Freedom Elementary

1
Freedom Elementary

• UBI team
• Darlene Bell Principal
• Jan Burrell UBI Coordinator Kristin Richter
  Support Staff
• Jennifer Whitney Resource Teacher Kris Manning
  Support Staff
• Denise Call Parent Representative JerylDean
  Clark Classroom Teacher (K)
• Andrea Nelson Classroom Teacher (1) Zina
  Pippin Classroom Teacher (2)
• Cathy Stoker Classroom Teacher (3) Sally
  Standage Classroom Teacher (4)
• Kellie Horton Classroom Teacher (5) lori
  Jacobson Classroom Teacher (6)

2
Intervention

• Background - Our school is in the third year as a
  UBI school. In addition to focusing on the
  positives, we needed a common language and a
  specific sequence to teach appropriate behavior..
• Freedom implemented a school-wide plan to
  introduce and reinforce twelve identified Social
  Skills as outlined in the Cool Kids Social
  Skills program.

• School-wide
• SOCIAL SKILLS
• Instruction

3
Rationale
When Freedom UBI committee determined that the
Cool Kids program would be the framework used to
implement Social Skills Training, we contacted
Susan Mulkey (one of the program authors) to work
with our faculty and staff. During that inservice
time she highlighted the following research based
concepts

• Kids who have better social skills do better
  academically. The lack of appropriate social
  skills can affect student learning and classroom
  structure..
• A social skills program can help all students
  develop positive peer relations and social skills
  that are appropriate for a variety of settings.
• Learning and using appropriate social skills is
  an important step when helping every student feel
  positive about themselves and others.
• Teaching students to use appropriate social
  skills can help them solve any difference or
  challenge they may have during the school day
  without resorting to a teacher or staff member.
• Using appropriate social skills will help
  deescalate a situation rather than have a
  situation get out of control..

4
Data indicators

• Team consensus following informal conversations
  with
• parents and educators
• If we are to expect our students to exhibit
• Respect, Responsibility, and Safety
• students need tools
• was the obvious vehicle
• Parent/Teacher survey conducted October 2006
  allowed UBI team to
• Identify skills to be taught
• Prioritize skills
• Match the skills to an appropriate month for
  implementation

• Social Skills Training

5
Initial data informationprior to intervention

• The formal data we collected initially was
  simply a means of deciding where to place our
  Social Skills emphasis.
• The following chart indicates how teachers ranked
  the skills of high importance compared to how
  parents ranked those same skills
• 115 parents were surveyed (marking 5 skills most
  needing attention
• 49 school staff members were surveyed
  (identifying 3 skills most needing attention
• For survey purposes we tallied the Social Skills
  listed in the Cool Kids program
• While some skills do not appear to be of high
  priority, they were included because the skill
  paired naturally with a skill of higher priority
• Peer pressure was not addressed in this way
  because we use other means to address that need

6
Implementation Description

• Cool Kids Social Skills materials purchased
• Parents and teachers surveyed to determine
  priority of skills to be targeted
• Inservice with program author, Susan Mulkey
• 1st time prior to implementation as a whole
  staff
• 2nd time during implementation in grade level
  groups

7
Implementation Description (cont.)

• Materials specific to
• Implementation Plan
• designed and distributed

8
Implementation Description (cont.)

• Indiana Joe a student performance designed to
  transition from our last year incentive program
  to this years focus on Social Skills
• Script by Donna Pancheri
• Co-directed by Donna Pancheri Jennifer Whitney
• Student actors selected
• Rehearsals / Performance
• Taping and Editing under the direction of
• Lynnette Atkinson from Fremont High School

9
Implementation Description (cont.)

• Staff Materials
• Plan book
• Monthly introduction of school-wide skill
• Possible activities
• Literature connections
• Other UBI information and concepts
• Classroom materials
• Posters
• Markers
• Requested support literature

10
Implementation Description (cont.)

• Student Materials
• Key rings
• T-shirts

11
Most recent Data

• Parents were surveyed to determine if this years
  Social Skills instruction has been effective. The
  following slides indicate the level at which
  parents feel their child has grasped and
  implemented the individual targeted Social
  Skills.
• 1-3 target skills per month
• The title indicates the specific skill
• 505 completed surveys were returned
• Legend for the following slides

12
Most recent Data (cont.)
October
13
Most recent Data (cont.)

• November
  December

14
Most recent Data (cont.)
January
February
15
Most recent Data (cont.)
March
April
16
General Discussion

• Systematic and school-wide Social Skills
  instruction provides concrete tools to abstract
  expectations
• Kids need behavioral instruction, not just
  behavioral expectations
• Freedom Patriots have benefited from a
  school-wide focus on Social Skills
• Parents report that students are more proficient
  at skills taught earlier in the year (we believe
  this is a result of repeated and consistent
  exposure to those skills)
• Surveys indicate that the skills not yet taught
  at the time of survey are most in need of
  attention (we believe this indicates that formal
  instruction results in improvement)
• Our students are not yet at the level of
  proficiency we hope to attain . . . . .

17

• Phase III
• To be continued . . .
• We plan to revisit the same
• Social Skills
• during the 2008-09 school year