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Your student is acting out again, and you become dysregulated. Out goes the student for a discipline referral. You are worried that you will have to tackle more difficult behavior, and it shows—your demeanor lets students know you have had it. Navigating challenging behavior is not easy. It often leads to disciplinary actions that benefit no one. It is also emotionally disruptive.

Decompressing and regrouping reduce the stress of the moment, leading to better outcomes for all, as experts noted on the edLeader Panel, “Why MTSS Strategy Isn’t Enough: The Missing Practice in Tiered Support Systems.” They shared practical strategies for avoiding the “state of upset” that troubling behavior can trigger.

Staying Regulated in Heated Moments

Isolation, punishment, or busy work are typical teacher responses to students’ unsettling behavior, but those methods often do not work—discipline referrals remain high. Changing a culture of discipline starts with adults who can self-regulate when the going gets hard. Teachers who can shift their mindset and skill set can use conflict as a tool to help students.

Doable Strategies Leaders Can Implement

Creating a schoolwide atmosphere of self-care and safety should be a leadership goal. This type of environment helps teachers focus on their well-being and skill building, rather than immediately addressing student behavior. Layered strategies, such as the following, promote change first among teachers and then among students:

• Begin the morning with practices that get adults (and students) in an optimal brain state. For example, Conscious Discipline’s free downloadable Brain Smart Start Guide has four activities designed to help people unite, connect, disengage from stress, and commit. Each helps create a safe space for processing events and moving into acceptance of what is at play.
• Model ideal classroom structures and practices at staff meetings. Teachers see recommended strategies in action that help them self-regulate and provide students with an experience rather than a behavioral expectation. Demonstrate breathing before making corrections, and regulation and resilience in moments of staff questioning or conflict. Begin meetings with a relational experience rather than logistics.
• Establish self-care-focused personal/professional development plans. Set up regular check-ins with staff and hold face-to-face sessions with each staff member to see where they are and support them accordingly.
• Create a safe and friendly school environment. Prioritize a visible presence: greet staff and students, walk the halls, and use your presence to gather information and set the tone for the day.
• Consistently support teachers. Determine what the environment is: Is the atmosphere negative? Do teachers feel like nothing is done to address student behavior? Do teachers like working in the school? Provide backup and shared accountability for teachers, coordinating supports across staff and specialists.
• Replace one consequence with a teaching script. Prepare teachers to adjust what they say to students to promote positive approaches to behavior management.
• Rely on data. Analyze data to identify how the adults and students feel in the building. Set achievable Wildly Important Goals (WIGs), such as reducing discipline referrals to three per day, focusing on what matters most for effective instruction, learning success, and school improvement.

Applying Practices to MTSS and Tiered Supports

Connection helps tiered systems work; dysregulated teachers have trouble using them effectively to support students. This is why the self-regulation and calming strategies must be transformed into a daily relational practice that increases consistency in the use of MTSS and tiered supports. Here is what can be done at each tier toward that end:

 Tier 1:

• Implement a morning reset to create a safe space where students start the day seen and emotionally prepared.
• Use simple, consistent cues and tools and teach scripts for everyday moments.
• Aim to keep students in class to preserve instructional time.

Tier 2:  

• Identify missing social-emotional skills and teach them directly rather than relying on external rewards or punishment.
• Teach brain-state awareness so students can name and manage emotional states and choose strategies.

Tier 3:

• Use a clear trigger for intensive support (for example, three or more removals in six weeks) and convene a focused Top Five meeting (a focused Tier 3 protocol to problem solve the highest‑need students when teachers need more support, rather than trying to manage many cases at once).
• Run a tightly time-boxed agenda: quick data check, teacher brief on the most impactful missing skill, rapid problem solving, and specific intervention commitments.
• Share accountability across the school family (classroom teachers, specialists, counselors, administration) and document interventions.
• Monitor progress; most students exit the Top Five with targeted supports in place.

Regulated Adults, Regulated Students

Teachers who practice self-regulating techniques tend to teach students how to do the same. They give them the words, tools, and information to feel in control and powerful. In place of consequences, students learn a new way to self-manage.

The benefits include reduced loss of instructional time and greater academic achievement; students feeling safe and seen; students gaining skills, language, and agency, and becoming aware of how emotional states affect their bodies and interactions; improved social-emotional outcomes; and a substantial reduction in discipline referrals and office removals.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Why MTSS Strategy Isn’t Enough: The Missing Practice in Tiered Support Systems, sponsored by Conscious Discipline.

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Conscious Discipline is a comprehensive, evidence-informed approach that helps schools and districts create safe, connected, and resilient learning environments—starting with adults. Grounded in brain science, it equips educators with practical strategies to regulate their own responses, model essential life skills, and respond to behavior in ways that build trust and strengthen relationships.

Through a scalable system of professional learning—including training, coaching, immersive institutes, and job-embedded resources—Conscious Discipline supports consistent, districtwide implementation. The result is measurable impact: improved school climate, fewer disruptions, stronger relationships, and increased staff confidence and retention. By building adult capacity as the foundation for change, Conscious Discipline helps districts move beyond one-time initiatives to achieve sustainable, system-level transformation that lasts.

Article by Michele Israel, based on this edLeader Panel