The Three R’s of education are being joined the by the Three C’s — College and Career Competencies.
Actually there are more than three areas of interest in the program known as CCC, Great Bend Middle School Principal David Reiser said Thursday. The program has four foundations: empathy, goal setting, self-regulation and conflict management. It also promotes 29 competencies that students should have when they graduate from high school. These include skills for social engagement such as being on time and being respectful.
The Kansas State Department of Education has added CCC to its plan for effective schools, and Great Bend is leading the effort as a pilot district for the program.
When the school board held a luncheon meeting at the school on Thursday, Reiser talked about what that means for GBMS.
Staff received training during an in-service day on Monday. Teachers worked on ways to incorporate self-regulation into lesson plans. The skill can also be taught during advisory time with students.
John Popp, assistant superintendent of curriculum and human resources, said the schools won’t have a set curriculum for teaching these competencies. But that doesn’t mean the teachers won’t have guidance.
“There’s lot of resources to help them,” Popp said.
Superintendent Brad Reed said that this semester will focus on training, and implementation will start in the spring semester.

Better behavior
Meanwhile, the district is implementing its new social curriculum that deals with behavior. Students were taught the school’s expectations during the first two weeks of school. Now expectations such as “Hallway Safety — Keep hands, feet and property to self” are reinforced weekly.
“When our kids are doing the right things, we give them a Pride Ticket,” Reiser said. The tickets can be entered in prize drawings. This semester nearly 4,000 Pride Tickets have been awarded.
Expectations have been printed on a chart that includes instructions to Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Responsible in six categories: Classroom, hallway, cafeteria, restroom, activities and digital citizenship. For example, in the cafeteria students should be safe by cleaning up after themselves. They should be respectful by keeping their voice levels down and being inclusive of others at the lunch tables. They should be responsible by reporting all bullying and unsafe behavior.