating on a daily progress report and increased positive adult attention. Behavior interventions are clearly defined, and students are given both immediate and delayed reinforcement for meeting those expectations."
Staff members who are working with a student using the CICO system meet regularly to review their behavior or social skill data. They set goals that can be discussed daily, weekly, or for a longer period of time. When a CICO system is started, one-on-one meetings may be needed multiple times in one day.
Successful CICO systems work toward reducing problem behavior and building and maintaining appropriate replacement behavior, with supports faded as progress is sustained. For example, if the student is meeting their daily goal, then we move toward a weekly goal. Once that weekly goal is met, we move toward a longer period between checks as the behavior improves and stays improved.
In my experience, different staff can run a CICO system depending on the school's model, staffing, and a student's needs. That might be a classroom or homeroom teacher, a designated CICO coordinator, a school counselor, a principal, or, for a student who needs more individualized support, a social worker, therapist, or school psychologist. Who's involved isn't a fixed ladder. It depends on what a given student's plan calls for and who's positioned to deliver it within their professional scope.
| Possible Role | What They Bring | Depends On |
|---|---|---|
| Classroom or homeroom teacher | Daily contact and consistency with the student | School's staffing model and student's plan |
| Designated CICO coordinator | Capacity to run check-ins across multiple students | Whether the school has a coordinator role at all |
| School counselor | Social-emotional expertise alongside behavior tracking | Student's need for that combination of support |
| School principal | Administrative authority and schoolwide context | Building-level decisions on staffing and escalation |
| Social worker, therapist, or school psychologist | Individualized, function-based assessment and support | Student needs that go beyond what classroom-level staff can offer alone |
Which of these is involved, and in what order, isn't a fixed sequence. It depends on the school's model, staffing, the student's needs, and each professional's scope of practice.
Each of these professionals has a different skill set, possibly different programs in their toolbox, and expertise to help meet the needs of the student. The goal is to work the student back down to the levels of intervention the classroom teacher can manage.
Behavior Data Collection
Depending on the behavior and the intervention goals, useful measures can include frequency, duration, intensity, and daily progress ratings. Frequency and duration can be tracked easily with charts, graphs, and quantitative data. Intensity has to be judged qualitatively, but it can still be objective.
A Google search will pull up plenty of data-tracking tools for frequency and duration (www.pbis.org is a great site to start your search). Using a rubric like the one shown below, which I use in many CICO systems, gives educators tangible data to set goals and track progress.
When working to reduce the intensity of a situation, an ABC chart or TOR chart can describe the increase or decrease of the intensity of an unwanted behavior. In an ABC chart (see example below), an unwanted behavior is tracked and described in three distinct ways: 1) "Antecedent" to the behavior, 2) the exhibited "Behavior," and 3) the "Consequence" for the behavior. A bonus to this chart is the ability to also track location, time, and who was involved, giving you a tool that tracks all three: frequency, duration, and intensity.
A variation of the ABC chart is the TOR chart (see example below). I moved to this chart when tracking intensity because it matches my philosophy of making relationships and culture the most important aspect of our school community.
The three main components of a TOR chart are as follows: 1) "Trigger" to the unwanted behavior, 2) "Outburst" or behavior, and 3) how the relationship is "Repaired." The emphasis on this chart is on how the adults support the student in repairing the relationship connected to the unwanted behavior (student to student, student to teacher, or student to self).
Ten Reasons Why Every School Should Use a CICO System to Build Relationships and Support Students
1 – Relationships Drive Behavior
"How is your relationship with the student and/or family?" We hear this every day. It is usually the first question your principal asks you as a teacher when there's a behavioral problem with a student. Even when we think we have a good relationship with a student, behavioral problems may persist.
But we must also continue to build our toolbox of strategies, connect with, and build relationships with students. When we have a growth mindset, we understand that we need as many ways to build relationships as there are students. Unfortunately, educators who are ineffective at relationship-building will not find success with the CICO strategy. It may seem tedious and unfruitful.
The most effective educators have a unique ability to create strong relationships with students. These educators understand that when using the CICO strategy, they are always working to strengthen their relationships while simultaneously working to reduce unwanted behavior and build appropriate replacement behavior.
2 – Consistent Communication
Having a consistent communication strategy with both students and parents is vital to changing any unwanted behavior, the same way 13 Manners My Mom Taught Me That Affect Behavior ties everyday courtesy back to consistent adult expectations. Many times we do not value the power of our parents, or how important it is to communicate with them about their students.
