What is RCD?  Responsibility Centered Discipline is our school-wide discipline approach that every teacher expected to follow.  The focus of RCD shifting the responsibility of behavior off the teacher and allowing students to take ownership of their behavior.   RCD provides a framework for teachers and students to come up with a simple and consistent system for addressing all educator-student conflicts.  

Our discipline program follows our mission:

LOVE:  We feel that relationships are the most important thing we do.  Building one on one relationships with each student and understanding the motivation for the behavior is our ultimate goal.  Children learn when they feel safe to do so and in order to feel safe, they must know that they are loved fully and completely.  

LEARN:  We believe that understanding what is going on in a child’s life, working in partnership with parents, pediatricians, and counselors is essential to “treating” negative behaviors.  We will work diligently in our effort to determine how to prevent rather than punish negative behaviors.

LEAD:  We lead by setting high expectations and holding kids accountable for consistent and appropriate behaviors.  It is our responsibility to create a structured, fast paced, comfortable learning environments which is essential for a well behaved class. 

What are the three levels of RCD?  

• Level One-The student recognizes the Breakdown of the Expectations with little resistance, takes ownership and works well with the teacher.

• Level Two-The student is not able to work productively with the teacher.  This may include arguing, denying, blaming, ignoring, interrupting, crying, etc.  With the use of additional skills and strategies, the teacher is able to redirect the conversations, the student is able to self-regulate and Closure is accomplished.  

• Level Three-The student is unable to self-regulate and Closure cannot be accomplished, despite the teacher’s skill in redirecting.  This results in the student needing to leave the classroom. 

Give ’em Five Conversation

Support -supportive comments given to and for the student.

Expectations -expectations shared by everyone at school based upon commonly understood Foundations.

Breakthrough -breakdown of those expectations identified and shared with the student.

Benefit -benefits to the student, both short-term and long-term, if they adhere to expectations.

Closure -closure in the conversation, acknowledging next steps.