Three Cardinal Schools Receive Positive Behavior Award for the Second Year in a Row!

Jordak Elementary students Maggie G., Alaina G., and Hadley W. enjoy lunch with Principal Ms. Bearer. Students can buy lunch with the Principal with Huskie Bucks they receive for practicing positive behaviors as outlined in PBIS.

The Cardinal Local School District is excited to share that for the second year in a row multiple district buildings are being recognized by the state for their positive behavior supports. The Ohio PBIS Network and State Support Team 4 are awarding Cardinal Intermediate and Cardinal Middle Schools with bronze medals and Jordak Elementary School will receive a silver medal for their successful implementation of the positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) within their buildings during the 2016-17 school year. The schools are just three of nine in Lake and Geauga counties to receive recognition. “We are so excited to once again be recognized for our continued efforts on promoting positive behaviors within our buildings,” says PBIS Coach Sherry Peters. “At this point Huskie Pride is an expected part of our daily school routine, it’s exciting to see our efforts take root and spread through all of our buildings.”

The 2017-18 school year will be the fourth consecutive year the district is utilizing PBIS.  Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports is a broad range of systemic and individualized strategies for achieving important social and learning outcomes in school communities while preventing problem behavior. The key attributes of PBIS include preventive activities, data-based decision making, and a problem solving orientation.

Cardinal Middle School students practice being “involved” in school activities by participating in Mustache Day during spirit week. Being involved is one of the Huskie Pride behaviors taught as part of PBIS.

At Cardinal the PRIDE rubric has been implemented where each letter of “pride” stands for a positive behavior: P= productive, R= respectful, I = involved, D = determined, and E = empathetic. Students have attended assemblies to help them better understand and identify the expected behaviors associated with each area, the behaviors are practiced and modeled and praised when carried out appropriately.

At the elementary level, the praise results in students earning tickets to use to purchase school items or attend special events like lunch with the principal. At the middle school level pride tickets are placed in a bin, one per grade level, and at the end of each week names are drawn for each grade and those students receive a small prize. Having the tickets allows Administrators to measure the outcome data to determine successes and barriers to reaching the desired goals.  “Two of the items the committee said really stood out are the nearly 50-60% decreases in incident reports in each building from the 2015-16 school year to the 2016-17 year and the PBIS implementation increases from the beginning of the year to the end of the year – it was nearly 20% in each of the schools being awarded,” says Peters.  “PBIS has really proven to be a successful way to get our students involved and I am so proud of them, our staff, and our community for working together to create a more positive school environment.”

The state recognizes districts that exemplify best practices in the implementation of PBIS with gold, silver and bronze awards. A recognized school demonstrates best practices within its system, and also is open and transparent in the sharing of their knowledge and resources with other schools. PBIS Award level schools have easily identifiable characteristics and are consistent in their methods of: 1) maintaining organized team based planning, 2) maintaining high levels of administrative involvement and support, and 3) systematically collecting, reviewing and applying data using a problem-solving process. These schools do a superior job of enhancing their school climate and culture in support of students and their academic achievement. These schools recognize that improvement in student behavior and achievement requires changes in adult behavior and in school systems.

According to the Ohio PBIS Network, bronze level schools can document evidence of a comprehensive system of behavioral supports at the first level. The essential elements in this level are implemented with fidelity and consistency across all school settings. Bronze level schools consistently utilized data-based problem solving in existing team structures. These schools could produce evidence of organized team meeting notes and data based program planning. Silver level schools meet all of the characteristics of bronze level schools and implement with a higher level of fidelity.

PBIS team members from Jordak Elementary, the now closed Cardinal Intermediate, and Cardinal Middle schools will be recognized at the 2017 Ohio PBIS Showcase on November 30th in Mansfield, Ohio.

Pictured In Cover Photo:  Each quarter 12 sixth graders are selected to be part of the Dedicated Dozen. These are students that go above and beyond in demonstrating Huskie Pride behaviors in the classroom during that nine weeks.

Geauga News
Author: Geauga News