In a world where a student may not know what will be happening from moment to moment in their home, it can be very affirming if they can count on an educator to be consistent and fair at school. But in most cases we cannot provide all the interventions and support they need in the six hours they spend at school. As You Can't Control All the Factors That Lead to Problem Behavior, But You CAN Manage It In The Classroom gets at, we need parental support from home, and in many cases the parents are doing the best they can with the tools and strategies they have.
In these circumstances, we must continue to build common ground with parents while also building trust with them. Students and parents both seek consistency from schools.
3 – Use Data to Drive Decisions
Many times we hear teachers say, "This student is always getting into trouble." My first questions to these teachers are, "What does 'always' mean?" and "How do you know?" Sometimes the unwanted behavior from the student is a pet peeve of the teacher, and the ramifications are more severe than for other behavior.
By tracking the behavior with both quantitative and qualitative data, we can start setting goals to reduce and decrease the frequency, duration, and intensity of the behavior. Without some type of data tracking, we may be putting unneeded effort into stopping a behavior that is minimal compared to the needs of other students. Or the opposite may be true: the behavior may be much more severe than the teacher portrays. Using data-tracking tools and strategies consistently will help drive the decisions we make.
4 – Mini Teaching Lessons on Social Behavior
At the beginning of a CICO session with a student, the words a teacher uses are important. A teacher must have in their toolbox a multitude of mini lessons to change unwanted behavior. These mini lessons may only be 30-60 seconds long, but they can reinforce a skill or expectation.
If the educator gets to the point quickly and makes the student think and respond, the educator can hold the student accountable to the mini lesson. Whether a teacher is teaching a replacement behavior for an unwanted behavior, or modeling for students how to interact with a teacher or another student, we can make an impact and grow a student's toolbox of social behaviors.
Mini lessons are also a great way to teach ownership of behavior and goal setting through data and self-reflection.
5 – Ability to Celebrate Student Success Quickly
In the Love and Logic® philosophy, the creators use the analogy of a bank account: before we can withdraw from an account, we must have made deposits. The same can be said for changing an unwanted behavior. We must put in positive praise, along with many positive conversations around a student's interests, before we can ask a student to change an unwanted behavior. Practitioners should provide frequent positive, behavior-specific feedback and reinforcement.
In my experience, it is more about the small moments of positive time spent together building a relationship. Learning about a student's family, personal interests, and what they like to do for fun is important. The more I can deposit in the bank by getting to know a student, the more effective I am at changing unwanted behavior.
I can do this quickly by celebrating successes. If we look hard enough, we can find something in every student that warrants positive, specific praise, even at the smallest levels of compliance. The more we praise the behavior we want, the more that behavior will persist.
CICO systems allow for daily conversations where goal setting and celebration become a cornerstone for success.
6 – Working on the Self-Regulation Continuum
Have you heard of the self-regulation continuum? The opposite of self-regulation is dysregulation: behavior that is unpredictable and hard to control for adults and for the student. The process starts with what is referred to as co-regulation. When working with a student, we may bounce back and forth between dysregulation and co-regulation, with our final hope being that the student can self-regulate.
Using the CICO system, educators work with students who need regulation support. As educators, we have to determine what level of support to start with. The variables we need to take into account when setting a level are simply the frequency and duration of mini lessons when the student is practicing the replacement behavior or strategy.
7 – Connects Students, Staff, and Families
Keeping key staff and family members updated on progress is vital to the success of CICO. One person may be able to make a difference, but a team of staff and family members who work together to help a student using a strong CICO system will have a much higher success rate.
Communicating goals, social skill needs, and progress is important for everyone so the student can meet expectations. Celebrating success, not only with the student but with families too, can increase the chances of success and effectiveness.
The best educators understand that celebrating success frequently also creates a stronger bond and increases trust between the family and the school.
8 – Flexibility and Tailor-ability
If CICO is well matched and implemented with fidelity, many students may show progress over time, but data should be monitored to determine whether the intervention needs to be adapted or changed. You will notice that some procedures need to be changed, tweaked, or modified to support students if CICO data reveals a lack of progress. In this case, changes to the CICO system may be necessary.
Educators can start with some easy changes: 1) the person implementing CICO, 2) the duration or length of time with the student, 3) the frequency of meetings with the student, 4) the location of the mini-lesson, or 5) the level of parent involvement.
More substantial changes may include a change of social skills programs or adding a reward connected to achieving goals. Students can choose a reward from categories that may include: a tangible reward, a social reward, an activity reward, or others.
