Strengthening Tier 2 and Tier 3 Support at Traut Knowledge Elementary School (CO)
The challenge: Dysregulated students were creating dysregulated classrooms
Traut Knowledge Elementary School, a public school of choice in Fort Collins, Colorado, serves approximately 450 students from pre-K through fifth grade. With more than 20 years at the school, Principal Alissa Kendall had witnessed many shifts in education, but the return to in-person learning after COVID brought a noticeable and urgent change.
Students were struggling with emotional regulation, organization, flexibility, and persistence. Classrooms felt different. “What initially looked like social-emotional learning,” Alissa explains, “was actually executive function. It’s an amalgam of skills, not just emotional regulation.”
Teachers were seeing:
- Increased classroom disruptions
- Negative self-talk from capable students
- Difficulty starting and completing tasks
- Emotional overreactions to everyday challenges
Even academically strong students were quietly struggling. “When students are dysregulated, learning can’t happen,” Alissa says. “And a dysregulated adult can’t help a dysregulated child.”
Staff wanted to support students, but lacked a clear, shared framework for understanding the root cause of behaviors. Executive function was often viewed as something students either had or didn’t have, rather than a set of teachable skills.
- Identify specific executive function skill gaps
- Provide explicit, manageable instruction
- Measure growth over time
- Fit realistically into teachers’ schedules
The solution: Moving from behavior management to executive function instruction
Traut Knowledge Elementary implemented Cerebrate, a research-based executive function curriculum grounded in eight core skills: self-control, self-monitor, flexibility, emotional control, task initiation, working memory, planning, and organization. What stood out immediately to Alissa was the instructional clarity. “What excited me was that this wasn’t about admiring the problem,” she says. “There were explicit, reasonable steps to teach executive function skills.”
Before expanding schoolwide, Alissa piloted Cerebrate with a fourth-grade student who was academically capable but struggling in less visible ways. Both the student’s teacher and parent completed Cerebrate evaluations, using a structured frequency rating rubric to identify observable behaviors . The alignment between home and school data was powerful and validating.
The results clearly identified working memory as the primary area of need. Using Cerebrate’s evaluation-driven curriculum builder, targeted lessons were assigned. Instruction required just 15 minutes, three times per week, and within weeks, measurable growth appeared. “In less than 45 minutes a week, we saw growth,” Alissa shares. “Her confidence improved. Negative self-talk decreased. Organization and emotional control improved, too.” The team quickly realized an important truth: strengthening one executive function skill often creates ripple effects across others.
From pilot to practice: Building a tiered executive function system
Following the success of the pilot, Traut expanded implementation through its intervention team and school counselor, using Cerebrate to support Tier 2 and Tier 3 students while complementing existing Tier 1 SEL instruction.
Targeted small groups included:
- First grade: Self-control and flexibility lessons during lunch bunch sessions
- Fifth grade: Planning, organization, and individualized routines
Cerebrate’s structure, organized by skill areas and specific challenges tied directly to observable behaviors, allowed educators to target the exact skill gaps driving classroom challenges. Students weren’t handed generic strategies. They were taught to reflect, experiment, and choose what worked best for them. “They’re choosing strategies that work for them,” Alissa explains. “That reflection piece is powerful.”
Lessons also modeled executive function in action, reinforcing skills in authentic classroom contexts. This strengthened transfer from intervention groups into daily learning environments. Most importantly, Cerebrate gave teachers a framework they could realistically sustain.
The impact: A shift in mindset, instruction, and classroom climate
- Targeted intervention: Teachers moved from reacting to behavior to identifying specific executive function skill gaps, such as working memory or flexibility, and teaching them directly.
- Efficient instruction: Growth occurred with less than 45 minutes of instruction per week, proving executive function support does not require overhauling the master schedule.
- Improved student confidence: As students experienced success, negative self-talk decreased, and persistence increased.
- Tiered system support: Cerebrate provided Traut with a clear Tier 2 and Tier 3 structure, aligning assessment, instruction, and progress monitoring within one cohesive system.
- Interrupting the dysregulation cycle: “Teacher dysregulation was becoming contagious,” Alissa notes. “This helped interrupt that cycle.” More regulated students led to calmer classrooms—and more confident adults.
- Shift from punishment to understanding: Instead of labeling behavior as defiance or lack of motivation, educators began asking: Which skill is underdeveloped? “This program shifted us from punishment to understanding,” Alissa says. “It’s strengths-based. It gives teachers something concrete they can actually do.”
- Leadership empowerment: For Alissa, the transformation was deeply personal. “As a principal, it’s rare to say, ‘You have this problem, and I can actually help you.’ That’s been incredibly powerful.”
A sustainable path forward
- More engaged learners
- More confident teachers
- More regulated classrooms
- A shared language for growth