Our Vision

Beach students will be prepared, inspired, compassionate and empowered change makers within their local and global communities.

Our Mission

As a school, we take full and collective responsibility for the experience and outcomes of each of our students. We are committed to a culturally affirming, rigorous, and nurturing learning experience that celebrates and expects growth of all members of the learning community.

What Is School Climate?

School Climate Overview

School Climate encompasses culturally relevant Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), restorative practices and schoolwide social-emotional learning opportunities for all students in their classrooms.  Racial equity and social justice is woven into all aspects of school climate to ensure that all students feel a sense of belonging and have a positive school experience.

Multi-Tiered System of Support

School climate is an essential component of the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework.  MTSS is a proactive, data-driven practice used at Portland Public Schools to support all students. It 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.  Within an MTSS structure, all students receive sustaining universal supports (Tier I). Additional support is provided for students that need it through targeted  interventions (Tier II), and individualized interventions (Tier III). These tiered academic and behavioral interventions help eliminate barriers to learning and enable every student to successfully reach their full potential.

Schoolwide Values and Common Area Expectations

Our Core Values are:

Inclusivity, Perseverance, Kindness, Joy, Interdependence

Our Core Expectations for Student Behavior are:

Safe, Responsible, Kind, Respectful

Our Core Values and expectations were created with student, staff, family & community input.  Our core values drive our decisions and overall community experience. Our behavior expectations inform our daily interactions as community members.  Visuals depicting both of these are 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 Beach School ensure that our core values are inclusive and affirming.

Students need to understand and exercise our core values on a regular basis to master the skills to be successful and prepared to be college and career ready. All adults acknowledge and reinforce these core values  when interacting with students.

Our core values are woven into our regular teaching practices in every lesson and in every class period throughout the grade levels. Staff name them consistently and strategically teach and review our core values  throughout the school year.

Common Area Expectations

Beach 4 Bs Behavioral Expectations

Teaching Common Area Expectations

All students are taught the common area expectations at least three times a year after long breaks.

Beach Common Area Expectation Lesson Plans

Schoolwide (Tier 1) Climate Practices

Each Beach student deserves to come to school and feel seen, safe and valued.  In order to make this happen, adults across the school intentionally support all students by implementing the following:

• A warm greeting by name each morning
• Classroom Community Agreements
• Morning meetings  each morning
• Pawsitive Cards to acknowledge expected behavior
• School counselor classroom lessons
• Social Emotional Learning classroom lessons- Caring School Curriculum
• Common Area Expectation lessons
• Calming spaces in each classroom
• Think Sheets to help reflect on behavior

Student Intervention Team:  Additional Behavior & Academic Supports (Tier II and Tier III)

When Tier 1 classroom and schoolwide supports are not enough to ensure student success, students may be brought to the school Student Intervention Team (SIT) to develop and implement Tier II and III interventions.

The Student Intervention Team (SIT) is a collaborative, general education solution-generating team made up of a variety of school perspectives. The purpose of the SIT is to

• support teachers in reflecting on and enhancing their Tier I practices and
• implement targeted Tier II and III behavior and Tier III academic interventions when needed.

Utilizing an equity lens, the team considers the whole student when making decisions that affect their long-term educational experience and sense of belonging in PPS. SIT works to provide every student and adult what they need to thrive in the general education setting. Families are notified about student strengths and challenges, as well as planned interventions, at all points in the process.

Defining Stage 1 and Stage 2/3 Behaviors

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

This is how we define and respond to behaviors at Beach School

Discipline Policies

Beach School has created and calibrated the above chart to describe how staff respond to unexpected behaviors. If a student is escalated such that the chart does not meet their needs, they may utilize the school's deescalation space.   At Beach School there are several predesignated spaces, including available offices, hallway nooks, and outdoor spaces, that are not the classroom, for students to de-escalate with adult support.

Purpose of All Student Behavior Responses:  

De-escalate, Resolve, Restore, Re-teach, Return to Learning

Effective Classroom Practices Plan

Every teacher will have an Effective Classroom Practices Plan (ECP Plan). ECP Plans 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. A  sample template  is provided below and professional development time will be provided in the first two weeks of school to complete these documents.

The Effective Classroom Practices Plan covers the essential features of effective classroom practices: Structure, teaching expectations, acknowledging positive behaviors, and supporting regulation & restorative practices. Our Effective Classroom Practices Plans can be found here.

Feedback and Acknowledgement Systems

Research shows that when staff observe and acknowledge students exhibiting appropriate behaviors, those behaviors will increase and misbehaviors will decrease. Specific praise is extremely important in increasing the recurrence of appropriate behaviors. When observing appropriate behaviors in the common areas/ classrooms/ buses, all staff acknowledge students exhibiting our core values verbally and by awarding Pawsitive Cards, along with specific praise.

Description of our school-wide acknowledgement system:

• Beach School awards Pawsitive cards to students who are demonstrating the 4Bs.
• Adults are encouraged to award Pawsitive cards in classrooms and common spaces.
• 10 student names are drawn and prizes are awarded weekly.
• Star students are also nominated by staff and acknowledged with a publicly displayed award announcing their achievements. These awards are connected to our monthly SEL themes:

Family Involvement & Feedback

Fidelity Data

Culturally Responsive Tiered Fidelity Inventory (CR-TFI) & Fidelity Implementation Tool (FIT)

This School Climate Plan is under continuous review using both the CR-TFI and the features in the FIT Assessment that pertain to strong and positive school culture,  inclusive behavior/social emotional instruction as well as family engagement.

These tools guide the action planning for the implementation of a positive school climate and connect directly with this School Climate Plan and the School Continuous Improvement Plan.

Current Improvement Plans

2023-2024 Beach CR-TFI scores & Action Plan 

2024-2025 Beach School Continuous Improvement Plan

Successful Schools Survey (SSS)

• Completed once a year in November 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.

2023-2024 SSS Data