School Climate
ASMS strives to create a safe, positive, and inclusive environment where all are given opportunities
to be successful lifelong learners and to become the best version of themselves.
Mission
We create a safe, positive, and inclusive environment by:
- Cultivating self-advocacy and individual student voice - understanding that words have power
- Prioritizing Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and mental health
- Connecting relevant and practical education - education that connects to our world
- Incorporating diverse modalities that reach multiple intelligences
- Cultivating respectful relationships - being kind to one another and accepting differences
- Showing Eagle Pride and taking accountability for our school community
- Fostering critical and independent thinking
- PBIS
- Check 'N Connect
- Check 'N Connect Restorative Justice
- Restorative Justice Questions
- Expectations
- Positive Reinforcement
PBIS
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to establishing the behavioral supports and social culture needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional and academic success. Attention is focused on creating, teaching, and sustaining primary (school-wide), secondary (classroom), and tertiary (individual) systems of support that improve lifestyle results (personal, health, social, family, work, recreation) for all youth by making targeted misbehavior less effective, efficient, and relevant, and desired behavior more effective, efficient, and relevant.
Why is it so important to focus on teaching positive social behaviors?
In the past, school-wide discipline has focused mainly on reacting to specific student misbehavior by implementing punishment-based strategies including reprimands, loss of privileges, office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Research has shown that the implementation of punishment, especially when it is used inconsistently and in the absence of other positive strategies, is ineffective. Introducing, modeling, and reinforcing positive social behavior is an important step of a student’s educational experience. Teaching behavioral expectations and rewarding students for following them is a much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to occur before responding. The purpose of school-wide PBIS is to establish a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm. The goal is to teach behavioral expectations in the same manner as any core curriculum subject.
PBIS is the infrastructure that supports our efforts at ASMS to Build a Positive School Community/ Culture. The three underlining themes are:
- Be Safe,
- Be Responsible,
- Be Respectful
Our PBIS infrastructure is further supported by:
- Olweus - Bullying Prevention Program
- Character Counts!
- Restorative Justice Practices
- Restore! Life Skills Program – Carry the Vision
- Classroom Practices
The premise of PBIS is that continual teaching, combined with acknowledgement or feedback of positive student behavior will reduce unnecessary discipline and promote a climate of greater productivity, safety and learning.
Check 'N Connect
Check N’ Connect (CN’C) Program Description
The CN’C Program is a school-wide, check-in, check-out prevention program for students who are starting to engage in problem behavior. The goal of the CN’C Program is to prevent students who are acting out from escalation and provide them with more frequent feedback on their behavior to prevent future problem behavior. Below are answers to some frequently asked questions about the CN’C Program.
Which students do well on the CN’C Program?
Students can be nominated three different ways: teacher referral, parent referral, and/or based on discipline referral data. The CN’C program is effective for a variety of students with a variety of needs. We do not nominate students because they are “bad kids”, we offer the program to help the students who need a little extra support. The students nominated are those starting to act out but ARE NOT currently engaging in dangerous (e.g., extreme aggression, property destruction) or severely disruptive behavior (e.g., extreme noncompliance/defiance). Students who have problem behavior across the day and in different settings are good candidates for the program versus students who have trouble only at lunch or during math.
How do teachers participate in the CN’C Program?
Teachers participate by providing both verbal and written feedback to students at pre-determined times throughout the day. The feedback is quick and instructional.
Who is responsible for checking students in and out?
A dedicated staff person(s) is in charge of checking students in and out on a daily basis.
How do students get selected for CN’C?
A request for assistance is made to the CN’C Team that meets weekly. In collaboration with the teacher, the team will determine whether the CN’C Program is appropriate or whether another intervention would be more appropriate.
What is the family’s role?
A report goes home daily with the CN’C student. The student is encouraged to show the report to parents and get a signature to return to school during the next day check in. Families are encouraged to acknowledge and provide small incentives for their child’s efforts and successes and to refrain from punishment when their child temporarily slips up. A weekly check in with the child’s teacher is highly encouraged.
How long are students on the CN’C Program?
At the end of every quarter the CN’C Team looks at each student’s data to determine if he or she is ready to be faded off the CN’C Program. Since there are a limited number of students (up to 15) that can receive the intervention, it will be important to fade students off as they become more independent in managing their own behavior.
How is student progress monitored?
A designated staff person keeps track of the daily points earned and charts the progress for each student. The CN’C data entry person will enter two data points per day per student in CN’C that includes (1) the percent of possible points earned daily and, (2) a cumulative graph for meeting the daily goal. On a weekly basis, the CICO team reviews the data to determine if the program should stay the same, be adjusted, or be terminated.
What do students do with their earned points?
As part of the check in’s, students evaluate their behavior by scoring points on their CN’C daily record. Points are totaled at check out time and deposited in the students CN’C Account. Points are not taken away due to problem situations. Points earned are saved until the student wants to trade them. Pre-determined spending times are set with the student to trade points for activities, prizes, free time, and other special things at the school.
Check 'N Connect Restorative Justice
Restoring and Building Relationships!
The Core of Restorative Practices rests with the belief that people will make positive changes when those in positions of authority do things with them rather than to them or for them. It puts the repairing harm done to relationships and people over and above the need for assigning blame and dispensing punishment.
“What’s fundamental about restorative justice (practices) is a shift away from thinking about laws being broken, who broke the law, and how we punish the people who broke the laws. There’s a shift to: there was harm caused, or there’s disagreement or dispute, there’s conflict, and how do we repair the harm, address the conflict, meet the needs, so that relationships and community can be repaired and restored.
It’s a different orientation. It’s a shift.”
