Imagine walking into your school each day knowing you have a clear, effective plan to take action and foster a positive school culture – with minimal effort. In this article, you will:
Research shows effective school leaders have a big impact on student achievement and teacher retention. But principals face immense responsibilities that can be time-consuming and overwhelming – managing school operations, supporting staff, ensuring student success, and fostering a positive school culture, to name a few.
That’s why we’ve designed The Positivity Project to quickly and seamlessly meet the needs of school principals – to help you accomplish more results in less time.
With over 800 Partner Schools in urban, suburban, and rural communities, we are confident that The Positivity Project’s focus on character and relationships fits into nearly every school culture. To ensure easy and effective integration, we provide streamlined implementation plans, teacher-friendly resources, and comprehensive tools for communicating with staff and families.
Investing time on the front end for planning maximizes long-term impact. However, leaders need their plans to work. Plans that are too long – or confusing – won’t get read or implemented. That’s why our 1-Page Implementation Plans are designed with the following in mind:
A principal shared, “The Positivity Project has the potential to shape the culture of an entire middle school in a way that brings people together, provides identity, and acts as the foundation for many other school efforts. When implemented purposefully and consistently, P2 opens the door to the place students and staff want to be.”
Implementation is all about executing your plan and making it easy for your staff to use. Because The Positivity Project is easy to integrate into daily routines and engaging for students, teachers actually teach the lessons. By consistently teaching students about character strengths, a common vocabulary emerges, leading to a more positive culture where both students and staff want to be.
As one teacher shared, “I can honestly say I have never felt so good about a character education program in my teaching career. I can actually see this program working every day.” Another teacher highlighted that P2 is “game-changing,” helping students become more understanding of themselves and each other. As research highlights, P2 supports students’ sense of relatedness and their emotional and behavioral development.
All school community members can help ensure that P2 implementation happens easily and effectively. That’s why we provide extensive professional learning options for staff, as well as resources and communication tools for Partner Schools to use with families.
As a recent P2 100 Training attendee shared, the training “was informative and let me work with my grade level team to understand how to use P2 for my classroom culture. I was able to share comfortably with my team and we have new activities that are easy to do.”
As one school explained, “Parents have noticed the difference The Positivity Project makes as well. They report that their children talk about the character strengths at home and strive to demonstrate them outside of school. This extension of learning into the home environment reinforces the positive behaviors and attitudes being taught at school, creating a cohesive support system for the children.”
Principals have noted that with a strong school culture fostered by P2, they can concentrate on supporting the handful of students facing significant challenges, knowing that the school environment will continue to function smoothly. This positive culture not only supports the overall school community but also aids in the reintegration of students who are dealing with emotional or behavioral issues, ensuring they return to a welcoming and stable environment.
As one school noted, “It has created a common language to use across all grade levels when referring to behaviors or actions. Students are more aware of their actions and are able to identify traits such as integrity, curiosity, bravery, and they remember that their actions affect other people. Students are noticing each other implementing these character traits and can also make text-to-self connections across the curriculum. Since implementing P2, we have had at least a 75% decrease in bus violations/write-ups, as well as a 50% decrease in recess and school behavior issues.
“Why does P2 work well for our school? We are a small school with students from all different backgrounds. P2 gives students the opportunity to become one. They are being taught teamwork and kindness and being mindful of others no matter what their background in life may be.”
Principals across the country have witnessed the power of P2. As a principal reflected, “By embracing P2, and making it part of our lifestyle, I believe firmly that whether consciously or otherwise we began to live a more meaningful life both in and out of school. Delivering lessons from a common resource bank and with a common purpose strengthened our team and standardized our practice and language…I think this saved me as a leader, reminding me why I started working in education and what it means to serve others.”
The Positivity Project is more than just a character education program – it’s a comprehensive approach designed to make a lasting impact on your school’s culture. By providing streamlined implementation plans, teacher-friendly resources, and support for staff and families, P2 makes it easy for principals to integrate into their schools.
With P2, you can achieve greater results with less effort, ensuring that your school not only meets but exceeds its goals.