Addison Trail maintains a positive school culture through PBIS program

When walking through the halls of Addison Trail, you’re surrounded by signs highlighting Addison Trail’s accolades of being named as “America’s Most Challenging High Schools,” “Best High Schools” and “Top High Schools.” You see students wearing T-shirts promoting “Blazer Pride,” and you see a marquee as you enter the building with the message “We are one school. We are one family. We are Blazer Nation.”

Those themes form the culture of Addison Trail, and at the heart of those messages is our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program. That program was implemented in fall 2007 and is a proactive approach to teaching and re-teaching expected behaviors to students and rewarding positive efforts. PBIS is thriving at Addison Trail, and it continues to grow and improve.

At the beginning of each school year, students are informed about expected behaviors during an assembly that features a video with their peers in fun, lighthearted scenarios. This year, the PBIS Committee also hosted a second-semester assembly to engage students in continuing the positive environment at Addison Trail. At the end of each school year, we host a PBIS barbecue to share highlights of the program. The purpose of those events is to celebrate the successes of our students and staff and to reinforce our focus and goals.

One of the main aspects of PBIS is the Blazer Pride cookie program, where staff can recognize students for exhibiting what it means to be a Blazer. Honorees receive a cookie and a note explaining the positive behavior that was observed. So far this school year, 1,240 students have been recognized through this program.

About 65 students work with PBIS Coordinator Erica Craig to create those assemblies, videos and programs, and they strive to ensure the content is relevant to their peers. Other groups that assist the PBIS Committee are the library media center staff, the Deans Office, the administrative team, math teacher Eric Norberg and special education teacher Jessica Sokolowski and her students.

PBIS gives students a voice in the decisions made at Addison Trail and in the future direction of the school. The program provides them with a way to contribute to and influence school policy, which helps develop a sense of ownership and belonging. PBIS truly shows them what it means to be a Blazer, and we look forward to continuing this program.