1. Creating a school culture that fosters positive
youth development
A Collaboration between MCCPSE
and re(DESIGN)
2008-2009
"As the origin of the name implies,
culture is akin to, yet somewhat
different, from the cultivation of a
plant. One can plan its course, trim it
and shape it here and there but it
also has autonomy of its own, and it
tends to develop and grow over
time. The harvest can never be
precisely foretold. The soil and the
climate have to be right as indeed
the seeds.”
-- S. Ramachander

2. Features of A Strong School Culture (1)
– It grows from the mission
– It creates an “Asset-Rich” School environment:
providing all members of the school community
with access to (1) caring relationships; (2) high
expectations; and (3) meaningful participation
– It has a well-conceived, and articulated vision and
plan for fostering in all members of the school
community with a sense of connectedness

3. Features of A Strong School Culture (2)
One Can Participate in
– Ceremony
– Ritual
– Rites
– Celebrations
– Routines
One can find
• Shared Stories
• Role models/Heroes
• Symbols
• Logos/Images
• Oft-repeated phrases

4. Common School Culture Problems
– The cultural features don’t promote the school’s
mission;
– There isn’t agreement (or consistent support) amongst
community members on the daily routines and rituals,
causing cultural fractures;
– The features aren’t strong or engaging enough to
foster connectedness and loyalty, so an active sub-
culture (or counter-culture) develops;
– The features don’t support or legitimate the cultural
values of various community members, AND don’t
provide a way to discuss this;
– The culture is overly focused on student behavior and
the consequences for students’ missteps;

5. Facilitating
Student
Engagement
First Pillar:
Rigorous Academics
Second Pillar:
Positive Youth Development
Third Pillar
An Affirming Community
Set & meet
high
expectations
•Students graduate with a
college acceptance.
•Students write research
papers, conduct experiments,
publish blogs, and maintain a
digital portfolio of their work.
•Working closely with an
Advocate Advisor, students will
create both a graduation plan
AND a post-graduate plan.
•Students participate in
Internships.
•The community regularly
creates opportunities for
students to demonstrate and
celebrate academic, social and
emotional growth.
Contribute
to the
community
•Teachers and students
determine, and then adopt,
democratic principles for
classroom management
routines.
•Students tutor each other.
•Students participate in the
identification of curriculum
themes
•Older, more experienced or
particularly successful students
mentor newer students, or
students who are struggling.
•Students teach classes
•Students plan and run groups:
anger management, substance
abuse, sex ed., etc.
•Students participate in and
even co-facilitate critical
committees and events (hiring,
conflict mediation, orientation,
mentoring, etc.)
•Students staff a “Mouse
Squad,” repairing and trouble-
shooting HSEI’s technology
products.
Use one’s
own voice
powerfully
Develop a
sense of
personal
mastery
•Students use technology to
create and publish products.
Students adopt a set of
personal learning goals,
working with teachers to
assess their progress towards
their goals.
•Students and the teacher co-
create a rubric to evaluate
learning at the end of a unit.
•Students will work with their
Advocate Advisor to assess
progress towards meeting
personal goals, and make mid-
course corrections as is
appropriate.
•Students create personal
rituals/routines that help them
settle into work, maintain
focus while working, or
troubleshoot problems during
work time.
•Students produce events,
projects and activities on
behalf of the full school
community: dances, rallies,
mentoring new students, etc.
•Students explore NYC, visiting
museums, concerts, plays and
community events.
•Students organize and
complete a community service
project.

