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Check-In/Check-Out (CICO): Intervention Tips and Guidance

Andrew Schaper, Ph.D.

Check-In/Check-Out (CICO): Intervention Tips and Guidance

In this Intervention Brief, we explore the Check-In/Check-Out Intervention, often called CICO for short. This popular Tier 2 intervention promotes positive behavior. It is often implemented within a PBIS (positive behavior interventions and supports) and/or MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) framework.

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Quick Summary

Intervention Name: Check-In/Check-Out (CICO)

Grade Levels: K-12

Description: CICO is a strategy that provides students with routine feedback on behavior and increased positive adult attention daily.

Table of Contents

CICO Intervention Overview

What the research says about check-in/check-out, how to implement check-in/check-out, cico in your district.

Download 20 Evidence-Based Behavior Interventions for Your MTSS

Check-In/Check-Out (CICO), also known as the Behavior Education Program (BEP), is a Tier 2 evidence-based intervention that addresses common classroom behavior challenges. CICO is an opportunity for a student and an adult champion to work together to improve student behavior.

The strategy works by providing predictable opportunities for educators to teach behavior expectations and provide positive reinforcement (e.g., behavior-specific praise ) and feedback . Students may be given tangible reinforcement (rewards or prizes) when they achieve daily goals.

A student receiving CICO meets with adults throughout the school day to reinforce and track behavioral goals . The student "checks in" with the champion first thing in the morning. Throughout the day, teachers provide positive and corrective feedback. Students then "check out" with the champion at dismissal to review their overall behavior that day.

By providing students ample opportunities to receive positive attention from adults, CICO implementation has been shown to produce positive outcomes for students :

Increased adherence to school-wide positive behavior expectations
Reduced rates of office discipline referrals (behavior incidents)
Reduced rates of mild disruptive behaviors

Research also suggests that CICO may result in increased academic engagement and prosocial behaviors .

Studies have found that CICO works best for students with low-level disruptive behaviors , such as calling out or defiance. Students who seek attention benefit most from CICO, since the intervention includes regular, positive attention from adults.

Implementing CICO places minimal burden on educators—classroom teachers can typically implement the practice in five to ten minutes per day. Follow these steps to get started with CICO.

1. Identify students who can benefit from CICO

Lean into data-based decision-making when planning a CICO intervention. Look for students with frequent behavior incident reports for disruptive behaviors . Determine if the motivation behind the behavior was to obtain attention from adults . Students who fit this profile may be good candidates for CICO intervention.

Consult your student support teams , grade-level teams, or PBIS teams for additional flags.

Panorama helps teams efficiently identify students with multiple behavior incidents.

2. Create an intervention plan

If CICO seems like a good match for a student's behavioral needs, the student support team creates an intervention plan . Your plan might include information like:

Student name
Intervention description
Monitoring method and frequency

A key part of the plan is assigning a champion who is responsible for daily CICO implementation. A champion is the adult who conducts the morning check-in and afternoon check-out. The champion could be a classroom teacher, counselor, coach, or other staff member. The important thing is that the champion is someone who the student trusts and feels comfortable meeting with on a regular basis.

3. Implement the plan

Create a daily progress report for teachers and champions to track how the student performs against their behavior goals. (Get started with our customizable daily progress report templates .)

On a daily basis, successful implementation of the CICO intervention includes:

Morning Check-In: The student checks in with their champion each morning after arriving at school. The goal of this morning meeting is to review behavioral goals, collaboratively set goals for the day, and provide encouragement.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Feedback: Throughout the day, teachers observe the student's behaviors during routine timeframes and fill out the daily progress report. Teachers share feedback with the student at the end of instructional blocks, class periods, or during natural transitions. Feedback should be positive, specific, and corrective when appropriate.
Check-Out: At the end of the day, the student meets with the champion again to discuss if the student reached the daily goals and target behaviors. If the student met their goals, the champion provides verbal praise and tangible reinforcement—often in the form of points or prizes. If the student did not meet their goals, the champion offers supportive feedback and encouragement.

4. Progress monitor

Student support teams progress monitor the intervention to understand how well it is working . They should ask themselves these key questions:

Is the intervention being implemented on most days the student is in school?
Is the intervention helping the student to progress toward, achieve, and surpass goals?

Teams can use the data to make adjustments to the intervention plan as needed or determine if a student is ready to "exit" the CICO intervention.

Educators can visualize a student’s behavior progress through Panorama’s new CICO daily progress report.

You may already be using CICO to support students in your district. Many districts implement the CICO behavior intervention within MTSS and/or PBIS approaches. It can also be a good fit for any district looking to address routine classroom management needs using proactive tools. Either way, having the right tools to help you implement CICO will mean more benefit to students.

Panorama tools can help identify students who can benefit from CICO, track CICO implementation, and monitor students' progress in the intervention. With Panorama’s interventions interface, educators can spend less time on reporting and focus their attention on students.

Free Download: 20 Evidence-Based Behavior Interventions

Getting Started with CICO: Customizable Check-In/Check-Out Templates

Download free, customizable Check-In/Check-Out templates to support CICO implementation in your school or district.

How to Write an Intervention Plan [+ Template]

Learn how to create effective intervention plans with Panorama's step-by-step guide and templates.

What Is a Behavior Intervention Plan? [PDF Template]

A behavior intervention plan is an action plan for helping a student improve certain behaviors or reach a specific behavior goal. Learn how to create one with this free template.

Featured Resource

20 evidence-based behavior interventions.

Each guide provides detailed instructions, and many include fidelity checklists—so educators can feel confident in their implementation of each intervention.