Abernethy’s Mission Statement:

Abernethy Elementary School supports excellence in education with a balanced curriculum for our diverse community of learners. We do this by empowering students with strategies, skills and tools to promote wellness, character development and academic achievement with the goal of developing life long learners equipped for success in a changing world.

Table of Contents

What Is School Climate?---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-4

CR-PBIS-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-4

Restorative Practices---------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Equity/CARE-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Tier I Team--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5

School Climate Team---------------------------------------------------------------------------5

Climate Team Meeting Schedule-------------------------------------------------------------5

Tier I Implementation---------------------------------------------------------------------------6

Behavioral Expectations---------------------------------------------------------------------6-9

Defining Minor, Stage 1 reports, 2 and 3 Behaviors---------------------------------10-13

Discipline Policies--------------------------------------------------------------------------14

Professional Development--------------------------------------------------------------------14

Classroom Procedures & Guest Teacher Protocols----------------------------------14

Acknowledgement Systems--------------------------------------------------------------14

Faculty Involvement---------------------------------------------------------------------------115

Tier I Evaluation-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

Fidelity and Evaluation of Climate Practices----------------------------------------------15

What Is School Climate?

School Climate Overview

School Climate encompasses CR-PBIS (Culturally-Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports), Restorative Practices with the lens of racial Equity and practices of CARE (Collaborative Action Research for Equity) explicitly called out and woven in.

CR-PBIS

CR-PBIS (Culturally-Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) uses implementation science to help students to develop positive behaviors. At the most basic level, CR-PBIS can be described as a three-pronged approach:

1. Explicitly teach what is expected
2. Actively acknowledge kids when they are following the expectations
3. Instructionally correct kids when they are not following the expectations

Research shows that when school staff acknowledge positive behaviors at least three times more often than correcting behavioral mistakes, misbehaviors decrease significantly.

CR-PBIS uses disaggregated data to make decisions and to develop the systems and practices of a school. The unique racial, cultural and linguistic makeup of the school is explicitly addressed at every decision point.

More specifically:

• Accesses all stakeholders to develop and promote school values
• Develops common area expectations for all parts of the building
• Designs lesson plans and schedules to teach common area expectations throughout the year.
• Creates and maintains systems to acknowledge students who are following the school values and expectations. This may be acknowledgement tickets, regular assemblies, or awards for individuals, classes, grade levels, etc.
• Develops school wide policies that are proactive, preventative and restorative.
• Utilizes staff input to build corrective discipline systems (i.e. a flowchart) and calibrate clear definitions of student behaviors.

How do we make certain that PBIS is culturally responsive?

• We systematically assess and review student and family voices and adjust our practices to reflect the needs of our community (See Tier I Evaluation)

Restorative Practices

Restorative Practices, also referred to as Restorative Justice, is a range of community building, peacemaking practices adapted to the school setting. The intention is to build trusting relationships and offer restorative alternatives to punitive discipline.

Restorative Inquiry is an essential restorative practice. A series of guiding questions are asked:

• What happened?
• Who was affected/impacted?
• What can be done to make and keep things right?
• How can others support you?

Equity/CARE

This handbook is intended to inform Abernethy  School staff of the processes that support the reduction of exclusionary discipline to provide our students with equitable access to education. Portland Public Schools’ top priorities includes eliminating racial disproportionality in exclusionary discipline..

Our CARE work is intentionally focused on increasing classroom engagement for every learning style and our capacity for being culturally competent in our instructional practices and inclusive of our diverse learning styles.

“Portland Public Schools is committed to academic excellence and personal success for all students. Central to this commitment is educational equity. We are committed to providing instruction with the rigor, cultural relevance, and relationships that ignite the potential of each and every student. In order to do so, we must shift our practices to see students as individuals—including their race, their language, their gender, their sexual orientation, and their various abilities.

This work is necessary to serve a diverse student body well and prepare every student to navigate and compete in a culturally rich society and global economy, now and into the future.”

Chief Equity Officer, Lolenzo Poe

The School Climate Team (Tier I)

School Climate Team Information (1.1/1.2)

Climate Team Meeting Schedule

Meeting Agenda:

• Monthly Discipline Data
• CR-PBIS School-wide Systems (assessing the effectiveness of our Equity Practices on school climate)

Agenda scheduled for each of our school climate meetings will be driven by the Tiered Fidelity (TFI) Action Plan.

Tier I Implementation

Programmatic Supports for all Students

Schoolwide Values and Common Area Expectations (1.3)

Our School Values are:

Be Safe

Be Responsible

Be Respectful

Posters have been made and 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 what how it looks in different common areas. This will help Abernethy School ensure that our school values are inclusive and affirming. These values were developed with student, and staff input.

• These school values are important for the Abernethy school community, because these are the three things that help students be successful in life. Our students need to understand and exercise our values on a regular basis to master the skills to be successful and prepared to be college and career ready.
• These values are woven into our regular teaching practices in every lesson and in every class period throughout the grade levels, naming them with consistency and strategically teaching and reviewing them throughout the school year.

Common Area Expectations 

Abernethy School Agreements and Behavioral Expectations

Teaching Expectations (1.4)

Yearly Schedule for Teaching Common Area Expectations

Active Supervision

Active supervision is the alert, proactive ability of the staff member to circulate within a group of students while interacting in a positive and constructive way, scanning for potential problems, diffusing them before they arise, and motivating students to do their best and monitor their own behavior.