6. Facilitating
Student
Engagement
First Pillar:
Rigorous Academics
Second Pillar:
+ Youth Development
Third Pillar
An Affirming Community
Exercise
choice
wisely
•Students have the opportunity
to identify and research their
own questions during a unit of
study.
•Using technology and mixed-
media, teachers differentiate
resources, products and
processes to accommodate
students’ needs and interests.
•Students work with their
Advocate Advisor to make in
and out-of-school decisions
that will positively impact their
tenure at HSEI.
•Students visit and evaluate a
range of post-secondary
academic programs and
professional workplaces to
inform their post-graduate
planning.
•Students collaborate in
creating and implementing the
school’s policies and practices
with regard to creating an
inclusive and affirming
community.
•Students use the skills of
conflict mediation and
problem-solving to strengthen
and nurture HSEI’s community.
Know and
be known by
one another
•Teachers & students regularly
confer (1:1 and in small
groups) about student
learning, quality of work,
appropriate course
modifications, etc.
•Teachers and families
regularly communicate (by
phone and email, as well as
through progress reports)
about student progress:
growth and areas for
improvement
•Students develop strong
relationships with adult and
student members of their
Advisory Group.
•Advocate Advisor’s operate as
students’ “Primary Person,”
building strong, positive
relationships that support
students in all aspects of their
development.
•The community regularly
celebrates and acknowledges
students’ academic, social and
emotional growth; and
publically supports students in
their efforts to achieve this.
•Teachers collaborate with
parents and students on the
creation of school-wide events,
such as orientation, college
information sessions, and
celebrations.

7. Responding to “Counter-Cultural” Behavior
Question 1: Why is this behavior occurring?
Typically different students will behave the same way for different
reasons. Examples:
1. Some students will curse because they want to get a reaction
out of you. Some will curse because they’ve never been in a
situation where they had to monitor their speech and they
don’t have this level of impulse control.
2. Some students are out of dress code one day because they
are pushing boundaries. Some are homeless and couldn’t
wash their uniform the night before.
3. Some students cut class because they are bored. Some cut
class to have a cigarette because of a nicotine addiction.

8. Responding to “Counter-Cultural” Behavior
Question 2: How do you want to respond to the behavior?
Schools typically create a uniform response to all behavior,
regardless of the catalyst: on the surface this makes life
“simpler” for everyone, and makes it seem that there is a
coherent set of cultural norms at work: we treat everyone
the same way, and this is fair.
Question 3: What’s the problem with this approach?
It expects students to both understand AND buy into the
school’s cultural norms. It tends to ignore students’ need to
LEARN and ACCEPT the norms.

9. Responding to “Counter-Cultural” Behavior
Schools tend to overlook the powerful youth
development opportunity available in this arena:
– we are willing to teach students how to read, complete
labs, or figure out linear equations,
– we often believe that “students should ALREADY know
how to act.”
– we “tell” them (repeatedly) what to do, rather than
teach them.

10. Responding to “Counter-Cultural” Behavior
Here’s what “Telling” students what to do looks like:
Sent out
of class
Sent out
of class
Mtg. w/
the Student
Mtg. w/
the Student
DetentionsDetentions
Calls HomeCalls Home
Family
Confer-
ences
Family
Confer-
ences
Send-
Homes
Send-
Homes Suspen-
sions
Suspen-
sions
Counsel-
Outs
Counsel-
Outs
Expul-
sions
Expul-
sions
ContractsContracts
Sometimes it changes behavior, sometimes it doesn’t. It depends on (1) why the
student is behaving counter-culturally; (2) how connected they are to the
institution; AND (3) how much control they have over their behavior.
Found in
the
building
Found in
the
building

11. Responding to “Counter-Cultural” Behavior
Question 4: What’s the alternative to one-size-fits-all?
A combination of:
a. school-wide institutional norms for the most serious
behaviors: theft, violence, weapons, and drugs;
b. set of more individualized (or what I call “buckets” of)
norms for behaviors students may not have learned to
manage: anger/impulse management (if it’s not
dangerous), attention, defiance of authority, stamina for the
length and intensity of the school day, addiction, etc.

12. Responding to “Counter-Cultural” Behavior
School-wide institutional norms for the most serious
behaviors: theft, violence, weapons, and drugs:
• These responses tend to be limited to suspension,
expulsion (and arrest).
• School’s need to have very clear guidelines for the policies
and processes they will use to make sure that these are
used fairly and appropriately.
• Special considerations are sometimes made for specific
special education classifications.

13. Responding to “Counter-Cultural” Behavior
A Mission-Driven Individualized set of norms for
students who:
(1) Have unusual reasons for behaving counter-culturally;
(2) Are not initially/inherently “connected” to the institution;
(3) Don’t YET have enough control over their behavior.

