We’ve added some new labels to the list of staff-managed behaviors in SWIS. Specifically, you will now find the following eight behaviors:
- Academic Dishonesty
- Gang Affiliation Display
- Inappropriate Display of Affection
- Inappropriate Location
- Lying
- Skip Class
- Theft
- Threatening Behavior
We’ve updated the referral category label definitions resource to include definitions for these new labels along with a few examples. You’ll still find these labels as administrator-managed behaviors; they are now options under staff-managed as well. You are welcome to start using the new staff-managed behaviors right away, or incorporate them into your referral process has you need.
This change comes directly from feedback we heard from many of you. In March 2023, we updated the language we use in SWIS. One change was to move away from calling behaviors “major” or “minor” which focused on the severity of the behavior rather than on who managed it. To make it clear where in your referral process these behaviors happened, we changed the types to “staff-managed” and “administrator-managed” respectively. We thought it was a small change to clarify our shared definition of the behavior type.
We quickly learned otherwise.
It turns out, when we clarified our language, you let us know you needed one more thing: To expand the staff-managed list to include many of the same behaviors we offered on the administrator-managed list.
The feedback we received is a reminder of how important it is to use clear, precise language when we talk about behavior. By making our definition plain, we learned there are many more behaviors you manage in your classrooms every day without sending students to the office. We always want our applications to reflect what happens in your schools. We’re so happy to be able to do that with this update.