Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic School is excited to introduce its new school-wide positive behavioral plan, Pacer Empower, for the 2024-2025 school year. Pacer Empower integrates the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework and behavioral reinforcement model with scripture and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Through monthly school-wide meetings and daily recognition of positive behaviors, students will learn the ways in which the fruits of the Holy Spirit manifest in their daily lives. 

Grounded in Ephesians 3:20, Pacer Empower looks to the words of our patron, St. Paul to provide direct instruction to students and reinforcement in positive, Christ-like behaviors:

We are empowered in Christ to fulfill great things, and God is able to exemplify his power at work in us, but we must be willing, obedient vessels. 

Second-grade teacher, Rachel Aquino, is serving as the school's Pacer Empower Coordinator, helping to establish the school-wide behavioral expectations and guide teachers towards positive behavioral reinforcement practices, creating a school-wide environment focused on kindness, generosity, and other fruits of the Spirit. Each month, the school focuses on another fruit of the Spirit, with a special emphasis on recognizing the ways in which the students, faculty, and staff manifest these fruits every single day. In this way, Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic School seeks to recognize the many ways in which the Holy Spirit is at work in our school!

What is PBIS?

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a research-based framework for supporting students’ behavioral and academic needs. Grounded in proactive practices, PBIS strives to explicitly teach behavioral expectations across school environments, using common language and consistent, defined consequences, while reinforcing positive behavioral expectations through rewards and celebrations. Schools using PBIS regularly review student data to ensure behavioral expectations are being met.

While PBIS is used across the country and has been established in the research on best practices for schools for decades, Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic has integrated the principles of PBIS with our Catholic faith. Our behavioral expectations are grounded in three important principles: Be Safe, Be Responsible, and Be a Disciple! Students are taught how their behavior in each setting meets these expectations, including a consideration of how their behavior manifests the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Students and classes who manifest Christ-like behaviors are regularly celebrated through school-wide shout outs, features in the school newspaper, or through classroom celebrations and special activities.

What are the Fruits of the Holy Spirit?

In Galatians chapter 5, St. Paul teaches us the ways in which the fruits of the Spirit differ from the works of the flesh, or our natural weaknesses as human beings. Though human nature can be inclined to anger or selfishness, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are a gift from God which counteract these tendencies. In school, this means a greater reduction in negative behaviors which detract from a positive school culture. 

The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, goodness, peace, self-control, faithfulness, gentleness, kindness, and patience. Each month of the school year, we hold an all-school meeting which reviews how that month’s fruit of the Spirit manifests in behavior at school. Students learn what the communion of saints have said about the fruits of the Spirit and provide each other with ideas for how to recognize and enact these behaviors in the school throughout the month. 

What Does Research Say about PBIS?

When implemented with fidelity, research shows that PBIS leads to improved student behavior, greater academic achievement, improved morale among faculty and staff, and a more positive school climate, including reductions in bullying. 

Faculty and staff of Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic School were trained by behavioral experts from the Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit in PBIS practices, and they regularly consult with these experts to continuously improve and adjust behavioral supports at school, leading to a positive, Christ-centered environment.