Whitman’s students, families, and staff are committed to creating a safe and healthy community of lifelong learners. All individuals are valued, respected, and empowered through the acknowledgement of both their academic and emotional strengths. By having high academic expectations, Whitman students will be college and career ready.

Table of Contents

What Is School Climate?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------4-7

Culturally Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (CR-PBIS) --------4

Restorative Practices------------------------------------------------------------------------------6

Racial Equity & Social Justice (RESJ) -----------------------------------------------------------6

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) -----------------------------------------------------------------7

Tier I Team------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8-9

School Climate Team-------------------------------------------------------------------------------8

Climate Team Meeting Schedule-----------------------------------------------------------------8-9

Tier I Implementation-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------9-

Behavioral Expectations---------------------------------------------------------------------------9

Defining Minor, Stage 1 reports, 2 and 3 Behaviors-------------------------------------------10-

Discipline Policies----------------------------------------------------------------------------------11

Professional Development------------------------------------------------------------------------11

Classroom Procedures & Guest Teacher Protocols------------------------------------------12

Acknowledgement Systems---------------------------------------------------------------------12-13

Faculty Involvement-------------------------------------------------------------------------------13

Plan for Family, Student &  Community Involvement----------------------------------------13-14

Plan for Welcoming New Students and Families---------------------------------------------14

Tier I Evaluation----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

Appendix------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15-16

        CR-TFI Action Plan---------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

        Common Area Expectations Lesson Plans----------------------------------------------------16

What Is School Climate?

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

School Climate is the most integral component of a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. MTSS is focused on prevention and problem solving for all students using decision making based on data. MTSS uses evidence-based instruction, intervention and assessment practices to ensure that every student receives the appropriate level of support based on their level of need. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining Tier I support (universal), Tier II intervention (targeted group), and Tier III intervention (individual) systems to help eliminate barriers to learning and enable every student to successfully reach their full potential.

School Climate Overview

School Climate encompasses culturally relevant, restorative practices with a racial equity and social justice lens, as well as school wide social emotional learning opportunities for all students in their classrooms.

Culturally Responsive Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (CR-PBIS)

CR-PBIS (Culturally-Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) uses implementation science to help students to develop positive behaviors. At the most basic level, CR-PBIS can be described as a three-pronged approach:

1. Explicitly teach co-constructed expectations of the school and classroom community,
2. Actively acknowledge kids when they are following the expectations,
3. Instructionally redirect behavior using restorative practices.

Research shows that when school staff acknowledge positive behaviors at least three times more often than redirecting behavioral mistakes, positive behavior increases significantly.

The school climate team uses disaggregated data to make decisions and to develop the systems and practices of a school. The unique racial, cultural and linguistic makeup of the school is explicitly addressed at every decision point.

The school climate team brings together all stakeholders to:

• Develop and promote school values
• Develop common area expectations for all parts of the building
• Design lesson plans and schedules to teach common area expectations throughout the year.
• Create and maintain systems to acknowledge students who are following expectations. This may be acknowledgement tickets, assemblies, or awards for individuals, classes, grade levels, etc.
• Develop school wide policies that are proactive, preventative and restorative.
• Build corrective discipline systems (i.e. a flowchart) and calibrate clear definitions of student behaviors.

How do we make certain that PBIS is culturally responsive?

• We use the Panorama Successful Schools survey data and other interviews and surveys to systematically assess and review student and family voices and adjust our practices to reflect the needs of our community.

Restorative Practices

Restorative Justice is a philosophy grounded in the belief that positive, healthy relationships help us thrive. When we do things that impact others and create harm to those relationships, it is our individual and collective responsibility to make things right.

Restorative Practices are the skills and processes that help us build, maintain, and repair relationships to form healthy, supportive & inclusive communities. Restorative Practices are best utilized when intentional time is devoted to community building.

Community Building Circles that allow classroom communities to develop relationships by asking a series of  low impact questions to get to know one another. Circles should be done as often as possible to insure relational trust is developed over time.

Restorative Inquiry is an essential restorative practice. A series of guiding questions are asked to understand all parties involved in a conflict, disagreement and/or any level of harm. The questions get to the root of a conflict and help solve the conflict by giving voice to the person who was harmed.  

• What happened?
• Who was harmed and how?
• What can be done to make things better?
• What do you need to move forward?
• What support do you need to keep this from happening in the future?

Racial Equity & Social Justice (RESJ)

The Board of Education for Portland Public Schools is committed to the success of every student in each of our schools. The mission of Portland Public Schools is that by the end of elementary, middle, and high school, every student by name will meet or exceed academic standards and will be fully prepared to make productive life decisions. We believe that every student has the potential to achieve, and it is the responsibility of our school district to give each student the opportunity and support to meet his or her highest potential.

Whitman prioritizes racial equity work aligned to the vision set forth in the PPS Graduate Portrait that is committed to Culturally-Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Restorative Practices, Equity, and Social Emotional Learning.