Playground supervision locations:

• Play structure
• Covered area
• Field area

Effective Supervision

• On time, ready to supervise
• Circulating in the correct location
• Acknowledging and interacting with students
• Continual visual scanning
• Intervene early with low-level misbehavior

Effective Supervision:

• On time, ready to supervise

• I am at my location before students arrive, with all the necessary tools (including walkie-talkie)
• I understand the rules and expectations for my location, if I have questions, I clarify

• Circulating in the correct location

• I am continually walking around my location

• Acknowledging and interacting with students

• I am alert, positively interacting with students
• I am supporting other supervisors with any safety or emergency situations
• I use non-verbal and verbal greetings with students
• I show an interest in students in my area, I get to know student names

• Continual visual scanning

• I am continually “sweeping” and scanning my location, looking for trouble spots
• I am noticing unusual crowds, quiet, or noise

• Intervene early with low-level misbehavior

• I give positive feedback that is quick, specific
• I assess and address misbehavior with redirection and reminders about safety
• I reteach expectations and guidelines
• I remind students about the difference between tattling (trying to get someone else in trouble) and telling (keeping someone else safe)
• I use questions to motivate students to think about their behavior (For example: Is what you’re doing working?  How does that make you/someone else feel?  Can you do something that would be more helpful?)

Defining Minor, Stage 1 reports, 2 and 3 Behaviors (1.5)

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.

Discipline Policies (1.6)

BUDDY CLASSROOM LEVEL I: PROTOCOL

DESCRIPTION: The Buddy Classroom Level I is an intervention designed to be used by teachers for low level, irritating behavior that creates a minor disruption in the classroom. It may rarely be used for moderately disruptive behavior, and is never appropriate as a response to behavior that is openly and actively defiant or unsafe. To be most effective, this intervention must be used early in the escalation cycle.

GOALS: Interrupt escalation of minor behavior in the classroom; Decrease minor disruption in the learning environment; Retain students in a learning environment; and reduce traffic in the office.

WHO SENDS: Any classroom, guest teacher, or paraprofessional who has been trained in its use.

WHO RECEIVES: A trained teacher who has previously been identified as the “Buddy Teacher.”

FOR WHAT: Level I behavior – Early in the escalation cycle for mildly disruptive behavior. If student requires an escort, this is not an appropriate intervention. No more than one student can be sent to a partner teacher at any given time.

FOR HOW LONG: 5-15 minutes

DATA: Send student with the problem solving worksheet. Sending teacher completes the information section in the top two lines. Receiving teacher completes information in bottom box.

RECEIVING CLASSROOM MATERIALS: Chair, & pen/pencil. Clipboard as needed.

SCRIPT: Initial  Warning given quietly and privately – “Joe, I’ve asked you to follow directions. If you choose not to follow our classroom rules you will need to leave class until you’re ready to follow the rules”.

SENDING TEACHER – “Joe, you are not following directions. You’ve broken a rule. You need to go to _____’s room. While you are there you need to fill out this problem solving sheet.

RECEIVING TEACHER – “Please have a seat.” Points to chair, ‘thank you’ classroom rule, please go to Mr./Ms. _________ room and complete the problem solving worksheet.”

* If the student complies, teacher responds with ‘thank you.’

* Do not interrupt flow of instruction.

* At a natural break; “Thank you for not interrupting my class. Please complete the worksheet and raise your hand when you have finished.”

* At a natural break; Quickly review the sheet with the student.

“So, you are ready to return to class be be S.R.R.?”

If they indicate they are ready, say, “Thank you.”

* If student escalates or is non compliant; “I’m sorry you are not choosing to make this work. Please return to your classroom.”

* If student behavior makes it inappropriate or unsafe to return to their classroom, send them to the office, and inform the student’s sending teacher.

Professional Development (1.7)

Over the course of the year, staff PD must explicitly address these five essential areas: teaching school wide expectations, acknowledging appropriate behaviors, correcting errors, requesting assistance (SIT Team), and understanding the influence of race, culture and language on student behavior.

Classroom Procedures (1.8)

As per PAT contract, every teacher will have a classroom management plan. Classroom management plans will be due to administration the day before back to school night.  A sample plan is provided below; PD time will be provided in the first two weeks of school

The Classroom Management Plan template, covers the essential feature of effective classroom management: Structure, teaching expectations, acknowledging positive behaviors, correcting misbehaviors.

Effective Classroom Practices Plan

Feedback and Acknowledgement Systems (1.9)

Research shows that when staff “catches" students exhibiting appropriate behaviors, those behaviors will increase and misbehaviors will decrease. Specific praise is extremely important in increasing the reoccurrence of appropriate behaviors. Some schools decide to give out acknowledgement “tickets”: small slips of paper that are aligned with the school values. All staff hand out the acknowledgement tickets, along with specific praise, to students as they witness appropriate behaviors in the common areas, in classrooms, on buses, etc.

Description of our school-wide acknowledgement system:

• Classroom Star acknowledgments
• How to use in the classroom
• Schoolwide systems (e.g. Classroom star awards,  monthly recognition assemblies, etc.): List and description of
• Feedback from students and families about current systems and planning for changes and improvements}

Acknowledgement Matrix

Faculty Involvement (1.10)

Schedule for sharing disaggregated data to staff and opportunities for input on Tier I systems

Plan for Family, Student and Community Involvement (1.11)

Schedule for family involvement activities

Tier I Evaluation

Evaluation of the Effects and Fidelity of the School Climate Practices

Discipline Data (1.12)

Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) guides the action planning for the implementation of positive school climate.

• Assessment component is completed three times a year in September, January and May
• A score of 80% or better indicates a well-implemented tier
• The TFI action plan is revisited on a monthly basis

Recent TFI scores

• 2017-18: 67%

School Climate Survey (SCS) determines the status of specific building-wide school climate initiatives and issues (Core Values, Student Voice, Specific CR-PBIS Initiatives--ex: acknowledgement tickets)

• Completed three times a year (September, January, May) by all students (grades 3-5)
• Reviewed by School Climate Team and shared with staff, students and families.  Used to monitor and adjust climate initiatives.