Each day, the teachers and/or paraeducators will ink-stamp a chart for each student who meets the school wide expectations of being "Responsible, Respectful, and Ready in Thoughts, Words, and Actions.” If the child does not earn the stamp, the staff write a very brief note of explanation. The chart is sent home every day. Most parents sign the chart or write comments back. This high level of communication is time consuming, but has proven to be well worth it. Visits to the Nest (our version of a student support center) are down, and major discipline referrals have dropped dramatically. We also tied the data from the Eagle Stamps into a rewards and celebration system. We alternate between small, individually earned rewards (e.g. 30-minute game time, extra recess, or a cookie) and school wide celebrations (e.g. a hike on Mt. Elmore, ice skating, or Field Day). We have filled our Facebook page with photos of these great events.
The combination of daily behavior feedback and acknowledgement with a robust system of celebrations has helped to make our school climate much more positive.
Improving climate and student behavior has been a major focus of the last few years at Wolcott Elementary. Now that the fruits of our labor have become apparent, it is time to share what is working. Our positive behavior data looks great, our numbers of discipline cases keeps dropping. There are many factors; this was another one.
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