Parent & Student Engagement

Read more

Hero Customer Stories, Parent & Student Engagement, Positive Behavior Reinforcement

How an Orlando School Increased Instructional Time and Decreased Out of School Suspensions by 80%

When students aren’t in class, they spend less time learning and outcomes can suffer as a result. Lake Nona, an Orlando-area middle school, felt too many students were losing too much class time. One factor contributing to this was out-of-school suspensions. In the 2016-17 school year, reports Assistant Principal Damian Rosado, Lake Nona Middle had issued 100 out-of-school suspensions. While some form of discipline is needed in a school setting, leaning heavily on consequence-based punishment was creating a reactionary cycle. And Rosado wanted to curb problems before they started. Rosado brought HeroRise, an online student behavior improvement platform, to the school in the fall of the 2017-18 school year. Designed as a practical way to implement a positive behavior framework on a schoolwide scale,...

written August 23, 2018 by Autumn Miller

Read more

Parent & Student Engagement

How to retain students in a sea of choice.

One school principal says student behavior management is key. Susan R. Steele, Principal of Finger Lake Elementary, is clear: “when I took this position, one of my goals was to grow enrollment.” And after just two years, she’s done just that. Under her leadership, reports EdTech Digest, the school’s student body has grown from 250 students to more than 400 this year. Finger Lake Elementary is one of 21 public elementary schools in the Wasilla, Alaska area. It’s in the Matanuska-Susitna district, which is a choice district, meaning parents can choose to send their children to any school (instead of simply defaulting to their neighborhood assignment). Growing enrollment, therefore, isn’t as simple as adding a few students here and there. Steele knew she needed...

written June 29, 2018 by Autumn Miller

Read more

Discipline & Behavior Redirection, Parent & Student Engagement, Positive Behavior Reinforcement

Can we stem the tide of teacher attrition with PBIS?

Happy students make happy teachers. And happy teachers stay teaching. Work-related burnout and stress can be problematic for any profession. But for America’s teachers, these issues are causing large numbers of individuals to leave their jobs, resulting in an exodus epidemic. Every single year, around 8% of teachers leave the profession. This means, every year, districts and schools need to find new teachers to replace those that have left. Which isn’t easy when there are fewer and fewer teachers to hire in general, year after year. The Learning Policy Institute reports that “90% of open teaching positions are created by teachers who leave the profession. Some are retiring, but about 2/3 of teachers leave for other reasons, most due to dissatisfactions with teaching.” And...

written March 30, 2018 by Autumn Miller

Read more

Inspiration and Culture, Parent & Student Engagement

What do you wish you knew when you started using Hero?

Hero Homeroom, our customer community, is one of our favorite places to connect with the teachers and administrators that use Hero every day. Here, we commonly find passionate educators discussing ways to make schools better – and we’re frequently inspired by what they have to say. When we recently posed the question, “what do you wish you had known about Hero before you started using it,” we knew everyone had to see the response. Here’s what our Hero veterans had to say: Don’t be intimidated by the technology. “[Hero] is easy to use and add to your routine. I award Hero points for on-time students immediately after I take roll.” – LeeAnn Rigby, Teacher, Indian Springs High School “Hero is self-explanatory, so you have...

written December 8, 2017 by Jessica Mitchell

Read more

Parent & Student Engagement

Using Texts to Reinforce Positive Student Behavior

Recent studies conclude that real-time behavior updates sent to parents improves student achievement. In a recent article, one high school English teacher shared how debilitating it can feel when parents are unresponsive or lack initiative when it comes to their child’s education: Teachers may have certain expectations for individual students, and parents may have another. I expect my students to do their best and meet my high standards, but sometimes their parents don’t care (or so it seems) if their child even turns in a homework assignment… I completely understand that many parents are pushed to the limits and are trying their best, but attitudes like this are frustrating for a teacher, especially when a student has potential but appears unmotivated. It would be...

written September 19, 2017 by The Hero Collective

Read more

Parent & Student Engagement

Increasing Parent Engagement in the Age of Technology

Tips for schools on how to utilize technology to garner better parent engagement. It’s been well established that the more parents are involved in the education process, the better the chances of success are for their children. This principle is not limited to academic results—student behavior also improves when parents get involved. To take advantage of this reality, administrators and educators strive to maintain a healthy level of communication between the school and the home. As parents engage with schools regarding their child’s behavior, school culture improves, and consequently, so does student achievement. It goes without saying that it takes a fair amount of the teacher’s time to keep parents informed of their child’s behavior at school. Using modern communication technologies, you can alleviate...

written April 8, 2016 by The Hero Collective