Getting to the Root of Behaviour and Attendance through your Continuum of Supports

When we think about creating a continuum of supports in schools, it serves three major purposes.

  • First, it becomes a powerful artifact—a document that anchors pedagogy and our response to supporting students.
  • Second, the process of developing and continually refining this continuum normalizes discussions about classroom practices. It breaks down the stigma around discussing what we do in our classrooms and shifts the focus to how we can better support all students.
  • Third, through the process of developing and refining, we begin to establish a culture of collaboration that is founded on the belief of “our students” and that our classroom practice is only enhanced by problem solving with colleagues.

A continuum of supports provides an accessible set of strategies and ideas for everyone in the school. Whether you’re a new or seasoned teacher, having a resource that outlines possible strategies can be incredibly helpful. Even the most experienced teachers, with years of classroom expertise, benefit from referring to this continuum of common practice. It’s easy to forget strategies you've used in the past or learned over time, and a continuum offers a way to revisit and explore new or forgotten methods.

Watch this video, to learn more about the continuum of supports in Collaborative Response.



A Different Approach for Behavior and Attendance

Typically, schools begin building their continuum by asking, “What do we do when a student struggles with X (literacy, numeracy, wellness)?” This process involves brainstorming strategies, noting them on sticky notes, and finding commonalities to develop a comprehensive menu of supports. However, when it comes to behavior and attendance, we’ve learned that there’s an extra step required.

Behavior and attendance issues can’t be addressed with what some call a "pyramid of punishments" or "triangle of consequence." When we ask, “What do we do when a student struggles with attendance?” The answers often revolve around punitive measures—truancy officers, tracking systems, and other consequences. While these may be necessary in some cases, they don’t address the root causes of the behavior.


Behavior as Communication

One key insight we always return to is that behavior is communication. When we look at a student’s behavior, it’s important to ask, “What is this behavior trying to tell us?” For example, if a student is destroying property in the classroom—carving into a desk, tearing up books—the immediate response might be to administer consequences. But what if we take a step back and ask, “What is causing this student to act in this manner?”

There could be many underlying causes for this behavior. Perhaps the student is frustrated with the task at hand. Maybe they're distracted by noise in the classroom or feeling anxious about interactions with their peers. It may be something that happened before school or situations that are occuring at home. By exploring these potential root causes, we can begin to address the actual issue, rather than just reacting to the behavior itself.

This linked resource is a tool to encourage teams to take the time to reflect on an individual student’s behaviour to determine the most appropriate response to their underlying need.


Developing a Schoolwide Supportive Response

In developing a continuum of supports, we explore the same concept of underlying behaviour but in a broader schoolwide context. The use of the following template allows your team to explore the behaviours you are seeing across the school and to explore possible reasons for those behaviours.

Once we identify possible underlying causes—such as frustration, distraction, or anxiety—the next step is to develop targeted supports. For example, if a student is avoiding tasks because they feel overwhelmed, we could implement strategies to help them manage their workload or provide additional instruction to build their confidence. The following template provides the transition between the causes of behaviour and moving to identifying our response.

This process doesn’t end with identifying one strategy. A continuum of supports involves creating tiers of support, starting with universal strategies for all students and adding more targeted interventions for those who need extra help. By doing this, we shift from a reactive to a proactive approach, focusing on support rather than consequence.

Taber Christian High School developed a continuum of supports for behaviour attending to the concerns that may be impacting students resulting in behaviours.


Attendance Issues: The Same Principles Apply

The same principles apply when addressing attendance issues. Instead of just reacting to tardiness or absenteeism with consequences, we need to ask, “Why is this student struggling to attend class?” The answer could lie in a range of factors, from personal organization to unclear communication or even challenges with their daily schedule. By digging deeper and understanding the root causes, we can provide meaningful support that addresses the real issue.

Roland Michener Secondary School developed a continuum of supports for attendance attending to the concerns that may be impacting students resulting in behaviours.

Developing a continuum for behavior and attendance is about more than just responding to visible issues. It’s about taking the time to understand the underlying causes and providing the right supports to help students succeed. Schools that take this extra step are creating environments where staff, students, and parents can work together to address challenges in a supportive and constructive way.

Please visit our website to learn more about the continuum of supports and explore a number of menus of support samples from a number of schools and districts.

If you’ve developed a continuum in your school—especially in the areas of behavior and attendance—we’d love to hear from you. Sharing best practices and examples helps all of us improve the way we support our students.

Please reach out to share your insights, challenges, and triumphs along with your questions, resources or suggestions related to this concept. Connect with us at questions(at)jigsawlearning.ca or lorna.hewson(at)jigsawlearning.ca.



Are you looking for a software solution to augment Collaborative Response in your organization?

Join Jennifer as she walks through the Collaborative Team Meeting process in WeCollab, ensuring that multiple student profiles are updated with the determined supports and actions simultaneously through the collaborative conversation and that staff remain informed through transparent communication processes.


Author: Lorna Hewson