Gabriella De La Cruz

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

CHS415-Senior Seminar

DR. Crumly

November 16th, 2022

1 2

Introduction: Bridge to Success

Bridge to Success" The connecting bridge between kids and their success. P17x "Bridge

to Success" is a district 75 program that opened up in 1999 working towards developing the skills

of children that have special needs. This includes children with autism disorders, cognitive

delays, emotional disturbances, sensory impairments, and etc. The program is helping kids

express themselves and be able to learn the skills sets they will need to cope and to eventually

live independently. The children in these programs are born with different conditions that make

learning a little more difficult for them. This program is significant because it is helping children

that require a little more assistance in the school setting. These different characteristics make it a

little harder for the children to learn and get in the way of their learning. The school is located in

the south Bronx. The classes have special equipment and services that are fit to assist the kids

with their needs. The goal is to help each kid develop the skills needed to be self-supporting

through academic and social learning. The environment plays a part in the kids' learning and the

effort that is being made has to be twice as hard.

The locations of these school programs are located in poor neighborhoods, so there can

be disadvantages in these communities that hinder them from developing appropriately. These

school programs are designed to help out families that are suffering from these disadvantages and

also be able to provide services they will not be able to find on their own. Communities in poor

neighborhoods sometimes do not have the services needed to accommodate the needs of the

family members living in them. These District 75 programs located in the public schools in all

the 5 boroughs give support that families need in order to do well and benefit from the resources offered in society to help children born with special needs. I chose this program because I love

the mission behind the district 75 program. Society should celebrate people's differences and

acknowledge the conditions that make each student unique. P17X ensures that the students who

attend the schools are receiving services to help them both academically and socially.

3

Statement of Need, Problem Statement

Bridge to Success provides services that are not as easily accessible without the help of

service providers. The school is located in a poor neighborhood and the surrounding environment

is not the greatest. The students that attend these schools are less prepared and often have

problems occurring outside of the school. The fundings these schools receive is usually not

enough to cover the needs and services needed for the kids. The kids from these schools often are

underserved and the teachers that come to work in these schools either end up transferring to an

easier school setting or lose the passion they had because of the stress faced working in these

poor areas.

The staff at P17x also conducts evaluations and different reports to better evaluate and

better assist each student's needs. The reports that have the students information and behavioral

reports is the I.E.P, Individualized Educational Plan. In P17x the teachers and service providers

use positive behavior intervention support (PBIS) to teach and encourage the kid's good

behavior. The students that attend P17x vary in different degrees in skills and ability, so this

system helps promote positive behavior to strengthen those skills. The intervention plan is

broken up into a three tiered system. The first tier is administrative and PBIS support as well as 4

classroom support and incentives. This is when the staff rewards the students using the point

system that is in place. The second tier is small group support, and conflict resolution. This is

when the students do not respond well to the points system and have to meet with service

providers to come up with a resolution or another plan to improve their behavior. The last tier is

individual support and counseling. This is when the student will have multiple sessions with

service providers until the behaviors improve. This is very helpful because the conditions that the

kids have at P17X already makes it difficult for them to learn. Their behavior gets in the way of

their learning and these intervention plans are dedicated to helping the students succeed. Using

positive reinforcement is praising a child's strength and it encourages them to continue using

their strengths. These services are significant to the families because they play a crucial role in

the development of the child. Without these services some of the children would not be able to be

seen outside of the school because of the parent's work schedule and day to day lives. Having

these services provided in the school such as dental care, physical therapy, occupational therapy,

speech therapy, etc is very helpful and convenient to the families.

The program's mission statement is "At P17X we use an equitable lens to provide

students with access to academics, social emotional learning and work readiness. We collaborate

with the community to grant students opportunities to foster and empower their decision-making

to gain access and advancement towards academic and personal success and independent living.

academic curriculum, social-emotional development, and life skills are taught with the whole

child in mind and prioritized to reflect the divergent needs of our students.” (P017X ) Literature Review

5

Motivating Students through Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement motivates the students to want to learn and display good

behaviors. This helps the classroom environment and the classroom management. According to

Conroy, Sutherland, Snyder, Al-Hendawi, and Vo (2009), "Creating a positive and engaging

classroom atmosphere is one of the most powerful tools teachers can use to encourage children's

learning and prevent problem behaviors from occurring" (p. 18). This powerful tool is used and

encouraged throughout school systems because of the effects that are shown when this type of

intervention is used. Turning the classroom into a positive environment allows the children to

want to learn more and prevents problematic behaviors. (Conroy at el., 2009) The PBIS system

that is used at Bridge to Success is called the P. R. I. D. E. system and it stands for "Practice

safety", "Respect myself and others”, “In location”, “Do the responsible thing”, “Engage in

learning”. (P17X) The reason why they practice this behavior system is because it promotes

positive behavior and the kids can earn points to redeem different prizes. The positive

reinforcement has to be done immediately so the students can understand and make a connection

with the praise and the good behavior. The article also stated that once positive behavior is in

effect, the reward system should be used less so the kids do not take advantage of it. Since there

are no consequences for the students in P17x because of their mental conditions, when the

P.R.I.D.E. system does not work, the staff will move on with part two of the intervention which is

to see a service provider like the school psychologist. The school psychologist will provide

another behavioral plan to help the student that they can utilize in the classroom. If the plan is not

working then the last step is to provide multiple sessions with a specialist to try to come up with

better solutions to help the student succeed and have a better learning experience. It is important/n Need to make a Poster

Based on the Report given

Evaluation poster board project

following this guideline - https://guides.nyu.edu/posters

(sample poster also given in this link)

and it is based off of the evaluation paper

Kindly check the "Sample Report" attached