Building Character Through a School-wide House System
By Cathryn BiordiThis article was written by Cathryn Biordi, principal of Sargent Elementary School in Beacon, NY. Sargent is a third-year Positivity Project partner school that has intentionally embedded character education into the fabric of its daily practices. Through alignment with Responsive Classroom and the implementation of school-wide SEL Learning Communities and a House System, Sargent has created a cohesive, sustainable approach to strengthening school culture.
At Sargent Elementary School, our Positivity Project journey has grown well beyond daily lessons. Now in our third year as a partner school, we are intentional about continually refining our practices, being mindful not to add competing initiatives and protecting what is already working well. We have seen tremendous success with The Positivity Project and are excited to see its impact across our building as it continues to cultivate strong character in each and every one of our students.
From the beginning, one of our greatest strengths at Sargent was that P2 aligned seamlessly with the work we were already doing through Responsive Classroom. Because our day was already structured around Morning Meetings, interactive modeling, student voice, and relationship-building, P2 did not feel like “one more initiative.” Instead, it felt like the missing ingredient that gave us a common language, curriculum materials and a shared vision for school wide implementation.
Creating a Purposeful and Sustainable System
Heading into the 2025–2026 school year, we were intentional about stepping back as a building and asking an important question:
How do we consolidate our many building-wide initiatives into a system that is purposeful, sustainable, and impactful?
We wanted to create dedicated time for students to engage more deeply with Positivity Project character strengths across grade levels and with adults beyond their classroom teacher. After learning from some other schools at the P2 National Conference, we made the deliberate decision to eliminate traditional school-wide assemblies and reallocate that time into our SEL Learning Communities through a House System. This shift allowed us to transform time together into something more interactive, relational, and aligned with how students actually learn and practice social-emotional skills.
Designing Our New House System
Our House System is designed to make social-emotional learning visible, engaging, and meaningful for both students and adults. Every student and staff member is placed into one of five mixed-grade houses, creating learning communities that extend beyond individual classrooms and age levels.
Throughout the school day, students earn stars for demonstrating Positivity Project character strengths, and these moments are recognized by teachers, staff, parents, and peers. Stories of character are captured on star cutouts and collected in our school-wide Star Jar, reinforcing positive behaviors and sending a clear message that character “counts” everywhere in our building, not just in classroom spaces.
Building Momentum Around Other School-wide Priorities
Once a month, the entire school comes together for House Meetings. During these meetings, houses can focus more deeply on a specific character strength and connect that learning to a service-learning project that gives students an authentic way to practice the strength. Each meeting intentionally ends with a Responsive Classroom activity or game that builds relationships and allows us to gamify the experience by earning house points.
The House System also serves as a natural way to build momentum around other school-wide priorities. For example, houses earn bonus points for highest collective attendance, submitting a science fair project proposal, donating to our Thanksgiving Food Drive, etc. These are activities we were already doing as a school; now all intentionally aligned in SEL Learning Communities and working toward a shared goal of #PositivityInAction.
Creating a Culture of Character
Ultimately, our House System has helped us move from doing SEL to truly living it as a school community. We know there is a great deal to balance each day in education, but we feel a strong responsibility to intentionally lay the foundation for character and to model and explicitly teach these strengths alongside academics. One of the greatest strengths of The Positivity Project is that it can be implemented in simple, meaningful ways. It does not have to look the same every day to be effective, and it provides administrators and teachers with practical, high-quality resources to support the work of cultivating a positive school culture.
As a principal, I often reflect on the resources available to support school climate and culture, and none have been as practical or impactful as The Positivity Project. These tools have been invaluable in supporting my work as a leader.