Brief Biography

Jill Rogers has been the ESS Coordinator for Murray County for the last 5 years. Prior to that, she spent 8 years as a Special Education teacher in both the resource and inclusion settings. Jill is married and has two wonderful children ages 12 and 8 months. Her favorite hobbies involve spending time with her family. She is currently working on her dissertation for an Ed.D. in Leadership.

Marcus Richardson is the principal at Mountain Creek Academy. The academy enrolls students who are punitive for discipline and volunteers. He received an Education Specialist degree from Berry College in 2014 and earned a master in special education from Liberty University.

Marcus has been an educator for more than 8 years working as an inclusion teacher, 6th grade reading/language arts teacher, curriculum instruction facilitator, and assistant principal. His desire is to reach as many students as he possibly can and to instill in them they have the potential to become anything they desire. His drive and determination is a quality, which help guide his school to graduate 60% of his 2014 seniors and reduce the amount of office referrals from 346 to 36 in one year. He has a love for students’ that tailors relationships of honesty and confidence. One of his favorite items is reading motivational stories to all the students during morning announcements. He encourages them to dream big, to reach for the stars and accomplish the impossible.

Marcus Richardson is a visionary who sees Mountain creek Academy becoming a school of excellence and one day parents anxiously waiting for the beginning of school to learn if their child has been selected to attend Mountain Creek Academy.

Highest Degree of Presenter(s)

Jill Rogers, Ed. S. in Educational Leadership

Marcus Richardson, Ed.S. in Educational Leadership

Presentation Abstract

Mountain Creek Academy is beginning the 6th year of PBIS implementation. Year before last they began to look for ways to make this program meaningful to the population they serve, as many students were placed there for punitive measures. They decided to use the Boys Town model to teach social skills in conjunction with the PBIS framework. This additional curriculum gave the academy the push it needed to move from emergent to operational status on the list of PBIS schools kept by the Georgia Department of Education. Office discipline referrals were reduced by 460%, and the climate of the school was changed. The most significant changes were experienced by the students. They learned necessary social skills and achieved success. Many have been able to generalize those skills to other settings, and many now choose to remain at Mountain Creek Academy due to the feelings of being successful and respected in that environment.

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Successful Implementation of PBIS in an alternative school setting

Mountain Creek Academy is beginning the 6th year of PBIS implementation. Year before last they began to look for ways to make this program meaningful to the population they serve, as many students were placed there for punitive measures. They decided to use the Boys Town model to teach social skills in conjunction with the PBIS framework. This additional curriculum gave the academy the push it needed to move from emergent to operational status on the list of PBIS schools kept by the Georgia Department of Education. Office discipline referrals were reduced by 460%, and the climate of the school was changed. The most significant changes were experienced by the students. They learned necessary social skills and achieved success. Many have been able to generalize those skills to other settings, and many now choose to remain at Mountain Creek Academy due to the feelings of being successful and respected in that environment.