14. Student
Support
1- Academic Issues 2- Health Issues 3- System Issues
Definition of
“problem”
Little/No academic progress made: unable to focus,
unable to read or write well enough to participate,
attendance impacting understanding, attendance
impacting production of activities/projects, cognitive
processing issue, lack of higher-order thinking skills, lack
of critical background knowledge, lack of skills for
managing time, and planning for the completion of work,
lack of time, space, or discipline for homework
completion
ADD/ADHD, sensory integration syndrome. PTSD from:
abuse, neglect, abandonement. Issues with men or
women in authority, issues with authority in general,
weakened impulse control and anger management,
depression, low-self esteem and sense of efficacy,
chronic fatigue, poor nutrition, pregnancy, substance
abuse, STD's
Executive functioning problems; unable/unwilling to
"submit" to the HSEI-way; unable to habituate to the
HSEI-way (forgets or gets confused about routines and
procedures); cannot overcome boredom, frustration,
impulse control, anger issues, and low-self-esteem,
enough to consistently survive the "HSEI-way"
What it looks
like:
Missed homework; Missed class-work, sloppy finished
products, lack of finished products, poor test and quiz
scores, disorganized notes and notebooks, repeated
exclamations such as "I hate this class." "I can't do ___."
"You never explain things so that I can understand
them." "I'm bored." "Can you help me...I need help...I
can't start until you help me."
Students who lash out, fall asleep, cut class, dismiss
themselves when they become too frustrated or bored, or
if they feel someone is trying to dominate them. Students
construct another as a "bad guy"-- teachers, students or
administrators--who is responsible for their issues.
Students who miss school due to substance abuse,
depression, fatigue from parenting or jobs. Students who
can't adapt to certain kinds of teachers and teaching
styles (male, authoritative, unstructured, etc.)
Students who intentionally don't follow the HSEI-way:
dress-code, cell hone policy, lunch policy, etc. Students
who forget to follow dress code, and other components
of the HSEI-way. Students who aren't organized enough
to follow the HSEI-way: don't do their laundry and have
no clean clothes, don't have an alarm clock and
oversleep consistently, etc. Students who lash out, fall
asleep, cut class, dismiss themselves when they become
too frustrated or bored, or if they feel someone is trying
to dominate them.
Current
Available
Interventions
IEP, OH, Tutoring, in-class modifications/acomodations
available in some classrooms and to some students: a
workshop approach, with essential questions and
projects; access to readling/skill level appropriate texts
and materials, access to technology, preferential seating,
work with the ELL TA, multiple entry-points into new
material, multiple options for finished products.
LICSW, Nurse, referrals
LICSW behavior modification, class send-outs, de-
escalation in the Student Support Center, demerits,
feathers, contracts, shortened schedule, detention,
suspension…ultimately, expulsion.
Potential
Future
Interventions
School-wide adoption of the above practices. Training
teachers and students in literacy skills, metacognitive
skills, and strategies for improved executive functioning.
Borader array of entry-level courses as the year goes on
(for repeat failures as well as new students): algebra 1,
beginning bio, environmental science, etc.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (small groups and 1:1); full
school training by a group such as
http://www.youthatrisk.org.uk/; student/advisor healthy
decisionmaking plans and goals, a mentor, neuropsych
testing, indvidualized interventions for behavior beyond
the sts. control. Staff development on responding
effectively to manifestations of student trauma. Full
school training in peer mediation and conflict resolution.
Strategically chosen classes. Beginning, middle and end
of the day check-in on things to remember (for the
disorganized/forgetful), mood/temperament/goals( for the
"resisters"), co-creation and/or facilitation of community-
meeting or advisory, specifically related to a student's
difficulties, a role in school committees or student
leadership, a role in mentoring or mediation, a job, a
mentor. Implementation of a Student Counsel/Student
Court. Advisory Curriculum on personal responsibility
and goal-setting. Immersion in a college prep.
program/environment: college visits, on-line college
courses, college course with peers, etc.