What Color is Your PRIDE?

You can feel it in the hallways at school. Pride in our school is back, literally and figuratively. After much planning we rolled out our new PRIDE system in September to students and staff to mixed reviews. For students, the PRIDE system is a colossal success!

The System
Our system consists of four PRIDES (North, South, East, & West) and every student and staff member belongs to one (and given a bracelet). It bonds students to their advisor and is the main cog in our PBIS & RTI work. We focus on positively reinforcing students via PRIDE Points. Unlike many other schools in our district that offer tangible rewards as the centerpiece of their PBIS system, PRIDE Points represent an abstract concept that is applied liberally throughout the building. Staff members positively reinforce behaviors in class (filling in planners, contributions to classroom discussions, etc.), in the hallway (staying to the right when walking the halls, polite behavior, etc.), or during PRIDE challenges by giving students points for their PRIDE. At the end of each month we tally the points and announce the PRIDE points winner during a PRIDE Challenge assembly. The winning PRIDE may get to leave for lunch 3 minutes early, get a PRIDE social during advisory (30 minutes), get a grand welcome during challenge assemblies, or some other small recognition. Is that a reward/punishment system? Perhaps. Has it had an affect on school-wide discipline? Absolutely. Major infractions have been reduced by a half. Minor infractions have been reduced by two-thirds. Pride in school is up exponentially!



Our Successes
Our first PRIDE Challenge assembly was like attending a pep rally...for the BCS championship of college football! The pagentry in walking to the assembly is a sight to behold. Students dressed in PRIDE colors, carrying banners, and chanting PRIDE slogans are just some of the highlights. Once the assembly starts, the volume is deafening. Students cheer their classmates and teachers. At one moment during out first assembly, our emcee announced a staff challenge (a four-way tug-of-war). Students came out of their seats pouring onto the gym floor to cheer for staff, yelling in our faces, encouraging us to work harder, and reveling in the moment. That's when the thought hit me. With thirty staff members tugging vigorously on the ropes, who was watching the students? It turned out, nobody had to. They were all anxiously watching the action and loving every moment! We've since had several smaller challenges and our second PRIDE Challenge assembly (yesterday) with similar results. Our second assembly was well attended...the district superintendent, the COO (assistant superintendent), several district department heads, our district public relations spokesperson, and several principals from around the district. They were there to help judge two events and learn more about our PRIDE system.


Our Challenges
Getting staff to step outside their comfort zone and embrace the changes has been frustrating. More are coming around because they have seen real results. The others, well, we are dragging them along. Encouraging them just as we do our students. I think the students are encouraging them as well and I love it! Another challenge is a recycled challenge...time. We need time to plan (PRIDE leaders meet every other Saturday over breakfast), we need time to meet with staff (we have 30 minutes before school every other week), and we need time to teach. We give up teaching time (46 minute classes) at least once a week.


Looking Forward
We are encouraged by the results so far, but I am exhilerated for two reasons. First, we make decisions based on the impact to students, but only after careful deliberation. Second, we have resisted, vehemently at times, the urge to go back to our old ways of excluding students via a tradition rewards & punishment system. I am proud of what is happening in our school and proud of our students!