How Everyday Recognition Strengthens Catholic Identity in Schools

Written by Adam Efird

In every Catholic school, there are countless small moments worth celebrating each and every day. These moments may seem small, but when a student volunteers to lead prayer or demonstrates integrity by taking responsibility for a mistake, those actions play an important role in shaping school culture, strengthening relationships, and reinforcing the values at the heart of  Catholic education.

That was a central message of “Every Day, Small Moments: PBIS Rewards for Catholic Schools,” a recent webinar Navigate360 hosted in partnership with the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA). During the session, Adam Efird, Director of Professional Development at Navigate360, explored how Catholic schools are using PBIS Rewards to intentionally recognize positive student behaviors, support teachers, and create stronger, faith-filled school communities.

The conversation highlighted an important truth: Catholic identity in schools isn’t built only through religion classes, liturgies, or service projects. While these are important, everyday interactions and student behaviors are also critical components of building a culture that reflects your school’s mission and values.

Why the Small Moments Matter Too

When people think about student recognition programs, they often focus on the “major accomplishments,” like academic awards, athletic achievements, and special honors.

But as Efird demonstrated, some of the most meaningful opportunities for students happen during ordinary moments throughout the school day.
From showing kindness on the playground or helping a classmate during a lesson, to participating in prayer or demonstrating compassion toward others, these everyday behaviors that contribute to the overall culture of a Catholic school.

“Every moment is worth catching,” Efird said during the webinar, “and every moment is worth that acknowledgement.”

Recognizing these actions reinforces the values that educators are already working to teach. “We often focus on the negative things that happen,” Efird explained. “When we reward students, we’re setting them up for positive attention.”

This approach aligns closely with the goals of a Catholic education, which seeks to develop the whole child academically, socially, and spiritually.

When students receive acknowledgement for positive choices, they gain confidence, build stronger connections with adults, and become more aware of how their actions impact others.

Supporting Catholic School Identity Through Everyday Actions

Every Catholic school has a unique mission statement that reflects the values and priorities of its community. While the language may vary from school to school, they tend to include common themes.

The webinar emphasized that recognition systems become most effective when they reinforce those existing values rather than introducing something new. For example, instead of focusing solely on traditional behavioral expectations, Catholic schools can align recognition with characteristics like:

• Faith
• Compassion
• Stewardship
• Integrity
• Service
• Responsibility

Efird encouraged Catholic school leaders to customize their expectations to reflect their own school identity. “Maybe you want to change your expectations to something like faith, compassion, stewardship, integrity,” he said.

When educators intentionally recognize students for exhibiting these behaviors, they create more opportunities for students to live out the values being taught through religious education and faith formation, helping transform Catholic identity from an abstract concept into something students experience every day.

Recognition Creates Consistency Across Campus

One of the biggest challenges many schools face is consistency in student recognition.

A teacher may regularly recognize positive behavior in one classroom, while another teacher takes a completely different approach. Some schools still rely on paper tickets, handwritten notes, or informal systems that can be hard to track and difficult to manage.

Throughout the webinar, Efird emphasized how critical a role consistency plays in creating a positive Catholic school culture. When teachers, administrators, office staff, counselors, and other team members are working from a shared framework for recognition, students receive a clear message about which behaviors matter.

Rather than hearing conflicting explanations from different adults, students experience a shared language rooted in your school’s mission and values. For Catholic schools, this creates a powerful opportunity to reinforce faith-based expectations throughout their entire campus—not just during religion classes or special events.

Strengthening Relationships Through Recognition

A theme that often surfaced during the webinar was the idea that recognition is largely about relationships. PBIS Rewards is designed to support positive interactions between students and staff.

However, as Efird stressed, no technology is a replacement for human connection. Instead, a recognition platform creates more opportunities for those connections to happen.

“PBIS Rewards is not a replacement for your relationships,” he said. “It’s important that we are taking an opportunity as staff to engage with our students.”

When educators acknowledge students for positive actions, they are communicating something important. They are signaling to students, “I see you.”

For many students, this simple message can make a significant difference. Strong relationships are foundational to Catholic education and they help foster environments where students are more likely to engage academically, participate in student life, and develop a personal relationship with their faith.

Efird also highlighted how recognition can help strengthen relationships with families. When parents can see the feedback their students receive and celebrate their successes, schools create stronger partnerships between the classroom and home.

Why Earned Recognition Matters

Another key takeaway from the webinar was the importance of keeping recognition positive, equitable, and growth driven. A common misconception Efird addressed is the idea that recognition programs operate largely as a bribery system.

Instead, he described recognition simply as acknowledgement. Students earn recognition for behaviors that reflect the school’s expectations and values, not with the purpose of convincing students to behave appropriately, but to encourage continued growth.

“Bribery, by definition, is trying to convince someone to do something illegal,” Efird said. “It is not illegal to turn in your homework or raise your hand or engage in prayer.”

This philosophy is particularly important in Catholic education. Students are not expected to be perfect, but they are expected to learn, grow, and continually strive to become the best version of themselves. By focusing on earned recognition, rather than punishment, schools create more uplifting environments that emphasize progress over perfection.

Moving Beyond Paper Tickets and Manual Systems

While paper-based recognition systems, which many schools utilize today, worked in the past, they pose several challenges. Teachers may distribute recognition differently, students may lose their tickets, and school leaders may have limited visibility into which values are being reinforced across campus.

Digital processes help create one consistent system for recognizing students throughout the entire school. With PBIS Rewards, Catholic schools can:

• Create shared expectations aligned to their values
• Track recognition across classrooms and grade levels
• Ensure consistency among staff members
• Identify trends and opportunities for additional support
• Celebrate positive behaviors more intentionally

For educators, this means less time managing paper systems and more time focusing on the success of their students. The shift can be transformative.

As Jake Thierjung, Principal at Samuel K. Faust Elementary, put it: “98–99% of our students are doing exactly what they should every day.”

PBIS Rewards helped his staff move from managing a paper-ticket system to intentionally recognizing the positive behaviors already happening throughout the school. That’s the same opportunity Adam Efird described throughout the webinar: creating a culture where small moments don’t go unnoticed. Want to see how schools are successfully implementing PBIS?

Building a Catholic Identity One Moment at a Time

The Catholic schools with the strongest cultures are the ones that understand culture is built through daily practice. Faith formation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in hallways, classrooms, cafeterias, playgrounds, and countless interactions throughout the day.
Every act of kindness, moment of integrity, or opportunity to support a peer is an experience that helps students understand what it means to live out the values their school promotes.

As Efird pointed out, consistently celebrating the behaviors that reflect their mission helps strengthen Catholic identity in schools in a way that feels authentic and and sustainable.

Turn Everyday Acts of Faith into a Stronger School Culture

Your students are already demonstrating kindness, compassion, leadership, faith, and integrity every day. The opportunity isn’t to create these moments—it’s to recognize, reinforce, and celebrate them consistently in ways that strengthen your school culture and support your Catholic mission.

In this on-demand webinar, Adam Efird explores how Catholic schools are using PBIS Rewards to recognize students who exemplify Gospel values, empower teachers with simple and effective recognition tools, strengthen positive relationships, and build vibrant, faith-centered school communities where every student feels valued and encouraged to succeed.