We as a community must foster and promote a collective vision for public education so that every student -- regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic situation, special need or ability -- has access and opportunity to kindle his or her unique spark, and to build the knowledge and skills to achieve their goals.

We owe our students this.

-- Guadalupe Guerrero, Superintendent, Portland Public Schools

Social Emotional Learning

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. (CASEL)

In PPS, we embrace Transformative SEL--which is a form of SEL implementation that concentrates SEL practice on transforming inequitable settings and systems, and promoting justice-oriented civic engagement.

“Transformative SEL” is a process whereby young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting, relationships that facilitate co-learning to critically examine root causes of inequity, and to develop collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being. This form of SEL is aimed at redistributing power to promote social justice through increased engagement in school and civic life. It emphasizes the development of identity, agency, belonging, curiosity, and collaborative problem solving within the CASEL framework. (CASEL)

CASEL’s 3 Signature Practices intentionally and explicitly help build a habit of practices through which students enhance their SEL skills: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. They provide a framework for supporting teachers in fostering a supportive environment and promoting SEL.  The 3 Signature Practices can be put into practice without extensive professional learning.  They can be incorporated into any K-12 lesson, community meeting, or staff meeting through carefully choosing, effectively facilitating and thoughtfully debriefing a: Warm Welcome, Engaging Activity & Optimistic Closure.

To support current and future social and emotional needs, trauma-informed science reminds us of the need to:

• Elevate student’s cultural assets, voice, and agency
• Strengthen relationships, community, and sense of belonging
• Affirm student identities and lived experiences
• Incorporate social and emotional skill building into academic learning 
• Establish consistent and predictable routines
• Build trusting relationships with students and families through clear and transparent communication

The School Climate Team (Tier I)

School Climate Team Information (1.1/1.2)

Climate Team Meeting Schedule

Meeting Agenda:

• Climate Team meetings minutes will be available for the community to review  
• Monthly Discipline Data
• CR-PBIS School-wide Systems (assessing the effectiveness of our Equity Practices on school climate)
• Family and student voice: how we are ensuring 2-way communication and partnerships
• Integration of Restorative Practices

Agenda scheduled for each of our school climate meetings will be driven by prioritized features of our Culturally Responsive Tiered Fidelity (CR-TFI) Action Plan.

Tier I Implementation

Programmatic Supports for all Students

Schoolwide Values and Common Area Expectations (1.3)

Our School Values are:

1.  Community

2. Commitment

3.  Empowerment

Posters (with student, staff, family & community-produced values) have been made and distributed throughout the building in order to make them visible to students, staff and families. The intention is to send a consistent message about what our school community values and  how it looks different in various common areas. This will help Whitman ensure that our school values are inclusive and affirming.

These school values are important for the Whitman school community, because these  are the qualities that help students be successful in life. Our students need to understand and exercise Community, Commitment, and Empowerment  on a regular basis to master the skills to be successful and prepared to be college and career ready.

• These values are woven into our regular teaching practices in every lesson and in every class period throughout the grade levels, naming them with consistency and strategically teaching and reviewing them throughout the school year.

Common Area Expectations

Teaching Expectations (1.4)

Whitman expectations are linked on our website! 

Yearly Schedule for Teaching Common Area Expectations

Teams have a process and procedures for staff to teach students the behaviors necessary to be successful in the school setting regardless of previous learning and without disrespecting families’ beliefs. When expectations differ between home or community and school, staff examine these differences critically, and if determined to be necessary, they explicitly teach the skills (including providing a clear rationale for having a different expectation at school and opportunities for practice and feedback until students demonstrate the skill fluently).         -PBIS CR Field Guide, p.16

Active Supervision

Active supervision is the alert, proactive ability of the staff member  to circulate within a group of students while interacting in a positive and constructive way. This includes acknowledging positive behaviors and actions, scanning for potential growth areas, modeling and supporting regulation strategies, and using restorative practices to reduce and repair harm.

Defining Stage 1 and Stage 2/3 Behaviors (1.5)

Behavior level calibration will be conducted by building staff in order to properly reflect the evolving needs of our community and to accommodate the diverse racial, cultural, linguistic and developmental needs of our school.

Defining Behaviors

Proactive and Inclusive Practices

Staff build a learning community by:

• Intersecting and integrating Restorative Justice practices, PBIS, and Equity.
• Creating community agreements with input from students that are posted and referred to regularly
• Greeting students at the door during transitions to have a positive initial interaction
• Holding restorative/community building circles and activities regularly so students feel connected to the learning environment and each other
• Welcome students back when they return from a needed break outside the classroom  
• Building positive relationships with students by connecting and checking in about life outside of school
• Finding ways to make the curriculum relevant to students’ lives (through their culture, language, interests, etc.) when appropriate

