Four schools share quick and easy practices to improve attendance, reduce discipline referrals and suspensions, and increase academic achievement
The research is clear: the culture of a school can have a direct impact on student learning and achievement. To help school and district leaders create a more positive culture and kickstart their journey toward improved school performance, Kickboard has published a new how-to guide titled, “Quick School Culture Tips for School & District Leaders.”
In this free guide, four school leaders from districts around the country share eight simple strategies to increase attendance, reduce discipline referrals, reduce suspensions, and improve academic achievement. Even better, each of these practices takes 10 minutes or less.
Within the guide, each school’s story outlines the challenges they faced, the strategies they employed, and the results they achieved. Following each story are step-by-step instructions to implement each practice, along with helpful screen shots from the Kickboard school culture system.
One example comes from Lowery Elementary School in Donaldsonville, La. When Dawn Love became principal of the Title I school, she knew student behavior was impeding learning. Using real-time data tracked through Kickboard, the school reduced discipline infractions by 29 percent in one year, and improved its School Performance Score and school grade. “This improvement is huge for us,” said Love.
“When we ask teachers what they think the difference was, they say the classroom culture. They’re able to be more proactive — in the moment — so they can keep students in class and have quality learning time. That is directly correlated to the improvement in our School Performance Score and school grade.”
“Research shows that the amount of time students spend engaging in instruction is highly correlated with academic achievement. Yet, every day, instructional minutes are lost to behavior issues, discipline referrals, suspensions and absenteeism,” said Kickboard CEO Jennifer Medbery. “By making positive changes to the culture of a school, educational leaders can address these critical concerns and turn these problems around. In addition, with the right technology, it’s easier than ever to see, measure and tweak the little things that make a big difference.”
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