P811M- The Mickey Mantle School uses a comprehensive Social Emotional Learning (SEL) approach that includes a multitude of prevention and intervention programs and strategies.

The goal of meeting the social and emotional needs of its students has been a part of P811M's mission/vision accepts as true, that for students to be able to learn, a safe and caring environment needs to be in place.  Through the use of a school-wide positive behavior supports system, a conflict resolution room, and crisis/counseling staff; they have diligently attended to the needs of all students.  In addition to all of the aforementioned supports, we have brought in programs and had teachers consistently trained in conflict resolution philosophy and strategies, self-esteem building, and community building curricula such as Don't Laugh at Me and Educators for Social Responsibilities programs, Resolving Conflict Creatively, and The 4R's, Life Space Crisis Intervention, Developmental Assets and the PBIS initiative.

Our goal has been to find the common thread t hese programs and initiatives share and develop all the theory and curriculum into a cohesive behavior support initiative.

With the support of all stakeholders, we have been able to accelerate both the pace and the intensity with which they approach the development of their positive behavior supports system. 

This commitment to advancing the agenda has resulted in the birth of The Mickey Mantle School's Positive Behavior Supports Team. This team is at the forefront of restructuring, researching, collaborating, designing and revision and implementation of a positive behavior supports system that effectively meets the diverse needs of all students. 

The Mickey Mantle School first adopted Project Power ; a school-wide positive behavior supports system in 1997. Project Power , names academic and social behaviors that students are expected to demonstrate throughout the day.  As in most “power of choice” programs, we emphasize the student's ability to make choices that will promote student success.  If a student chooses to demonstrate the specified behaviors, that student is making a concerted effort to earn his points.  Conversely, if a student chooses not to demonstrate the identified behavior, he is choosing not to earn his points.

By earning a specific number of points students are able to move up in "Level".  The students progress from entry level to level four.  With each level, students earn specific rewards and/or privileges. During bi-monthly assemblies, the students maintaining and rising in level are publicly acknowledged and celebrated by the school community. Overtime the effectiveness of Project Power became minimal. Students were merely acting as if they cared and over the years the extrinsic motivation began to wane as students took the incentives as a matter of entitlement.

Our involvement in the Developmental Assets program was an active pursuit of a grant that would further help us meet the social and emotional needs of our students and provide and help develop a school culture to use as a framework for understanding the curriculum based programs already in place.

The Mickey Mantle School was selected as an Asset Lab, as part of the New York City YMCA's Asset Lab Project in September 2004. Through the collaboration with the Developmental Assets program, The Mickey Mantle School seeks to intentionally incorporate the research based Search Institute 40 Developmental Assets. We believe in the benefits of its' overarching conceptual framework for building healthy community and positive values in adolescents. The 40 Developmental Assets are, "concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to developing successful young people. These assets have the power during critical adolescent years to influence choices young people make and help them succeed in school while becoming caring, responsible adults."

In 2005, P811M accepted an invitation to participate in the citywide PBIS grant, which required the formation of a PBST. We are comprised of our dean, three counselors, a teacher representative, our school based coach and myself the Principal. We meet weekly and as necessary and all take an active role in enhancing the effectiveness of our positive behavior supports system.

The PBIS and Developmental Assets frameworks have assisted them in the design and implementation of a student self-assessment point sheet. The self-assessment point sheet is meant to help students develop an enhanced sense of emotional awareness, which will in turn, enable students to develop the confidence and coping strategies needed to confront anxiety filled issues, such as testing and promotion.

In an effort to move away from only extrinsic motivation, a new "level" system has been added alongside themore traditional point sheet.  The new system is based on the number of points earned on the student self-assessment sheet. They want a 360-degree view of the students' achievement. This provides the teacher and the student with an opportunity to collaborate and converse about the student's day.   If the two scores are significantly "off", this is a clear indication to the teacher and the student that a conversation needs to be had.   The levels also have new names based on the language of the Developmental Assets program: rather than level 1,2,3,4 we are now calling them Commitment to Learning,Positive Identity, Leadership, and Empowerment. As we work to infuse the Developmental Assets construct throughoutthe culture of the building, student rewards are shifting from “items” to roles/responsibilities. Ultimately, we want students to reach empowerment, at which point the self-assessment point sheet is the only measure of student behavioral outcomes.  

Systemically, they have worked actively to infuse our school's mission with assets. Focus groups and larger trainings that have helped develop a caring school climate for staff are passing these Assets on to the students' first hand and from within.