Lady's Island Middle School

When building their behavior rubric, Lady's Island Middle School in the Beaufort County School District focused on specificity and drilling down to the behavior expected of students by location and time, their parents, and more.

Their behavior rubric is built across the following categories:

1. Classroom Expectations

The first categories of the rubric focus on classroom expectations broken down by time:

Arrival and HomeroomFirst TEN of ClassClass TimeEnd of ClassFor example, students earn points during Arrival for “putting their book bag in the locker,” during the First 10 Minutes of Class for “having their tablet ready,” during Class Time  for “remaining on task,” and during the End of Class for “cleaning up.”

Students know exactly what’s expected of them at all times, and the staff knows exactly what to look for to award points and offer corrections.

2. School Cultural Values

The next rubric section is On the PROWL. These are a list of behaviors that reflect Lady’s Island Middle School’s cultural values. The category includes items like:

Alerting adults of problems/damagesCaring for others and the schoolHelping, motivating, and encouraging othersLeading as a positive school representativeVolunteering for tasksAt LiveSchool, we believe student behavior and school culture are connected. Lady’s Island’s behavior rubric brings this to life. By articulating the behaviors that reflect their school culture and values, students understand what it means to be a part of the school, and the staff knows exactly what to look for to celebrate students.

3. Academics

After On the PROWL is Cougar Stats, which is an academic-focused section including progress related to IXL, Edgenuity, and C3, as well as completing work and setting academic goals.

Embedding academics into the behavior rubric is an excellent way to intrinsically motivate students when it comes to learning.

4. School Community

This has to be one of our favorite rubric categories. Lady’s Island calls it Cougar Community, which focuses on motivating members to participate in community events - even parents!

For example, parents can earn points for their students for volunteering and attending school events.

Students can also earn points in this category for attending after-school activities, volunteering, and participating in spirit events.

5. Extra Curricular Programs

The next category is Related Academic Arts, which offers opportunities to earn points for participating in arts and academic-related extracurriculars, like Band or the Robotics team.

This is an amazing way to motivate students to join programs that might not draw huge audiences like sports but are great ways to develop confidence and skills while growing the school community in diverse ways.

6. Guidance Department

The last behavior rubric category is Guidance Department, and it is an intervention-focused section where students can set goals and work in small groups or one-on-one with support teams. Rubric items include:

Efforts to Improve my BEHAVIORAdvocate for MyselfAsk for Help When I Need ItExpress Feelings AppropriatelyI CAN Adjust/Adapt to ChangeMy Actions = My ResponsibilityShow Effort to Improve my Grades

Buy-In

All educators know that buy-in is critical for the success of any school initiative. That’s why Lady’s Island Middle School turned to its community to build this rubric. Using a Google Form, they collected a list of behaviors from students and staff that they thought were important and reflected the school community and that they wanted to improve.

When they rolled out the program, students and staff felt a sense of ownership over the rubric. It worked! Writing this in January 2023, the school has given over ONE MILLION points to students this school year. WOW!