• Explicitly teaching and clarifying school/classroom/activity behaviors you expect students to demonstrate throughout the lesson
• Acknowledging and reinforcing on-task behaviors by distributing compliments or through other incentives/positive interactions
• Providing leadership opportunities for students by assuming classroom responsibilities to become positive role-models)
• Developing classroom routines and rituals and sticking with them
• Providing opportunities for students to listen to each other
• Avoiding power struggles (keep voice at neutral, restate expectations positively, maintain high expectations, provide choices instead of ultimatums when appropriate, redirect problematic behaviors privately, and provide students with the time and space to redirect themselves)
• Looking for opportunities where students can contribute and make choices in the curriculum when appropriate

Discipline Policies (1.6)

*Think in 3’s

3 low levels may = one stage 1

3 stage 1’s may = one stage 2

Fresh start every 3 weeks

Examples of Reset/Think sheet process and samples

Professional Development (1.7)

Over the course of the year, staff PD must explicitly address these five essential areas: teaching school wide expectations, acknowledging appropriate behaviors, correcting errors, requesting assistance (SIT Team), and understanding the influence of race, culture and language on student behavior.

Classroom Procedures (1.8)

Every teacher will have an Effective Classroom Practices Plan (ECPP). ECPPs will be shared with administration no later than the day before back to school night.  Co-creating classroom practices reduces variability between classrooms and makes it more consistent for students. Some sample plans are provided below and PD time will be provided in the first two weeks of school to complete these documents.

The Classroom Practices Plan template, covers the essential features of effective classroom practices: Structure, teaching expectations, acknowledging positive behaviors, and supporting regulation & restorative practices.

Effective Classroom practices plans and Guest teacher resources are available in the Whitman staff folder.

Feedback and Acknowledgement Systems (1.9)

Research shows that when staff “catches" a student exhibiting appropriate behaviors, those behaviors will increase and misbehaviors will decrease. Specific praise is extremely important in increasing the recurrence of appropriate behaviors. Some schools decide to give out acknowledgement “tickets”, small slips of paper that are aligned with the school values. All staff hand out the acknowledgement tickets, along with specific praise, to students as they witness appropriate behaviors in the common areas, in classrooms, on buses, etc.

Description of our school-wide acknowledgement system:

• Paws tickets
• Use to reinforce our core values in classrooms and throughout the school
• Weekly and monthly drawings for small prizes and donut parties; monthly assemblies with recognition of students of the month
• The climate team will  solicit feedback from students and families about current systems and planning for changes and improvements in the spring of 2024.

Acknowledgement Matrix

Faculty Involvement (1.10)

Schedule for sharing disaggregated data to staff and opportunities for input on Tier I systems

Plan for Family, Student and Community Involvement (1.11)

Schedule for family involvement activities

Whitman Plan for Student Involvement

Recess Leaders- Students in 4th/5th grade may sign up to be a Recess Leader. This group of students will help lead games at recess, help with conflict management, and support younger students at lunch recess. Applications will go out in September and be signed by students, parents and teachers. There will be 1  meeting in the beginning of  the school year to teach, train and support this team. Any 4th/ 5th grader who would like to be a recess leader will be accepted, but must show responsible behavior as a recess leader.

Safety Patrol-  Students in 4th/ 5th grade may sign up to be on Safety Patrol. They will be assigned a team and work before and after school helping students and families cross streets and get to school safely. Applications will be given out to any student interested, signed by both parents and teacher, they will have a training in the beginning of the year then receive a work schedule, they will begin working at the end of September.  There will be space for 18 students.

Hospitality–Students in grades 3-5 may sign up to be cafeteria hospitality workers! This involves helping serve meals, helping clean tables, and helping monitor that trash and trays are put away properly. Applications will go out in September and be signed by students, parents, and teachers. There will be a meeting at the beginning of the school year to teach, train, and support this team. Any student who would like to be on the hospitality team will be accepted, but must show responsible behavior to continue with the job.

Whitman  New Student/Family Plan is in development, stay tuned for more details soon!)

Tier I Evaluation

Evaluation of the Effects and Fidelity of the School Climate Practices

Discipline Data (1.12)

Tiered Fidelity Inventory (CR-TFI) guides the action planning for the implementation of a positive school climate.

• Assessment component is completed three times a year in September, January and May
• A score of 80% or better indicates a well-implemented tier
• The TFI action plan is revisited on a monthly basis

Recent TFI scores

• 2021-22 TFI scores and action plan  (TFI Action plan will be updated in July of 2022)

Successful Schools Survey (SSS)

• Completed once a year in February by all students (grades 3-12), staff, and families.
• Reviewed by the School Climate Team and shared with staff, students and families. Used to monitor and adjust climate initiatives.
• Accessed via the Panorama dashboard.

Recent SSS data

• Overview and excerpts of key areas of the Whitman 21-22 Successful Schools Survey

School Climate Action Plan (CR-TFI): School Climate action plan is available to staff in the staff google folder. See appendix.

Appendix

School: Whitman School Climate (CR-TFI) Action Plan

Date: