Edgewater Eagles Soar to Success!!

If you have the opportunity to visit any time soon, you may notice something.  There's a palpable feeling of enthusiasm and community. 

The students and faculty at Edgewater work very hard to create a positive learning environment, and the consistent compliments of students exhibiting positive behavior in the hallway are hard to miss.  

Edgewater is a Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBISMaryland.org) school, the only PBIS elementary school in the South River Cluster. 

This is Edgewater's fifth year participating as a PBIS school.  PBIS is a state wide program and schools from all 24 counties may volunteer to participate.  The initiative, according to second grade teacher and PBIS lead at Edgewater Sarah Shreffler, states the purpose of the program is "to provide safe, positive, and predictable environment so that students may learn and teachers can teach."

Shreffler also states the goal is to create and sustain a learning environment where all students can experience success. The idea is teachers teach positive behavior and reward appropriate conduct as opposed to reacting to negative behavior.

There is a representative from each grade level on the PBIS team, each of whom receives training every summer and is coached throughout the year by Teresa Wismer, the school counselor. The PBIS team, according to Mrs. Shreffler, will share tips and strategies for creating a positive classroom environment at each staff meeting.  The statistics accrued by the faculty over the years show PBIS has been effective by significantly reducing office referrals and hours students spend out of classroom instruction.

Students are motivated by a variety of daily incentives.  Teachers focus on the "3 R's" - being Responsible, being Respectful and being Ready.  These main principals are reviewed regularly by teachers, and students and are rewarded with Eagle tickets when exhibiting these behaviors. 

Tickets are frequently distributed during the more unstructured or transition periods of the day; such as dismissal, bathroom time, recess and lunch. Students also earn Eagle tickets by turning in homework and being on time for school. Students save their Eagle tickets for the Eagle cart, which visits once a month.  The students use their Eagle tickets to purchase items from the cart, ranging from small toys or pencils to bigger items such as a nerf basketball hoop or comic books.

Another incentive is "high fives." Individual classes earn high fives from faculty members when the class is observed exhibiting positive behavior in the hallway or during special classes like music, PE, computer lab and media. 

Classes need to earn 15 "high fives" for each letter to spell E-A-G-L-E, at which point they earn a class party.  The school is also implementing a new incentive program this year which involves a game board. Grade levels will work together to move their grade to the end of the board and the winning grade level will receive something special.  The entire school will also work together to complete the game board.

The students will then receive an award when this is accomplished, and observing the positive energy exhibited by the students, it won't take too long!