Using a digital solution to prevent US school shootings
School safety and wellness solutions company Navigate360 is working to stop school shootings, bullying and teen suicide in US schools.
It has announced completion of phase one integration between PBIS Rewards Advanced Referral System (ARS) and its Behavior Intervention & Restorative Practices offering. The aim is to address safety and student wellness through a more seamless and holistic approach, allowing educators and behavioural intervention staff to better serve the growing needs of student mental health.
Through the early identification of warning signs associated with a pathway to violence and self-harm, educators can get students back on a path to wellness, proactively protecting the entire school community. These early integration efforts are focused on enabling educators to quickly connect students with situationally relevant resources.
“In a time where teachers and school staff are carrying a heavy task to address learning loss, they are also tasked with simultaneously managing disruptive and concerning behaviour that has accelerated post-pandemic,” said JP Guilbault, CEO at Navigate360.
“According to EAB, nearly 60% of teachers reported that pressure to boost learning loss and academic outcomes left them with insufficient time to address increased behavioural issues within their classrooms. If we continue to let these issues go unresolved, we will continue to prevent our schools and teachers from getting to the business of learning. We must do better — for our educators and for our students.”
By simplifying the user experience within the PBIS Rewards ARS feature, users can assign recommended grade-appropriate behaviour intervention lessons to specifically address the problem behaviour documented in the referral. This expedites the school’s ability to turn discipline into a learning opportunity. It also promotes the natural connection between PBIS and SEL practices, providing additional opportunities to address student needs.
“Current systems are too fragmented and laden with manual processes for teachers and behavioural intervention teams, often resulting in staff dissatisfaction and limited results,” Guilbault said.
“We need to make systems easier, seamless and more informative. This release makes it easier for school staff to identify and assign age-appropriate lessons associated with minor and major behaviour infractions that work in tandem with their PBIS, MTSS and Restorative Practices programs. By addressing early and low-level concerning behaviour with ARS and behavioural intervention lessons, we are helping schools reduce repeat infractions — by up to 58% in some cases — and increasing both teaching and learning time.”
This connectivity is supported by research from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the University of Oregon’s Center on Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) and shows how the alignment between PBIS and SEL can improve students’ emotional skills, academic performance and behaviour.
Across more than 33 million online school and social media alerts, new data from Navigate360 shows alerts related to self-harm have increased 51% year-over-year, as well as a 25% increase year-over-year in alerts related to weapons and harm to others. Additionally, more than 4000 anonymous tips per week are coming into school tip lines, with the most common tips related to self-harm and weapons.
“Tragic events continue to erode the confidence of students, parents, teachers and school communities,” Guilbault said.
“When we say ‘zero incidents’ at Navigate360, we don’t mean just mass shootings — we mean zero suicides, zero shootings and fatalities, zero acts of bullying, overdoses, dating violence, inappropriate adult-child relationships and more. This is what we strive for every day — doing anything less is simply not an option.
The following youth support services are available in Australia:
Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800 kidshelpline.com.au
headspace: 1800 650 890 headspace.org.au
ReachOut: ReachOut.com
For general support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
