Onboard New Staff on Your Core Strategies

When new teachers, paraprofessionals, etc. join the district, their onboarding training should familiarize them with the fundamental strategies that all staff in the district are expected to understand, recognize, and apply. 

This is absolutely essential in order to prime these staff and give them the common vocabulary that they'll hear again during coaching, PD, the evaluation process, etc.

The training materials we've shared cover the fundamentals: Expectations, Rules, and Procedures; Preventative Reminders; Effective Commands; Opportunities to Respond (OTRs); Affirmative Attention; and the Continuum of Response Strategies. This training typically takes 90 minutes to complete. Work with your experienced staff to ensure that your customized training materials are a good fit for your school.

Provide Ongoing, Data-Driven Staff Development

On a monthly or quarterly schedule, gather all staff, either on a PD day or during a staff meeting.

1. Share macro-level behavior data: This is just a quick snapshot to level-set on current needs. Explain the data and then shift to the "Now what?" Example data sources: 

   • Bar charts that indicate trends in discipline referrals over the past month or quarter (e.g., type of behavior, time of day, location, etc.)

   • Assessment data (e.g., mySAEBRS screener)

   • Anonymous fidelity data (e.g., from your walkthroughs)

2. "Now what?" — Take action: Learn and problem solve together. For example:

   • Refresh staff on basic procedures and fundamental strategies by talking through relevant scenarios.

   • Share tips and tools about a large variety of strategies (check out prepped examples).