School Facts

Location: Panama City, FL
6-12 Enrollment: 1,379
Staff: Not Noted
Certified: 86 teachers
Administrators: Not Noted
Facilities/Buildings: 1

Demographics: 42.5% of students in the school reported being White, 34.8% Black/African American, and 11.6% Hispanic. 4.5% reported being English Language Learners (ELL). 100% of students reported being economically disadvantaged.

Student Attendance Transformation Using a PBIS Platform

The Challenge

The students at Rutherford High School face numerous challenges, but of most concern to the leadership team was students not being physically present at school and missing out on critical educational opportunities. They wanted to make a change and find a way to motivate students to be present, regardless of the situation keeping them away from school. As Andrea Banks, Assistant Principal at Rutherford High School explained, “There was an urgent need to transform the culture. We were looking for interventions for students… something that would allow us to get to the root cause of the issue.”

 

The Results (Data Points):

0%
Decrease in Discipline Referrals
0%
Decrease in Out-of-School Suspensions

  • Closely monitored positive and negative student behaviors through online data management in order to intervene earlier when behavior problems arise.

  • Promoted positive student/adult relationships campus-wide, with students seeing the discipline culture as more objective and fair.

  • Dramatically reduced general student tardiness, increasing valuable instructional time.

  • Increased communication with parents and families through the online communication tools, to continue to engage students outside of school and keep families involved.

The Solution

  1. Manage the school-wide PBIS program through the use of an  online behavior management platform.
  2. Track and monitor student behavior in order to examine behavior patterns and intervene to work with the student and correct behavior.
  3. Support and encourage staff to increase buy-in and use of the system throughout the school to provide consistency and eliminate bias.
  4. Promote engagement in the program by offering motivating rewards and keeping parents and families informed.