Check In Check Out (CICO)

Why should I do it:

• Improves student accountability

• Increases structure

• Improves student behavior and academics when other interventions have failed

• Provides feedback and adult support on a daily basis

• Improves and establishes daily home/school communication and collaboration

• Improves student organization, motivation, incentive, and reward

• Helps a student self monitor and correct

• Internalizes success and accomplishment of goals

• Students get involved and excited about the program, enjoying the structure, support, and incentives of the intervention

• Leads to maintenance free responsible behaviors, habits, and effort

When should I do it:

• When a student has failed to respond to other interventions and general classroom management techniques and interventions

• When a student is competing little to no work

• When a student is not doing homework

• When a student is not participating, being involved, or taking part in the learning process

• When a student has emotional issues, like anxiety, frustration, etc.

• When a student has attention, focus, and impulsivity issues

• When a student has very poor organization

• When a student is exhibiting behavioral problems

• When a student demonstrates low motivation and effort

How do I do it:

• CICO has slight variations from program to program and school to school, but generalized and at its core, this is how to do CICO:

  • A student checks in with a specific adult at the start of the school day. The adult gives the student a point sheet that has the goals the student is working on. The adult speaks briefly with the student, reminding them what they need to focus on or any other things to help the student work toward their goals. The idea is to encourage the student and not say negative comments or cast blame.

  • The student goes through their day with the point sheet, working on their goals and having each teacher check how well they did on each goal on their sheet.

  • At the end of the day, the student checks out with the same adult they checked in with. The adult briefly talks with the student, asking them how they feel they did, what they did well on, and what they need to work on. The goal is to encourage the student and not make negative blaming statements.

  • The student then takes their point sheet home to show and discuss with their parents.

  • The parent signs and discusses the point sheet and what the student did well on and what they need to work on (The goal is for the parent to encourage the student and not say negative or blaming comments.)

  • The student returns the next morning, hands in their sheet, the adult along with the student enter their daily points into a point tracker, and the student receives a new sheet from their CICO adult, starting the process over.

  • The student and their team decide what the overall average point goal is for each week, like 80% of points each week. The weekly average point goals may be used along with a reward system where the student receives a reward at the end of the week for attaining their weekly average point level. Depending on the student, you may need to start rewards for reaching the point goal on a daily basis and work up to a week, so instead of reaching 80% of their points for the week, they only need to reach 80% of their daily points for reward.