What is the PLUS Program
The PLUS Program is part of Protect, Connect, Educate, the safe school climate network of K-12 schools and districts working together to create safe environments for students. PLUS is one of the programs the network uses. Together with Direction and the School Climate and School Safety Conferences, it forms the instrument member schools use to turn student data and student voice into action.
School climate is the pattern of experiences students have on campus. PLUS is the evidence-based system a district uses to find those patterns and change them.
Three parts, and the program behind each one
Data shows what students are experiencing on campus and flags warning signs early, so adults can act before a problem grows.
Student voice is gathered by trained student leaders, who reach their peers and connect them with adults who can help.
Staff and student leaders train together and learn from other member schools at shared trainings and two annual conferences.
Students gather the information and lead the response
The network mobilizes young people to be part of the solution. Students are the source of the information a school needs, and they carry the response to their peers. Direction and the PLUS Program are used together so a school has both the numbers and the reasons behind them.
Students answer short surveys through the school year in the same database every member school uses. The results show how many students are affected by an issue and whether that number is moving.
PLUS students hold Forums with a new group of their peers each time. What students say in the Forum is recorded, and it explains what is behind the survey results.
With both kinds of information in hand, the PLUS Team creates the activities the campus needs and leads them with their peers. Adults receive a report they can act on, and students see their input put to use on their own campus.
Because every member school uses the same database, current data can be shared across schools and districts. Members see the latest trends as they develop and can compare their campus with the rest of the network.
Data from Direction and the PLUS Program sets the agenda and the workshops at the School Climate Conference and the School Safety Conference, so members train on the trends the network is seeing.
The 30-day cycle is how a PLUS school carries out this work each month.
The 30-Day Cycle
The 30-day cycle is the method at the center of the PLUS Program, and it is how a PLUS Team builds protective factors in the school and mitigates the risk factors. It is built into the curriculum, so the PLUS class works through it as part of its regular coursework. Every 30 days the team gathers information from students, plans a response and acts on it. That short turnaround keeps the time between what students report and what the school does about it to a single month. The cycle has four parts.
The team builds protective factors on campus. Activities are chosen from what the data shows, and the next cycle measures whether those protective factors increased.
The team brings two kinds of data together. PLUS Forums give qualitative data, the voice of students. Direction gives quantitative data, the numbers.
The team shares the data with the school community, implements activities on campus and reassesses whether the work is effective.
The team looks at the data and identifies the actions the campus needs.
A Direction survey goes to no more than 10 percent of the campus for a pulse on the last 30 days.
Students from across the campus, a new group each cycle, talk through what they are experiencing.
The team lays the survey results beside what students said in the Forum and plans activities for the areas that need them.
The team leads the activity on campus and shares a report with the school's partners.
School climate is a pattern of experiences. Repeating the cycle each month shows the team which issues keep coming back, and those are the issues the team works on.
Research partners
PLUS has been studied alongside universities across the country, and that work is ongoing. Faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Oregon and the University of Florida have examined how PLUS affects attendance, school climate and district decision-making. The research centers on youth participatory action research, in which students gather and study the data about their own schools. A five-year study with the University of Oregon, funded by the William T. Grant Foundation, is now building on that evidence.
Student voice and data
PLUS gives a district a formal structure for hearing from its students. A trained team of student leaders gathers what their peers are experiencing, every cycle, and reports it to the adults who make decisions. Student voice becomes a regular source of information for the district, in the same way attendance and achievement data are. PLUS brings two kinds of data together, and each one covers what the other cannot.
The voice of students. In the Forum, students explain what is happening on campus and what they think would help.
The numbers. Direction shows how many students are experiencing an issue and whether that number is moving from cycle to cycle.
Together they drive the activities and actions a campus needs, not only the ones it wants.
The PLUS Forum
The PLUS Forum is where the team gets its qualitative data. It is a conversation led by students. The PLUS Team invites students from across the campus, and a new group comes each cycle. In small groups, students work through three questions.
Students name the issues they see and experience on campus.
Students describe how each issue affects them and the school.
Students offer ideas for what students and the campus can do.
Students then vote on the issues that matter most. Each Forum identifies the top four critical issues impacting the student body. Those four priorities tell the PLUS Team which activities are needed on its campus, and those are the activities the student leaders plan and lead.
The top four critical issues become the focus for the PLUS class and drive its action plan for the cycle.
Using Direction
Direction is where the team gets its quantitative data. It holds a bank of short yes or no questions about what students have experienced in the last 30 days. Each cycle, the PLUS Team sends a survey to no more than 10 percent of the campus, and the results come back in real time. Because the same questions are asked every cycle, the answers can be compared from one month to the next.
The team chooses questions from the bank and asks the same ones every cycle. A school or district can add its own questions.
Direction plots each question from cycle to cycle, so the team can see whether an issue is holding steady, improving or getting worse.
When a risk factor spikes, and spikes again the next cycle, Direction alerts the team and takes it to the activity resource database for that issue. Those activities become the action plan for the next cycle.
Information to Action
What students report does not stay in the classroom. The information moves up from the students to the district office, so every level is working from the same priorities.
Each cycle ends with a report of the data and the actions the PLUS Team is taking. It shows the survey results, the top four critical issues from the Forum and the activities planned in response.
The report goes to:
Districts implementing PLUS
These are some of the districts running PLUS across their school sites.
Stockton UnifiedSchool District
Kern High SchoolDistrict
Lake Elsinore UnifiedSchool District
Hemet UnifiedSchool District
Patterson Joint UnifiedSchool District
Compton UnifiedSchool DistrictAn extension of what you already do
Your district already runs MTSS and PBIS, school safety plans, mental health supports and community schools. PLUS is part of that program plan. It gives each of these systems a trained team of students who work in partnership with the adults.
Data-informed decision making, tiered supports and schoolwide systems for expectations, teaching and recognition.
Student voice, experiences and data drive action. Students lead recognition, belonging and positive school culture.
Strategies and programs that promote safety, prevent violence and support school wellness.
Students report, engage and communicate to build safer, more connected schools.
Supports that build self-awareness, self-management, positive relationships and responsible decision-making.
Students practice communication, relationship-building and self-management peer to peer.
Integrated student supports, family and community engagement, and shared leadership.
Students assess needs each cycle, share the data with families and partners, and take part in the decisions.
Together, we create a school climate where every student can thrive.