Starting or restarting a schoolwide initiative in secondary school can feel intimidating.
At the secondary level, big changes can feel complex. However, momentum can also begin with small steps.
In this post, we’re talking about the power of small starts—how piloting behavior support strategies in one classroom, one hallway, or even with one team can spark buy-in and learning that can lead to long-term success.
Why Small Starts Matter (Especially in Secondary Schools)
If you’ve worked in a secondary school, you know staff often ask questions like these:
- “Has this intervention ever worked at the high school level?”
- “What about a school like ours?”
- “Is this just another trend that won’t stick?”
These are fair questions. In fact, research shows that educators are more likely to try out a new strategy if it aligns with their values, beliefs, and real-world experience (Aarons et al., 2009).
Intervention examples for secondary schools are frequently borrowed from elementary schools or from contexts unlike their own (e.g., urban, rural, large, or small). When this happens, staff may feel the examples do not apply to their setting and conclude that “if it didn’t happen in a secondary school like ours, it doesn’t really count.”
Why Some Secondary Staff Struggle to Begin
Most secondary teachers didn’t go into the field to teach social skills or manage behavior data systems. Their training and passion are usually content-focused, which makes sense. So, when we ask them to shift gears into behavior instruction, it can feel unfamiliar and uncomfortable.
Think about it this way:
If someone asked you to play tennis in front of a live audience—but you’ve never picked up a racket, never had a lesson—how would you feel?
That discomfort is real. As Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson puts it, “Psychological safety is the belief that the work environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.” (Edmondson, 1999) Without that safety, staff are less likely to try new things—even when they know those things could be helpful.
Try Small Starts
Small starts can be a part of implementation science, where teams are encouraged to begin with exploration and installation of the necessary systems (e.g., teams, data tools, coaching) for future success (Fixsen et al., 2005).
As you are installing these systems—whether you’re in initial implementation or scaling up from an existing model—you don’t have to leap into full-school rollout with every part of your intervention. Instead, pilot something small.
Start with:
- A single classroom
- A focused hallway or routine
- One willing team/teacher ready to try a new strategy
In one study we conducted, a group of high school staff piloted PBIS (i.e., teaching expectations, acknowledging students, effective redirection) strategies during summer school with a group of five teachers and 100 students. During the following fall, these teachers presented their approach and results to the entire staff. This presentation established credibility and buy-in with many of the staff (Bohanon et al., 2006), which led to schoolwide implementation of positive behavior support.
And the impact? Think of dominoes. Literally.
A single domino can knock over another 1.5 times its size. Stack 23 dominoes in the correct sequence, and that first domino could—physically—topple something the size of the Eiffel Tower (The Physics of Dominoes). This is a great video that demonstrates the impact of the domino effect. You could show your team to illustrate this point (link).
Try This: A Low-Stress Teaching Strategy for Expectations
Here’s one small start you can try with secondary staff right away: teaching behavioral expectations using a simple lesson plan script.
Step 1: Start with a Matrix
Use a schoolwide expectations matrix that includes:
- 3–5 core values
- Specific settings (hallway, classroom, etc.)
- Concrete behavior examples
📄 Sample matrix from a high school
Step 2: Identify a Problem Area
Ask teachers:
“Where in your day do you find yourself constantly correcting the same behavior?”
That’s your focus.
Step 3: Teach the Expectation
Use a quick, structured lesson:
📄 Download the sample lesson script
Model and practice teaching one expectation with your staff. Here’s the flow:
- Describe the expected behavior.
- Explain why it matters.
- Ask students to name what not to do (in a safe, constructive way).
- Ask them to describe what to do instead.
- Model the behavior.
- Let students practice it.
- Provide positive feedback.
You can have the teachers practice the script as a group before they try it with their students.
Step 4: Show a Video Example
🎥 Watch a high school teacher review expectations before going to the library (start at 2:00). Have the teachers use a stopwatch to time how long the lesson takes.
Step 5: Keep it Quick
The lesson should take 2–3 minutes. That’s it.
🕒 And here’s the time-saving payoff: Each office discipline referral takes about 20 minutes of teacher time. (Scott & Barrett, 2004)
Three minutes now = twenty minutes saved later.
One Step at a Time
Ask the teacher to teach just one expectation in one setting. That’s it.
They can tweak and adapt the lesson to make it their own. The key is proactive instruction, not reactive correction. (More on this in this article.)
If you’re interested in helping secondary staff with this process, I break it down even more in this paper.
One Word of Caution
Small pilots are awesome—if you have the right support systems in place.
If a single staff member is piloting a strategy without any coaching, planning time, or team backup, things can go wrong. It can feel like they’re carrying the entire implementation on their own.
If your goal is to test whether PBIS strategies work in your context, go for it.
But if you’re trying to scale without support, it’s better to pause and build the right infrastructure first. Your future self will thank you.
Final Thoughts
So, what small start could you try this week?
The power of piloting isn’t just in proving something works—it’s in building confidence, creating momentum, and showing that real change is possible, even in complex environments like secondary schools.
As an old proverb says, “Do not despise the day of small beginnings.”
I’d love to hear what small steps you’ve taken—or are planning to take—to support staff in implementing PBIS in your school. Please leave a comment or send me a message with your thoughts.