District reports early improvement in classroom behavior after CHAMPS rollout; suspensions and referrals drop

At its Jan. 13 meeting, the USD 453 Board of Education received a first-semester update on the district’s behavior-management work tied to the strategic plan. Dr. Rebecca Varvel, who led the CHAMPS and Safe and Civil Schools rollout, told the board the district is seeing measurable improvement in classroom practices and disciplinary outcomes.

Varvel said a 31-member task force (mostly classroom teachers) selected unified, evidence-based practices—CHAMPS for elementary and intermediate and Disciplinary Secondary Classroom strategies for older students—and trained staff this year. Based on 157 administrative walk-throughs in semester one, the district measured 73.2% implementation of the agreed classroom-management practices.

The district reported a 32.9% decrease in office referrals and an identical 32.9% drop in incidents (in-school and out-of-school suspensions) compared with the same number of weeks last year. Suspension days decreased by 53% in the same comparison; Varvel said that equates to fewer lost instructional hours and fewer lost student-adult interactions. She said last year’s lost instructional hours were about 47,778 and this year’s were about 22,270 (both calculated as suspension days times a seven-hour school day).

Varvel also presented the district’s basic-five behavior benchmarks (time on task, opportunities to respond, ratio of interactions, disruptions and alignment with expectations). She said the district has increased level-1 (desired) behaviors across those benchmarks—time on task and opportunities to respond rose most sharply, while alignment with expectations improved by about 83%. Walk-through data and Kickboard incident reporting supported the findings, though union representatives and some board members said technical issues (Wi-Fi lag and device form factor) limit Kickboard usability in some classrooms.

Varvel said about 8.9% of students have received at least one suspension this year; 4.2% of students have received two or more. She said 28% of suspended students are identified for special education and that the district has reduced suspensions among students with disabilities from prior years’ levels.

The board asked for follow-up data on suspensions for students with IEPs and further clarification about how walk-through metrics compare to last year; Varvel said the walk-through method is the same and provided the formulas used (e.g., suspension days times seven; interactions estimated at 80 interactions per school day). The district plans additional professional development and to convene the task force and QISA accreditation team on Jan. 29 to review data and adjust supports.

No formal action was taken; the presentation was informational and district staff will return with a year-end summary in June 2025.