Caring School Community is a comprehensive, research-based social and emotional learning program that builds school-wide community, develops students’ social skills, and enables a transformative stance on discipline.

Caring School Community is built around the following principles and key features:

A focus on the whole school community

Community must include everyone: students, parents, school leaders, teachers, custodians, cafeteria staff, yard supervisors, and support staff.

Relationships matter

Relationships underpin teaching, learning, and prosocial development. Building relationships and fostering a sense of community are hallmarks of the program.

Comprehensive leadership guidance

The program includes everything a leader needs for a successful implementation, including step-by-step guidance and resources to help plan for, launch, and support implementation.

A unique stance on discipline

No more gold stars. A focus on community, not compliance. Caring School Community builds on the powerful insight that when students have strong relationships within their community, they are more likely to acquire self-discipline and feel a sense of responsibility to themselves and to others.

A year’s worth of teacher-friendly, easy-to-implement, grade-specific instruction

A full 30 weeks of daily, grade-specific lessons across K–8 that only require 30 minutes a day, with a comprehensive scope and sequence to build relationships, social skills, and competencies intentionally over time.

Practices that create calm, orderly learning environments

Through consistent use of effective classroom management practices and structures that build relationships, the program helps teachers create calm, safe classrooms that are more conducive to learning.

Support for addressing inequitable discipline practices

Our approach to discipline assumes that all children want to and can behave well at school and are capable of learning and changing their behavior. The program encourages teachers to treat students with respect at all times and to treat misbehavior as mistakes akin to those students make with academic work, not as signs of moral or character flaws.

In response to misbehavior, the Caring School Discipline program component guides teachers to focus on what students can do to restore relationships and repair any damage they have caused as well as what they might do differently in the future, rather than making students feel guilty or ashamed.