9 – Promoting the Idea of Behavioral Ownership
When behavior is checked frequently and discussed with the student, it creates good opportunities for goal setting. We ultimately want students to be self-regulated and to understand they have control over how they react. Specifically, we want them to own what they do and say when frustrated or triggered by something in their environment. Celebrating their success when they own their behavior is vital to the success of the CICO system.
In my experience, even students who may need a more therapeutic setting can manage at least one success in self-regulation that deserves to be celebrated by the teacher and family. Students as young as kindergarten can, in most cases, start seeing their own behavior in terms of "cause and effect." We can then build on this ownership of behavior by changing the learning environment for the student.
The best educators understand that every aspect of the learning environment can be modified: where a student learns, how long a student can regulate in this location, who supports the student, what goals they are working toward, the content being taught, how the content is taught, when the content is taught, and how much outside and parental support they may need to be successful.
10 – High Accountability for Students, Staff, and Families
There are countless behavior strategies that can be used with students. The CICO system has one of the highest accountability attributes. How often a student's behavior is checked, monitored, discussed, and celebrated can determine their success.
In CICO, not only are students held accountable for their behavior, but staff and families also have a large role to play in making sure they are doing what they say they will do too. Nothing breaks down a student's success faster than an adult who doesn't follow through. This only reinforces the idea that a parent or staff member cannot be trusted. Once trust is broken, the success of the CICO system deteriorates.
With high accountability comes engaged staff and families. The better we can stay engaged in the student's progress by holding ourselves accountable, the higher the chances for success.
This infographic sums up the case for CICO in one image.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does CICO stand for in schools?
CICO stands for Check-In, Check-Out, a Tier 2 behavior intervention where a student meets briefly with a trusted adult at the start and end of each school day to review goals and get feedback.
How is CICO different from general classroom management?
General classroom management applies the same expectations to every student. CICO is targeted: it's built around one student's specific goals, tracked with data, and adjusted based on how that student responds.
Which students benefit most from a CICO system?
CICO is designed as a targeted Tier 2 intervention. A modified or adapted version can contribute to more intensive Tier 3 support, but Tier 3 typically calls for individualized, function-based assessment beyond standard CICO. It works best for students whose behavior responds to consistent adult attention and clear, immediate feedback.
Who should run the daily check-ins?
Schools may involve educators, counselors, school psychologists, social workers, behavior specialists, or other appropriately trained staff, depending on the school's model, staffing, and the student's needs. Credential and licensure requirements for these roles vary by state and profession.
How long does it take to see results from CICO?
There's no fixed timeline. Successful CICO systems reduce problem behavior and build replacement behavior gradually: as a student meets daily goals, checks move to weekly, then to longer intervals, with supports faded as progress is sustained.
- Relationships come first - CICO works because it's built on consistent, trusting adult contact, not compliance or shame.
- Track useful measures - frequency, duration, intensity, and daily progress ratings, using tools like an ABC chart or a TOR chart to make decisions with data instead of impressions.
- Staffing depends on the school - CICO can run through a classroom teacher, a coordinator, a counselor, a principal, or a social worker or psychologist, depending on the school's model and the student's needs.
- Tailor it, don't abandon it - if CICO isn't working for a student, adjust who runs it, how often, or the reward structure before dropping the strategy.
- Follow-through matters - CICO's success depends on staff and families actually doing what they say they'll do, every day.
Schools run strategies like CICO through educators, counselors, school psychologists, social workers, and behavior specialists, and requirements for each of those roles vary by state. If you're weighing which path fits how you want to support students, the programs listed here span several of them.
As a 5th grade teacher, in 2010 Jon won the Presidential Award for Elementary Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST). As a principal, his school won the 2012 Blue Ribbon Award. In 2018, he won the National Distinguished Principal Award (NDP). In 2019 he won the National No Kid Hungry Breakfast Hero Award.
Jon is the author of three guides published on teacher.org: An Educator's Guide to Combat Bullying & Bully Prevention; Teacher Evaluation: A Transition Guide to Exemplary Performance; and You are the Wild Card: Infusing Fun Back into Curriculum. He has authored a children's picture book that was released January 2019 titled Benjamin’s Visit to Principal Reads Office…again! (available at www.archwaypublishing.com)
- Learning How to Say No and Set Boundaries with Parents - November 21, 2022
- How to Implement a Check-In, Check-Out (CICO) Behavior System - September 26, 2022
- Teacher Core Values: 7 Strategies for Living Your Code - August 15, 2022
