How Parklane Elementary School Uses PBIS Rewards to Help Their Students SOAR

Case Study

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Building Student Success: Navigate360’s PBIS Rewards & Parklane Elementary School

Parklane Elementary School is a preschool-5 school located in East Point, Georgia, in the Atlanta metro area. More than 70% of its 400 students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Parklane Elementary by the Numbers:

Like many schools in Georgia, Parklane utilizes a PBIS initiative to help students build positive behaviors and create a positive school climate. They began their journey with PBIS in 2013 and added PBIS Rewards in 2018, allowing them to make a smooth transition into virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The staff at Parklane recognizes that PBIS can provide an experience for students that many don’t receive anywhere else.

It is this focus on recognizing positive behavior that helps to foster buy-in from students and staff alike. During COVID-19, schools in the Fulton County School District, including Parklane, had simultaneous instruction, with some students in the classroom and others learning from home. As schools opened up more fully, families had the option to keep their children in distance learning. Most of Parklane’s students wanted to be back in the classroom, where they were able to soak in the positivity and recognition.

How Parklane Uses PBIS Rewards to Help Their Students SOAR

It’s common for schools using a PBIS initiative to communicate their school values with an acronym. For the Parklane Elementary School Eagles, that acronym is SOAR:

• Show Respect
• Opportunity to Learn
• Accept Responsibility
• Reach to Succeed

This concept has been embraced by the school community in numerous ways. Students have participated in such diverse projects as creating a CD of SOAR-themed songs as a fundraiser, painting a mural at the school’s entrance and doing community presentations. As a small school, Parklane embraces its family-oriented community atmosphere, with parents and guardians taking an active role by volunteering with the school. This community atmosphere means that staff members know each student by name. They use PBIS Rewards to recognize students anywhere, any time they are observed demonstrating the school’s SOAR values.

Of course, part of the success of a PBIS initiative lies in the buy-in it receives from staff. Parklane begins the school year with a staff meeting focused entirely on PBIS and expectations. This meeting communicates positivity and excitement to everyone on staff and sets the stage for a solid foundation every year. Parklane also utilizes the Teacher Rewards feature in PBIS Rewards, which allows staff members to recognize and acknowledge their colleagues for their contributions to a positive school culture. This is critical to combating adversity, discouragement and teacher burnout during challenging times.

Staff buy-in translates into consistency in recognizing students for positive behaviors. As student points balances grow, the school’s PBIS store generates a lot of excitement among students. Parklane stocks its store with items of all point values, enabling students to purchase low-point items as well as save points for larger items.

Points can be used for incentives that are intangible, as well. PBIS Rewards includes options for creating events, allowing students to use points for admission to an event. Staff members can also use the system to track admission to events, and points totals are accurately updated as points are used.

One goal of a PBIS initiative is to reduce poor behavior that leads to referrals. Parklane Elementary School uses the Behavior Referral System (BRS) feature, an upgrade option within the PBIS Rewards software. ARS allows anyone in the school to begin a referral and tracks that referral from initiation to resolution. It also enables the school to assign appropriate Suite360 Behavior Intervention lessons to help resolve problem behaviors associated with individual referrals.

Helping Students With Special Needs to SOAR With PBIS Rewards

For students with IEPs or 504 plans, behavioral success can sometimes feel elusive. Parklane uses PBIS Rewards to put additional focus on positive behaviors exhibited by students with academic or behavioral challenges. Teachers can create a group for any reason and add students to that group at any time. This can be especially helpful for individuals working with a specific group of students, to enable those students to see the progress they’re making.

Both students and their families can view comments in the respective companion apps. This can help reinforce positive behaviors and build student confidence as their abilities develop.

Connecting With Parklane Families Through PBIS Rewards

Involving families in developing positive student behaviors helps to extend a PBIS initiative beyond the walls of the school and into homes and the larger community. Parklane not only encourages parents to take an active role within the school, but they also use the PBIS Rewards app to communicate to families at home.

This personal attention helps staff to address issues before they escalate into larger problems. Tracking social and emotional states through the PBIS Rewards app allows staff members to view student mental health trends and alert parents and families to possible issues.

Leveraging the Power of PBIS with PBIS Rewards

A PBIS initiative can produce profound change in a school, impacting academics, student mental health & wellness and workplace satisfaction for staff. Parklane Elementary School was well on its way to an improved school climate by putting a PBIS framework in place, and adding PBIS Rewards to digitally manage their initiative helped to boost the progress they were making.

PBIS Rewards enabled the entire school community to be a part of the PBIS initiative, from students and teachers to affiliated staff and families., allowing a community-wide proactive approach to student success. With the addition of the PBIS Rewards app, the school can more easily communicate their SOAR expectations to students, and families can view their student’s progress, keeping the whole community on the same page.

How Navigate360 Can Help Your District Support Student Wellness & Success

Navigate360’s PBIS Rewards helps schools create a positive climate in which every student can learn and grow academically, socially and emotionally. Our system simplifies the implementation and tracking of a school’s PBIS framework. With PBIS Rewards, school administration can clearly see how teachers are utilizing the PBIS framework and how it is improving school culture.

PBIS Rewards is easy to use, fun for both students and staff and provides accountability for everyone in the school. Our suite of PBIS Rewards apps includes a family app that gives parents a view into how their child is doing within the PBIS program.

To learn more about implementing PBIS Rewards in your district, visit the PBIS eBook Library or contact us today.

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