A de-identified look at how one Universal Life Skills program performed across five Connections classrooms over nine months of recorded data.
5
Classrooms
24
Learners
2,166
Recorded Trials
75%
Independent
I or I-PC
9 mo
Window
Sep 2025 to May 2026
139
Coaching
meetings, ~97 hours
I means Independent, an unprompted correct response. I-PC means Independent-Prompted Complex, a prompted response to a more complex skill. Both count toward the independent total.
The framework
What the program teaches.
Universal Life Skills is a fifteen-skill sequence in four families. A child learns to ask instead of grab, to tolerate waiting, to cooperate with a request, and to be kind to the people around them. Skills one through ten were the focus this year, and some of the kindness skills were targeted as well.
CommunicationSkills 1–4
1
Requesting Materials or Area
The child asks before grabbing.
2
Attention, then Request
The child gets the adult's attention first, then asks.
3
Attention, then Request (Peer)
The same skill, with another student instead of an adult.
4
Requesting Help
The child asks for help when stuck instead of giving up.
TolerationSkill 5
5
Accepting Delay
The child says okay to waiting, usually with a fist-bump or a thumbs-up.
Toleration and CooperationSkills 6–10
6
Waiting by Cooperating
The child waits and does a small task until they get what they asked for.
7
Waiting by Playing
When the adult is busy, the child entertains themselves.
8
Waiting by Playing (Peer)
The same skill, when the wait comes from a peer.
9
Responding to Name
When called, the child stops, looks, and answers.
10
Responding to Name, then Cooperating
After responding, the child does what the adult asked.
KindnessSkills 11–15
11
Saying Thank You
The child says thank you after receiving something.
12
Greeting and Complimenting
The child greets a peer or an adult, or offers a compliment.
13
Offering Toys or Materials
The child offers a toy to a peer who has none.
14
Empathizing with Distress
The child notices when someone is upset and responds with care.
15
Celebrating Joy
The child shares in a peer's excitement or success.
Skills one through ten were the focus this year, and some of the kindness skills (eleven through fifteen) were targeted as well.
The results
How the classrooms performed.
Across 2,166 recorded teaching trials, 75 percent were independent. Performance held steady from room to room.
Every room landed between 70 and 77 percent independent. That consistency, across five teachers and twenty-four children, is the point: the framework travels from room to room rather than depending on any single classroom.
A note on the data
These are recorded teaching opportunities, a subset of the teaching that happened. Actual teaching trials across the year were substantially higher and are not captured here.
The summary is descriptive. It reports what was recorded; it does not make causal claims. Classroom names, the school, and learner details have been changed.
From the classroom to your team
This is the work I build and coach.
The same framework, the same data discipline, set up with a school and run alongside the teachers who use it every day.