When I signed on as the new principal of H.D. Berkey Elementary School in Arnold, Pa., two years ago, I knew I had my work cut out for me. The Title One, or high-poverty school, which serves students in first and second grade, was handing out more than 69 suspension days between September and December alone.
I’d been teaching at another New Kensington-Arnold School District school for three years, so I was aware of the student behavioral issues and high suspension rates that the H.D. Berkey was managing. When I took over as principal, my first major initiative on day one was to adopt ClassDojo, a communication platform that connects teachers, kids and families to build positive classroom communities.
Two years later, our suspension days are down to just two per school year. Our team of educators, along with other factors, contributed to that massive success.
For other schools looking for ways to reinforce and reward good behaviors schoolwide, consider these steps:
- Take the pressure off teachers. I expected some initial pushback from teachers on the new communications platform, but most of them were pretty excited to have a new way to communicate with parents and incentivize students for good behavior. Teachers now have a good way to share a quick message with parents in the middle of the day or later.
- Use it to keep parents in the loop. Teachers are encouraged to share both positive and negative feedback with parents, and to use the platform to cultivate relationships with families. Many of them use it to post class stories on a weekly basis, including pictures of fun happenings and reminders about upcoming tests, screenshots of homework tips and other important information.
- Make school more fun and engaging. A high percentage of our students deal with socioeconomic challenges in their home lives, so we all work hard to create positive educational experiences for those youngsters. We also infuse fun into the equation whenever we can. For the recent Read Across America Week, students wore wacky outfits and posed for photos that were used as part of the week’s class stories. The goal was twofold: let the kids have fun with the national event, but also help reinforce the need for at-home reading and homework among parents.
- Tech helps boost morale and encourage peer-to-peer coaching. Suspensions are down, but morale is also up at our school, where there’s a general positivity in the air. Incentives tied to events like March Madness — and focused on earning 40 points for good behavior — help further fuel the positive energy on campus. We picked 40 as a goal because it’s easy enough for every student to hit, but it’s also at the level where they have to work a little bit harder for it. The platform also supports good teamwork and camaraderie amongst students, who are quietly reminded to nudge classmates who may not be meeting expectations in a peer-to-peer support style that helps cultivate leadership qualities in students.
- Reward students for the good stuff they’re doing. The most transformational change is that student behavior is now viewed through a positive lens, versus using a negative, punitive approach. The path the school was headed down was centered on constant negative consequences, but now we’re working towards using our communication for positivity. For example, students are continually working toward that next benchmark, goal or reward. When they hit their goals, students get to visit the reward room to get the prizes that they worked so hard for.
- Encourage extracurricular participation. We use the platform to develop and distribute flyers for youth cheerleading camps, wrestling leagues and other opportunities that we want to share with parents and children. The strategy is working well: this school year, our youth wrestling league saw its biggest turnout ever of 90 new students. The league personally thanked us for putting their flyer out on the platform because all of our parents saw it.
Ultimately, our superpowers are speedy communication, combined with a contagious positivity that entices students to exhibit their own good judgements and behaviors in school.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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