Maplewood Elementary School                                     
2025-2026

School Climate Plan

What Is School Climate?

School Climate Overview

School Climate encompasses culturally relevant Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), restorative practices and schoolwide social-emotional learning opportunities for all students in their classrooms.  Racial equity and social justice is woven into all aspects of school climate to ensure that all students feel a sense of belonging and have a positive school experience.

Multi-Tiered System of Support

School climate is an essential component of the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework.  MTSS is a proactive, data-driven practice used at Portland Public Schools to support all students. It uses evidence-based instruction, intervention and assessment practices to ensure that every student receives the appropriate level of support based on their level of need.  Within an MTSS structure, all students receive sustaining universal supports (Tier I). Additional support is provided for students that need it through targeted  interventions (Tier II), and individualized interventions (Tier III). These tiered academic and behavioral interventions help eliminate barriers to learning and enable every student to successfully reach their full potential.

Schoolwide Values and Common Area Expectations

Our School’s Core Values are

1. Be Safe
2. Be Kind
3. Be Responsible

Our Core Values were created with student, staff, family & community input.   Posters are distributed throughout the building in order to make them visible to students, staff and families. The intention is to send a consistent message about what our school community values and  how it looks different in various common areas. This will help Maplewood Elementary ensure that our core values are inclusive and affirming.

Students need to understand and exercise our core values on a regular basis to master the skills to be successful and prepared to be college and career ready. All adults acknowledge and reinforce these core values  when interacting with students.

Our core values are woven into our regular teaching practices in every lesson and in every class period throughout the grade levels. Staff name them consistently and strategically teach and review our core values  throughout the school year.

Common Area Expectations

Common Area Matrix 

Teaching Common Area Expectations

All students are taught the common area expectations at least three times a year after long breaks.

Maplewood’s lesson plans for teaching expectations

Common Area Expectations Slideshow

Maplewood’s Step by Step Procedures

Schoolwide (Tier 1) Climate Practices

Each Maplewood student deserves to come to school and feel seen, safe and valued.  In order to make this happen, adults across the school intentionally support all students by implementing the following:

• A warm greeting by name each morning
• Morning Circles
• Caring School Communities activities
• School-wide assemblies to build school spirit and promote Tier 1 practices
• Classroom Community Agreements
• Community Circles
• Buddy Classrooms
• Maple Tickets to acknowledge expected behavior
• School Counselor Classroom lessons
• Common Area Expectation lessons three times per year
• Calming spaces in each classroom

• Restorative Think Sheets

• Flexible seating
• Positive communication with caregivers

Student Intervention Team:  Additional Behavior & Academic Supports (Tier II and Tier III)

When Tier 1 classroom and schoolwide supports are not enough to ensure student success, students may be brought to the school Student Intervention Team (SIT) to develop and implement Tier II and III interventions.

The Student Intervention Team (SIT) is a collaborative, general education solution-generating team made up of a variety of school perspectives. The purpose of the SIT is to

• support teachers in reflecting on and enhancing their Tier I practices and
• implement targeted Tier II and III behavior and Tier III academic interventions when needed.

Utilizing an equity lens, the team considers the whole student when making decisions that affect their long-term educational experience and sense of belonging in PPS. SIT works to provide every student and adult what they need to thrive in the general education setting. Families are notified about student strengths and challenges, as well as planned interventions, at all points in the process.

Defining Stage 1 and Stage 2/3 Behaviors

Behavior level calibration will be conducted by building staff in order to properly reflect the evolving needs of our community and to accommodate the diverse racial, cultural, linguistic and developmental needs of our school.

Defining Behaviors

Behaviors Defined by Stage

Discipline Policies

Maplewood has created and calibrated around a flowchart to describe how staff respond to unexpected behaviors. If a student is escalated such that the flowchart below does not meet their needs, they may utilize the school's deescalation space. De-escalation spaces are a predesignated space in the school, not the classroom, for students to de-escalate with adult support.

Maplewood’s Discipline Flowchart

Purpose of All Student Behavior Responses:  

De-escalate, Resolve, Restore, Re-teach, Return to Learning

Effective Classroom Practices Plan

Every teacher will have an Effective Classroom Practices Plan (ECP Plan). ECP Plans will be shared with administration no later than the day before back to school night.  Co-creating classroom practices reduces variability between classrooms and makes it more consistent for students. Some sample plans are provided below and professional development time will be provided in the first two weeks of school to complete these documents.

The Effective Classroom Practices Plan template, covers the essential features of effective classroom practices: Structure, teaching expectations, acknowledging positive behaviors, and supporting regulation & restorative practices.

LINK to Maplewood’s Effective Classroom Practices Plan Template

LINK to Maplewood’s Guest Teacher Emergency Folder Checklist

Click here for Effective Classroom Practices Plan & Guest Teacher Support System Resources

Feedback and Acknowledgement Systems

Research shows that when staff observe and acknowledge students exhibiting appropriate behaviors, those behaviors will increase and misbehaviors will decrease. Specific praise is extremely important in increasing the recurrence of appropriate behaviors. When observing appropriate behaviors in the common areas/ classrooms/ buses, all staff acknowledge students exhibiting our core values verbally and by Maple Tickets along with specific praise.

Description of our school-wide acknowledgement system:

• LINK to Maplewood’s school-wide acknowledgement system

Family Involvement & Feedback

Fidelity Data

Culturally Responsive Tiered Fidelity Inventory (CR-TFI) & Fidelity Implementation Tool (FIT)

This School Climate Plan is under continuous review using both the CR-TFI and domains in the  FIT Assessment that pertain to strong and positive school culture and inclusive behavior/social emotional instruction.

These tools guide the action planning for the implementation of a positive school climate and connect directly with this School Climate Plan and the School Continuous Improvement Plan.

Current Improvement Plans

• 2025 Maplewood Walkthrough Data
• Maplewood Fidelity Implementation Tool (FIT)

• Maplewood School Continuous Improvement Plan (SCIP)
• 2025 Maplewood Climate CR-TFI Action Plan

Successful Schools Survey (SSS)

• Completed once a year in November by all students (grades 3-12), staff, and families.
• Reviewed by the School Climate Team and shared with staff, students and families. Used to monitor and adjust climate initiatives.
• Accessed via the Panorama dashboard.

Recent SSS data

• Fall 2024 Maplewood Elementary Successful Schools Survey Results