Each edition of this newsletter features information about curriculum resources and materials and highlights instructional strategies used by the Tyrone Area School District. It is written with community, parents, and staff in mind!

As part of our focus on meeting the needs of students, the Tyrone Area School District uses the Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) Survey to see how our students feel about school and themselves in relation to school. This information helps our district address problems our students experience, like low self-esteem and/or not feeling prepared to learn, that we may otherwise not know about but act as barriers to learning. Continual research, going back to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in 1943, has connected the idea that motivation to succeed is largely dependent on meeting basic and socio-emotional needs. As a district, we are committed to listening to our students and making sure they have every chance to achieve.

The PASS is divided into two grade bands: K-2 and 3-12. In the K-2 survey, there are 27 questions that are read aloud, and then students use their tablets to respond "Agree" or "Disagree." The survey for grades 3-12 has 50 questions, and students respond on their Chromebooks to a four point scale from "Yes, a lot" to "No, not at all." The questions are written for a student audience and use "I" statements. Some examples on the K-2 survey are: I like being at school., I like to try new work in my classes., I am bored when I'm in school. and I think this school is a friendly place. Some of the questions on the 3rd - 12th grade survey are the same (I am bored when I'm in school. I think this school is a friendly place.), and some are slightly more complex: My teacher notices when I work hard., Learning new things is easy for me., and Working hard in school will help me in the future. The main categories the questions correspond to are: Attitudes toward Attendance, Preparedness for Learning, General Work Ethic, Confidence in Learning, Perceived Learning Capability, Response to Curriculum Demands, Self-Regard, Attitudes toward Teachers, Feelings about School.

When all of the students are finished, the company who produces the survey compiles the data into reports that breakdown student feedback by district, school, grade level, and specific groups of students (like boys versus girls, etc.) Since we gave the survey last year and plan to give again next January, we can also look longitudinally at a specific cohort of students as they get older. For example, if we see that Kindergarten boys have lower numbers for Confidence in Learning, we can see if that specific group of students improves in that area when they are in first grade. It's crucial information because we don't want to attribute something to a specific grade, if it's really more about a group of students. Otherwise, we may focus our efforts on building confidence with Kindergarteners, but the students who marked it as low will miss that focus because they have moved on to first grade.

At the beginning of last year, a team of staff members representing all three buildings joined the Trauma-Skilled Schools Safety Rural Network, a partnership project between IU08 and the National Drop-Out Prevention Center. Our purpose for joining the Network was two-fold: 1) to train a team of influential staff members about the Trauma-Skilled Schools model and to use the model to create a plan for our district as a Tier 1 intervention and 2) to be a part of a network of schools with similar demographics to share ideas, suggestions, pitfalls, and successes. The team members are: Rob Drager, Brooke Gertz, Deanna McCreary, Jenna Owens, Teresa Myers, Nicole Taneyhill, Shannon Flanagan, Kourtney Klock and Kristen Pinter. We meet once per month to talk about the social-emotional needs of the district and to plan how to best implement the Trauma-Skilled Schools model.

During our initial training, we learned more about what trauma is and how it impacts our staff and our students. We also learned about the steps we can take to become a “trauma-skilled” district in order to support everyone’s socio-emotional health. The steps of the Trauma-Skilled Schools Model are: Gain Knowledge, Build Resilience, Acquire Skills, Assess & Implement, Maintain & Validate. During Step 1, we introduced the TASD Social-Emotional Health Team (SEHT, formerly the CAT in the language of the initial training), including posting information on our website for our community, collecting student and staff survey data, and beginning to develop ideas for how to proceed. We also presented to the staff and had everyone watch videos created by the National Drop-Out Prevention Center about the effects of trauma.

Now in Step 2, we are working to help our staff and students learn about resilience. During a building meeting in December, teachers completed a worksheet from the team about Building a Culture of Resilience. Over the rest of this year and into next, the team will be introducing and working to implement the five factors of resiliency identified by the National Drop-Out Prevention Center: Connection, Belonging, Achievement, Autonomy, and Fulfillment.

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

In February, we will be sharing some information from the PASS survey that the students took last year in preparation to administer that survey again. Then we will be able to share some comparisons and the new data. Each week we will also be sharing some ideas to promote connection in our schools to help everyone continue to grow those connections with students and each other. Be on the lookout for Eagle Eye interviews with staff members who are GREAT at connecting. They are going to share some of their tips and insights. As part of the March in-service, we also have been planning an activity to review the information from Step 1 and Step 2.

A common question we get asked: How does Trauma-Skilled, the SEHT, and PBIS all fit together? Aren’t we just being redundant? All of these efforts fit under the Socio-Emotional umbrella, which is why the district team is named the way it is. Whereas SWPBIS is focused on the CORE values decided by a school to teach and promote desired student behavior, our work with Trauma-Skilled Schools is focused on the adults of the building to provide information about trauma’s impact and show teachers and staff a model of how we can counteract those effects.

We have also started a GOOGLE SITE for everyone’s reference about Social-Emotional Health in TASD. Information about the SEHT, the Trauma-Skilled Schools model and each step, each of the resiliency factors, and general social-emotional health resources. We will continue to add information and resources to the Site to provide you with a comprehensive place to support your students, our schools, and your own well-being.