Overview

In past years at Franklin Elementary, students were recognized for academics and

attendance at quarterly Success Assemblies. These assemblies occurred during the school day,

and students were called to the stage to receive certificates. Students with perfect attendance

were also recognized at these celebrations. In addition, student behavior was monitored and

shared with families using a paper that was completed weekly by all teachers. Students were

responsible for bringing their paper from class to class in their red folders and bringing it home

to have their parents sign and return at the end of the week. Based on feedback from staff, this

method was somewhat effective; however, many students lost their papers throughout the

week, making communication with families and the system itself inconsistent. With our mission

statement being, “At Franklin, we are successful because we read, reason, respond, write, and

strive to be lifelong learners, citizens, and friends every day,” it seemed as though there was

more to be done to ensure our students were celebrated for not only their academics, but also,

their ability to act as a friend and contributing member of our school community.

Before the 2017-2018 school year, there were not any systems put in place to regularly

recognize students, which led to the proposal of the Leadership Project, Re-Envisioning PBIS at

Franklin Elementary, which included two main objectives:

(1) Class DOJO will be implemented building wide to promote growth in academics,

attendance, and behavior.

 (2) A systematic incentive program will be developed and implemented to reward students

for academics, attendance, and behavior and

In order to facilitate the project, I used my role as the leader of the Discipline School Climate

Team (DSCT) to lead staff members to develop the system. To monitor progress throughout the

year, the following evidence was collected:

1. Minutes from Culture and Climate Meetings

2. Reports from Class DOJO
3. Culture and Climate Calendar
4. Yearly attendance data
5. School-wide incentives participation rate

Reflection of the Process

Class DOJO

Our work started before the school year began. I proposed the idea of using Class DOJO

as a new approach of monitoring student behavior to Principal Kim Coyne and Vice Principal

Dawn Kivlehan. As an administrative team, we brought the idea to our School Leadership Team

in August, and they agreed it would be more a manageable and systematic way to track

behavior, communicate with families, and remain consistent with positive reinforcements. One

of our first grade teachers, Marisa Licari, informed us she used the program the previous year

and agreed to be the Class DOJO Mentor for building staff. We planned a professional

development session, and Marisa shared the program with all building staff at one of the

Superintendent Conference Days in August.

 Overall, the staff seemed accepting of the idea; however, it was evident that to some, it

was just “one more thing” to do every day. We assured them we would revisit the program

during Teacher Learning Time (TLT) and DSCT Meetings to monitor progress and make

necessary adjustments. Dawn and I created accounts for all of the homeroom teachers and

entered their class lists to get each person started. This alleviated some of the workload and

made getting started occur quickly and easily. At our first DSCT meeting in September, we

reviewed how the rollout of Class DOJO was received by teachers and students. There were a

few concerns to be addressed: some staff were giving too many negative points, not all

teachers were using it consistently, not all administrators and support staff has been granted

access to every class. As a committee, we brainstormed solutions, which were shared in the

weekly bulletin, The Flash Forward, which is disseminated to staff every Friday.

As we near the end of the year, there has been a major shift in the culture and climate

of the building due to the implementation of Class DOJO. It has become common language

amongst staff and students and is used throughout the building. Teachers use the app to

connect and communicate with over 250 parents. Students jump to attention when they hear

DOJO points will be awarded. Staff share photos and videos of events in their classrooms, which

can be viewed by parents and other staff members. The reports are used to determine which

students may participate in our monthly behavior incentives. One teacher, who I remember as

being extremely resistant to the idea at the beginning of the year, has started hosting weekly

lunches for the students in his homeroom who have earned enough DOJO points to participate.

Students ask what they can do in the cafeteria to earn more DOJOs. The app has been so

successful and widely accepted that our School Leadership Team included it in our Extended
Work Agreement (EWA) Contract for the 2018-2019, which is signed by all teachers; this means

all teachers agree to use the program regularly next year.

Class DOJO Family and Student Engagement

Systematizing Incentives

My role as the leader of the DSCT was monumental in creating a system for incentives at

Franklin Elementary. I facilitated two meetings each month with committee members who

were representative of multiple stakeholder groups in the school. Committee members

included at least one representative from each grade level, social workers, special areas

teachers, teaching assistants, administrators, Behavior Intervention Center (BIC) Teaching

Assistant, and the Promise Zone Specialist. For each meeting, there was an agenda used to

guide us through our discussions pertaining to discipline and attendance data. We used this

data to find trends and incentivize behaviors in order to improve the data. As a result, we

moved to holding School-Wide Behavior incentives on a monthly basis and recognizing students

and classrooms for attendance.

Our vision at Franklin is to “Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible.” The DSCT

developed a calendar in October, with a focus on one of the character traits for each month for

the remaining months of the school year. Committee members brainstormed specific ways to
embody that character trait and assigned an action to each week. For example, the focus during

the month of October was to Be Responsible. The specific actions for each week were: Be on

time every day, Bring your red folder every day, Complete your homework every night, and

Clean up after yourself. The calendar was shared with all staff members, and the monthly trait

and action are shared every day on the morning announcements. Students are awarded extra

DOJO points for completing the specified action each week. Students who exemplify the

character trait consistently throughout the month are recognized at the monthly Hall of Fame

celebrations and have their picture taken in our Hall of Fame frame, which is added to our

photo case in the lobby of the building. Utilizing this approach contributed to ongoing

communication of our school’s vision with students, staff and families.

