1. Safe Schools, Safe Kids Building a Caring Community

2. To help children develop to their full potential - academically, ethically, socially, and emotionally Developmental Studies Center  Non-profit organization, Oakland CA  Working with schools since 1980  Mission-Based A Commitment to the Whole Child

4. Agenda  Reflect on challenges to student safety in school  Review scales from the Child Development Project for evaluating students’ sense of community  Explore a research-based approach to building community and its impact on student achievement

6. Violent Behavior in Schools (yearly) * Safe Schools Initiative Study 30-40 homicides 20 suicides 4,000 rapes/sexual battery 7,000 robberies 11,000 attacks/fights with weapons 116,000 thefts or larcenies 188,000 attacks/fights without weapons Bullying, teasing, and non-violent misbehavior

7. Did You Know?  Each day, about 160,000 American kids skip school because they're afraid of bullies*  32,000 students were surveyed to gauge their feelings about safety and bullying** –50% said they saw children being bullied at least once a month –40% said teachers could not stop the bullying –Gender did not seem to matter –Younger students reported the most bullying * Report of the National Association of School Psychologists in Bethesda, Maryland **National School Board’s Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE)

8. Reflection  What’s challenging about helping students learn to work together and building community?  What difficulties do you face building a positive school climate?

9. Creating Caring School Communities The heart of DSC’s work  Changes the experience of school for kids  Helps connect students to one another and to caring adults

10. Why focus on community building? Fosters  Respectful supportive relationships  Allows for collaboration with others  Builds autonomy, belonging, acceptance  Provides for a caring classroom Alleviates  Teasing  Bullying  Poor classroom management  Cliques among students  Disengaged parents

11. What We Know to Be True  Children thrive in caring school communities.  Children learn when their basic needs are met.  Students’ connection to school affects their behavior.  Reliance on competitive situations makes learning more difficult.  Children seek social support to learn the skills of the school culture.

12. Core Elements of Community Building  Students, parents, and school staff have respectful and supportive relationships.  Students have frequent opportunities to help and collaborate with others.  Students have opportunities for influence and self- direction.  Students and school staffs have common values, goals, and norms.

13. Source: Partnership for 21 st Century Skills Students Learn  Critical thinking and problem-solving  Ethics and social responsibility  Communication  Teamwork and collaboration  Lifelong learning and self-direction  Leadership

14. Research on Community-Building Students Demonstrated  Higher levels of academic achievement  Improved behavior  Lower rates of drug and alcohol use  Increased academic motivation  Greater sense of community

15. Overall Elementary School Impact

16. Enduring Effects in Middle School

17. HOME CLASSROOM SCHOOL Creating Community Class Meetings Homeside Activities Schoolwide Activities Cross-Age Buddies

18. Class Meetings Class meetings provide teachers and students with a time to gather as a class to  get to know one another  discuss issues  identify and solve problems  make decisions that affect classroom and school climate

19. Class Meeting Video With your partner  What do you notice about how the teacher facilitates the class meeting?  How does this class meeting start to build community?

20. Class Meeting  What did you notice about how the teacher facilitated the class meeting?  How does this class meeting start to build community?  What are the advantages of sitting in a circle?

21. Essential Features of Class Meetings  Circular arrangement that enables all participants to readily see and hear all others  Open-ended topics and genuine opportunities for students’ ideas to have influence  Safe, trusting, and reflective processes, with clear ground rules

22. 22 Powerful Ways to Give Students a Voice Planning and Decision Making  Welcoming new students  Preparing for a substitute  Field trips  Assemblies Problem Solving  Not letting others play  Bullying  Arguing and Fighting  Stealing Getting to Know one Another Students holding each other accountable Agreements students make with each other Check-in class meetings Playground check-in Buddies check-in Class Meetings can be used for:

23. Class Meeting Values  Fairness  Helpfulness  Caring  Respect  Personal responsibility

24. Social Skills Social skills include:  Listening to one another  Reaching agreement  Considering other points of view  Supporting one’s own reasoning  Asking questions

25. The Payoff Children who feel a strong sense of school community have a more positive attitude toward:  Themselves –have higher academic self-esteem –feel more personally effective and socially competent  School –like school, class, and challenging tasks more –have more trust in and respect for teachers  Others –are more concerned about and enjoy helping others –resolve conflicts more skillfully –are more tolerant of people who are different

26. How Do Your Students Feel? Child Development Project Student Scales

27. Measuring Sense of Community Autonomy & Influence in the Classroom (10 items)  In my class students have a say in deciding what goes on  Students in my class can get a rule changed if they think it is unfair

28. Measuring Sense of Community Classroom Supportiveness (14 items)  My class is like a family  Students in my class help each other learn

