The Check in/Check out (CICO) strategy is a secondary tier intervention designed to address those students who are not responsive to universal tier, school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SW-PBIS), and require more targeted support. The present study extended the implementation of the CICO strategy to a residential facility. In addition, the study sought to determine the relationship between the maintaining function of behavior and responsiveness to CICO when a functional behavior assessment was conducted prior to the implementation of CICO. Six students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) in a residential setting participated in the study; three with attention-maintained behavior and three with escape-maintained behavior. Results of a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design indicate that the mean total composite percentage of problem behavior improved for all three students with attention-maintained behavior, and the effect of the intervention generalized to the second most problematic classroom for two out of three. Further support of effectiveness of the intervention for attention maintained behavior is percentage of all non-overlapping data (PAND) of 90% or higher for two of three students. The mean total composite percentage of problem behavior for students with escape-maintained behavior improved for all three students, with a moderate change noted for Kevin. Only one student demonstrated generalization of effect in the second most problematic classroom and PAND above 90%. Future directions and limitations of the research also are addressed.

The current program evaluation of school-wide positive behavior support (PBS) in an alternative education setting was conducted in three phases (Phase 1: initial evaluation; Phase 2: intervention; Phase 3: follow up evaluation). The purpose of the evaluation was to identify strengths and weaknesses of the PBS program and to implement changes to improve program effectiveness and positive outcomes for students. An exploratory case study design was used to achieve an in-depth understanding of the program through the use of quantitative and qualitative data collection. The evaluation was completed within one school year, between November 2007 and May 2008. The participants in this evaluation were the students and staff of the alternative school. Quantitative data included behavioral data on the students, inter-observer agreement data, and survey data; qualitative data included survey data and data from student and staff focus groups. Overall, the evaluation was successful in that the evaluators were able to identify strengths and weaknesses, and areas of concern to be addressed through interventions. The evaluators were able to implement a variety of interventions, and received feedback that the interventions were successful. Although student behaviors were not effectively changed as a result of this evaluation, the evaluators did develop a plan for ongoing evaluation, future trainings and program modifications, to be implemented over the course of the 2008-2009 school year.