Attendance Incentives

At the DSCT meeting on November 17, 2018, we started our work on incentives for

student attendance. The goal of Syracuse City School District is for both students and staff to

have at least 95% attendance. The team several different ways to recognize students for their

attendance to school:

1. Alert administrators when homerooms have 100% attendance, so class will be

recognized on the announcements. For the first time, an administrator will visit the

room to deliver Perfect Attendance Pencils to the class.

2. Individual students are awarded DOJO Points for being in school before 9:15am, which is

the time students are considered late.

 3. Administrators will celebrate students in the cafeteria who have perfect attendance

each month. Student names will be announced, and they will be able to choose a prize

from the prize cart.

4. A new “student” will be created on Class DOJO. The “MOJO Jar” will earn a point for

every day the homeroom has 95% attendance or better. When the MOJO Jar has ten

points, there will be a special reward from administration.

Data Shared with DSCT at January Meeting

Overall, the incentives were a success. During the first three months of implementation,

we saw a major improvement in attendance data. Franklin Elementary was also recognized for

having the best student attendance during the months of February and March for elementary

schools in the Syracuse City School District. There have been some adjustments in the incentive

process since our initial plan was created in November of 2017. For example, students with

perfect attendance each month are now recognized differently. I learned that it was difficult to
manage announcing names each month in the cafeteria while also supervising the lunch room.

There were days when students were not in the cafeteria because they had “Fun Lunch”

planned with their teachers. To ensure all students were celebrated, the secretary and I worked

to create signs to hang outside of each classroom door with student names at the end of each

month. We included the correct number of pencils with the sign, which were distributed by the

homeroom teacher. As we move toward the end of the year, our committee is in the process of

planning an attendance celebration, which include families of students who have met the goal

of 95% attendance for the year.

Behavior Incentives

The implementation of monthly behavior incentives began in January 2018. This was

one of my biggest learning experiences throughout the course of my internship due to all of the

different aspects to planning and facilitating the events. As with attendance, the DSCT and I

worked together to create criteria and schedules for the monthly events.

Our first incentive was at the end of January. The DSCT decided for students in grades 2-

5 to have a dance and students in Kindergarten and 1st grade to attend a move in the

auditorium. The following criteria were set by grade-level teams:

January Incentive Criteria

Grade Behavior
K  Individual by class

1  75% positive on Dojo

2  100 Dojo Points

3  100 Dojo Points

4  3 out of 4 weeks with 30+ Dojo Points

 No referrals
5  40 points each week on Dojo
 No referrals
 No walking out of class without permission

Teachers used Class DOJO to track progress and students were aware of their goal in order to

participate. The incentive took place during the Specials and Enrichment block while teachers

had their planning block and TLT, which prevented them from attending the dance. Scheduling

the incentive this way was rearranged for later incentives, as teachers stated they wanted to be

able to celebrate with their students.

Students who did not earn the incentive were in the Restorative Room for the durations

of the event. This looked different at each grade level, and for some students, it was a chance

for them to act inappropriate and disrespectful to adults. Since the first incentive, the

administrative team has worked with specific grade levels to help supervise the Restorative

Rooms and develop guidelines for what should take place in order to avoid future incidents.

Since the first incentive, I have led the DSCT to organize four additional School-Wide

Incentives including a Staff versus Student Basketball Game, Grade-Level Block Parties, Movie in
the Auditorium, and another dance. While there has not been an improvement in the referral

data for the school, the monthly incentives have become a part of our culture and climate. Our

staff and students look forward to the monthly events. Class DOJO has been played an integral

role for students to visualize their progress toward earning the incentive. Students feel they are

rewarded for positive behavior, which creates intrinsic motivation to continue doing well and to

follow The Franklin Way.

One of the biggest takeaways from this experience was working with adults is similar to

working with students. At the beginning, some were hesitant with the idea of tracking students

using Class DOJO, scheduling details for incentives, and supervising the restorative room. This

led to most of the work being completed by the administrative team for the first incentive. Now

that we are at the end of the year, I am acting only as the facilitator of the events while the

teachers plan and supervise. It is exciting to imagine how this system will continue to progress

next school year.

Next Steps

The administrative team and DSCT have been brainstorming different ideas to further

systematize the incentives for the 2018-2019 school year. We hope to continue to positively

impact attendance data. We plan to add additional systems to address referral data.

Incentivizing attendance and behavior so intensely proved to be overwhelming for our

committee and for staff, so we hope to begin addressing academics next school year. Some of

the ideas we plan to include in 2018-2019 are:

 Bi-Monthly Attendance, Academic, and Behavior Incentive beginning in September

 Administrators will have Friday meetings with any student who has received a referral

during the week.

 Grade-level Team Meetings will take place each week, which will give staff additional

time to work together to track student progress and address concerns regarding our

three areas of focus.

 DSCT will be divided in to three subcommittees: Attendance, Behavior, and Academic.

Administration will be responsible for compiling and sharing data, and the committee

will discuss trends. The subcommittees will have time at each meeting to plan incentives

to address the trends in the data.

 Complete the calendar for 2018-2019 before the end of the current school year and

research organizations to provide incentive days for next school year. This will involve

planning in our budget.