29. Measuring Sense of Community School as a Caring Community (14 items)  Students at this school really care about each other  I feel that I can talk to the teachers in this school about things that are bothering me

30. What Questions Do You Have?

31. Today At your college graduation I marveled That I saw you last In Junior High Taught you last In fifth grade When I glimpsed Your easy gait From the bleachers Recognized you In cap and gown Honor tassels swinging recklessly You were the same Only six feet tall Now You’ll work for a bank I asked you What I taught That made a difference And you said “Nothing.“ “It was the way You spoke Of your big dog And how You treated people Because as a kid I needed A reason To come to school.” In Language Arts, Vol. 85, No. 2, November 2007 NCTE Purpose Jill Millican

33. BUDDIES

34. Organization of Buddy Activities  Getting to Know You  Learning to Play Together  Celebrating Our Year

35. Benefits of Buddies  Older buddies: –Experience themselves as responsible and caring –Make social connections and “fit in” in ways they might not with peers  Younger buddies: –Build friendships with and feel more comfortable around older children –Learn from a role model who is only a few years older  Teachers: –Develop a collegial working relationship with another teacher –Gain different view of students

36. Essential Features of the Buddies Program  Pairing of classes separated by grade levels.  Teachers assign each child a buddy for the whole semester or year.  Paired classes meet once or twice a month and engage in buddy activities that foster academic and social development.  Buddy classes engage in regular pre-planning and post- reflection class meetings.

37. Homeside Activities Activities that foster conversation and communication  between teachers and parents and  between parents and children Use activities once or twice a month. Family Folklore The Story of My Name Class Song Book

38. Schoolwide Activites: Main Ideas Presents traditions and activities that help promote:  Inclusion and participation  Cooperative, non-competitive environment  Emphasis on helping others and taking responsibility  Appreciation of differences  Reflection

39. Schoolwide Activities  Getting To Know the People in Our School (Welcoming Newcomers)  Getting To Know the People in Our Community (Grandpersons Gathering)  Expanding Our Community (Working For a Cause)  Sharing What We Learn (Family Science Night)  Taking Pride in Our Surroundings (School Community Garden)

40. Class Meeting

41. US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) OrganizationRecognition US Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug- Free Schools Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning National Institute of Drug Abuse California Healthy Kids Resource Center A model program A promising program A select program A Research-based Drug Abuse prevention Program A research-validated program Alcohol and other drugs Safe schools program DSC: National Recognition

42. Saint Louis, MO Study Evaluation Background:  Funded by the U.S. Department of Education  4 Year Study  40 schools chosen, 30 implemented CSC in successive years, 10 per year  Program schools implemented all parts of CSC  Evaluation based on surveys of teachers, students, discipline referrals, and MO state assessment in math and reading Findings:  Safer Learning Communities  Students demonstrated good character  Improved student discipline  Improved academic achievement  Increased Staff Collaboration  Academic Results were increased the longer a school was using CSC

43. Improved Math Scores: St. Louis

44. Improved Language Arts Scores: St. Louis

45. Improvement in Behavior Referrals Decrease

46. Improved Academic Achievement: San Francisco

47. Laying the Groundwork: Teambuilders Line Ups

48. Teambuilders  How might this kind of structure contribute to a feeling of belonging and acceptance?  When would be appropriate times to use teambuilders?

49. Team Builders  Inside-Outside Circle  Line Ups  Find Someone Who…  Clapping Names (K-1)  Favorite Things (K-1)  Things You Do (K-1)

50. Class Meetings: The First Two Months  Norm setting –Fairness and Helpfulness / Responsibility and Caring (K-1) –Generating norms/Agreeing on norms (2-6)  Team building –Favorite Things –Inside-Outside Circle –Find Someone Who…  Check-in class meetings –Playground check-in –Academic check-in

51. A Powerful Way to Give Students a Voice Topics  Planning and Decision Making –Welcoming new students –Preparing for a substitute –Field trips –Assemblies  Problem Solving –Not letting others play –Bullying –Arguing and Fighting –Teasing –Stealing

52. End-of-Year Class Meeting Lessons  Help students reflect on the year  Help students look forward to the next school year  Help students say good-bye

53. Teaching Techniques  Formed a circle  Explained procedures  Established ground rules  Used cooperative structures  Asked open-ended and follow-up questions  Used wait time  Asked questions that encouraged participants to talk directly to each other

54. Teacher Facilitation Techniques  Asking open-ended questions  Using wait-time  Using cooperative structures  Encouraging use of prompts to build on one another’s thinking: –“I agree with ________ because…” –“I disagree with ________ because…” –“In addition to what ________ said, I think…”

55. Cooperative Structures  Turn to Your Partner  Think, Pair, Share  Tea Party  Heads Together