Cheryl Graves - Community Justice for Youth Institute
Restorative Practices: A Brief Explanation
Now a common practice in many schools across the nation and world, Restorative Practices promote building respectful relationships as the foundation for teaching and learning while providing meaningful opportunities for students to develop self-discipline and positive behaviors in a caring, supportive environment. It views conflict primarily through the lens of the harm caused to people and relationships, and emphasizes the priority to meet the needs of those affected by this harm.
A restorative approach sees conflict or misbehavior as an opportunity for students to learn about the consequences of their actions, to develop empathy for others, and experience how to make amends in such a way as to strengthen the community bonds that may have been damaged.
The 5 Applications of Restorative Practices:
- Affective Statements which are brief comments about how others were impacted by the person's behavior.
- Affective Questions which are one-step further, asking the wrongdoer questions like who was affected, how they were affected, ect.
- Small Impromptu Conferences where you bring together a few people to talk about the incident, its impact and what to do next.
- The Large Group or Circle which allows everyone to have some say in what should happen as a result of the wrongdoing.
- The Formal Conference which involves more planning and preparation and tends to be more structured and complete.
Aim of Restorative Practices
- To promote the physical, psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing of students.
- To teach children self-discipline and an understanding of the consequences of their behavior.
- To encourage respect, healing, and restoration both for those who were harmed, and for those who caused the harm
- To educate students towards self-directed, cooperative and respectful behavior.
- To promote, nurture and protect healthy relationships among members of the community.
- To enable students to build personal responsibility by developing skills of reflection and empathy.
- To guide teachers in their responses to student behavior.
- To inform students and parents about expectations of student behavior.
Principles that Reflect the Values and Concepts for Implementing Restorative Practices
- Relationships are central to building community.
- Builds systems that address misbehavior and harm in a way that strengthens relationships.
- Focuses on the harm done rather than only on rule breaking.
- Gives voice to the person harmed.
- Engages in collaborative problem-solving.
- Empowers change and growth.
- Enhances responsibility.
Benefits of Restorative Approaches in the School Setting
- A safer, more caring environment.
- A more effective teaching and learning environment.
- A greater commitment by everyone to taking the time to listen to one another.
- A reduction in bullying and other interpersonal conflicts.
- A greater awareness of the importance of connectedness to young people. The need to being and feel valued by peers and significant adults.
- Greater emphasis on responses to inappropriate behavior that seek to reconnect and not further disconnect young people.
- Reductions in fixed term and permanent suspensions and expulsions.
- A greater confidence in the staff to deal with challenging situations.
- An increased belief in the ability of young people to take responsibility for their choices and more people giving them opportunities to do so.
The Core to Restorative Practices is Restoring and Building
R e l a t i o n s h i p s !
Restorative Justice Questions
Right the Wrong
Take a few minutes to answer the following questions – be honest. It is time you take responsibility for your words/actions and figure out what you need to do to “right the wrong” to become a respected member of your classroom community.
1. Explain what happened – include names, locations, and time.
2. What were you thinking about or what were you looking for when you chose to act the way you did?
3. What was the harm?
4. Who do you think was harmed or affected?
5. How were they affected?
6. How do you feel about what happened? What about this has been hardest on you?
7. What do you need to do to make things as right as possible to “Right this Wrong”? What would you like to offer/do and to whom?
8. What have you learned from this incident - how can you use what you’ve in the future?
Follow-up
1. How are you doing now in relation to the event and its consequences? What have you thought since the incident?
Expectations
ASMS School-Wide Expectations
Setting |
Safety Expectations |
Responsibility Expectations |
Respect Expectations |
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Classroom |
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Computer Labs/Media Center/Library |
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Gym |
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Assemblies/ Special Events |
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MPR/Outside quad eating area
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Walkways |
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Office |
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Restrooms |
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Locker Rooms |
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Dismissal |
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Bus Area |
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After School Program |
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To/From School |
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Home |
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Positive Reinforcement
ASMS School Wide Positive Reinforcement System
Frequency of Reinforcement |
What is Reinforced |
When is Reinforced |
Where is Reinforced |
Who is Reinforcing |
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Immediate/High Frequency |
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Eagle wings - raffle Dance Passes Student Store Tickets Character Counts! Tickets Caught Ya Being Kind! Tickets Verbal Praise/Recognition |
Appropriate behavior such as picking up and throwing away garbage, being helpful, on task behavior, completing lessons, good attendance |
Immediately: with raffle, praise, peer recognition |
Throughout Campus Classrooms |
Administration, Teachers, Office Staff, Campus Supervisors, Custodians, Para Educators, Kitchen Staff School Community |
Intermediate/Unpredictable |
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Dance Passes, Special classroom raffles, Ice-cream, Sno-cones, Academic and Social Celebrations |
Large number of students displaying appropriate behavior such as cleaning the campus or good behavior in computer lab, low tardy percentage, low number of referrals, high achievement on assignments/quizzes/tests |
Weekly, Monthly |
Throughout Campus Classrooms |
Administration, Teachers, Office Staff, Campus Supervisors, Custodians, Para Educators, Kitchen Staff School Community |
Long Term School Wide Celebrations |
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Semester Assemblies Special Assemblies Special Lunches |
Specific, exemplary or improved behaviors |
3-4 times a year |
Throughout Campus Classrooms |
Administration, Teachers, Office Staff, Campus Supervisors, Custodians, Para Educators, Kitchen Staff School Community |
Teacher/Staff Recognition |
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Staff Buckets Staff Lunches Fred Awards Staff Raffles Admin Teaches Class |
Positive attitude, personal growth, great customer service, student success, positive role model, exemplary professional service |
Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly |
Throughout Campus Newsletters Web Site Staff Meetings |
Administration, Teachers, Office Staff, Campus Supervisors, Custodians, Para Educators, Kitchen Staff School Community |