In elementary school Kalyin was the target of bullying, and by high school, it had taken its
toll. Kalyin ran away from home, went to two high schools and dropped out of
both. But at the PACE Center for Girls,
a Miami-Dade County Public Schools Alternative Outreach Program for girls ages 11-17,
she was transformed. She became a
school leader, won the Department of Juvenile Justice Star Student of the Year
award, and has graduated from high school.
Until Kalyin came to PACE, she said, “Nobody seemed to
understand what I was going through. Instead of asking me what was wrong and
trying to help, people made it seem like I was just a bad kid.”
Like Kalyin, all the girls at PACE face serious challenges. They come from unstable families, are failing in school or have other
serious school issues, have health or mental health problems including eating
disorders and thoughts of suicide, demonstrate negative attitudes or behavior,
and/or have experienced victimization of some sort. Substantial numbers have histories of arrest,
family members in prison or on probation, experience with physical and/or
sexual abuse. Seventy-five percent live
in poverty or near-poverty. Every girl
accepted to the program is living with at least three of these problems.
And like Kaylin, most do well. Whereas 79% were failing one or more classes
before coming to PACE, 94% improve academically as a result of their PACE
experience. More important, while 31%
had criminal involvement before PACE, 92% have no involvement with crime
afterwards.[i]
At PACE they acquire a positive sense of themselves and their potential, and
they gain an appreciation for respect, integrity, excellence, and courage.
How does PACE do it?
The answer begins with the application and intake process. After carefully reviewing the referral application
(which can be submitted by parents, teachers, counselors, probation officers or
anyone else who identifies the need), academic records and other documentation,
and after interviewing the girl and her family, the staff analyzes her needs
and whether they feel they can help her.
They offer placement only to girls who they feel fit well with the
current student body and whom they feel they can help. But while the answer begins with a careful
selection process, the key to the program’s success and the core around which
every other aspect of the program is built – discipline, counseling, academics
and community service -- is its total commitment to positivism.
Even when an applicant is not offered a place, “we never say
‘reject,’” said executive director Sherry Thompson Giordano. “If we can’t help them, we help them find the
program that can help them best.”
Although some girls are referred to PACE by the juvenile
justice system, no one can force them to attend. And in agreeing to take placement at PACE, each
girl must buy in to certain conditions: to attend every day, to attend 12
months a year, to respect others, to not disrupt the classroom. She must agree to The Five P’s: to be prepared, prompt, patient, productive, and
polite. The girls are held to these
standards with a complex system of reminders, positive reinforcement and rewards.
The Five P’s and nine guiding principles are everywhere:
signs in every classroom and every office. They’re decaled on the walls of the
hall in colors that are designed for calming and learning.
“We iterate, reiterate, and live these values.,” Sherry said. The staff expect this behavior
from the girls, and the girls quickly learn they will receive it from staff in
return. While the staff will not
tolerate disrespect, the girls know that every staff member is on their side.
Because the school’s values are modeled consistently by the staff, the school
environment is comfortable and embracing, unlike many of the girls’ homes. Before long, PACE feels safe and protective.
It’s the place they want to be.
Good behavior is rewarded and inappropriate behavior
recorded on an elaborate system of beads and charms. Every girl carries a “bead
sheet,” a card on which teachers note the good behaviors they observe. At the end of the week, marks on the girls’
bead sheets are tallied, the girls’ behaviors are noted on their records, and the
girls receive beads reflecting these good behaviors, which they wear on a necklace
they received when they were admitted to the school. At the end of the month, the girls exchange
their beads for charms – 10 beads for one charm. Every six weeks, they can use these charms as
currency at the school “boutique,” where they can purchase cosmetics, jewelry,
clothing and accessories.
 |
| Girls exchange beads for charms |
“The girls try to act
as though none of this matters, but it really matters to them. They want as
many beads as they can get,” Sherry said. As acquiring the beads becomes
competitive, it generates positive self-esteem.
Progress is further noted at “level ceremonies.” PACE has identified four levels of growth and
leadership, reflecting behavior, attendance, punctuality and academic
performance. The level ceremonies acknowledge this growth, and other rewards
follow: the opportunity to address
community groups or to represent the school at luncheons and breakfasts, for
example.
 |
| Monthly Level Ceremony |
This is not to say that PACE’s positive approach works
instantly or flawlessly. Especially at
the beginning of each girl’s time at PACE, compliance with the school’s
expectations is less than perfect and on occasion there are major episodes that
require police intervention. But, in the
spirit of positivism and the school’s strength based approach, no one talks
about punishment. “We don’t say, ‘you’ve been a bad girl,’”
explained Sherry. Instead it’s “You have
other choices you could have made. Let’s talk about why you made the choice you
did.”
This approach acknowledges that in the heat of anger people
sometimes do things that they wouldn’t do if they had the time and the composure
to think the situation through. This
approach gets the girls to begin to recognize that every choice – good or bad –
has consequences – good or bad. And it
helps to teach them how to cope.
In class, if a girl is displaying inappropriate behavior,
the teacher will give a verbal warning and a negative mark on the bead sheet. If this doesn’t work, she will give what PACE
calls a “redirect.” The girl is asked to
remain in the classroom and to think about what better choice she might have
made. If she gets a second “redirect”
the same day, she and teacher discuss her behavior and some better alternatives. In a third “redirect” that day, the teacher
focuses on growth and change. And on the
rare occasion when there is a fourth, the school calls home and the girl is
sent home for the rest of that day and the next with a writing assignment to
reflect on why she was sent home.
But, stressed Alexandra, “They don’t put you
down.” Alexandra, who came to PACE after
skipping classes, getting suspended, and having a physical altercation with a
classmate, credits this positive approach with her ability to control her
emotions and improve her grades and attitude.
Supporting all this positive reinforcement is a strong
scaffold of counseling. Upon acceptance, each student meets with her counselor
to identify her issues and devise a plan to deal with them. Sara, for example, had trouble controlling
her anger, was failing in school, and was dabbling in drugs. So she worked with a partner organization
that provided drug treatment and education.
In weekly sessions, she worked with her counselor on managing her
anger. And her teachers focused on her
academic deficits.
Sometimes parents need counseling, and sometimes they must
agree to accept it as a condition of their daughter’s acceptance. In these cases, PACE makes referrals to
partner agencies.
Once a week, the staff gathers to discuss each student’s
progress and intercept incipient problems. To the extent that confidentiality
allows, counselors help teachers and staff to understand the issues driving
each girl’s behavior. Every two weeks the girls meet in “psychosocial groups”
to focus on subjects such as health and wellness, grief and sexual
exploitation. Once a month, each student and her parents meet with the counselor
and teachers to discuss progress. And
once every three months, staff makes a home visit.
Superimposed on this system of counseling and positive
reinforcement is a structured school schedule. Girls arrive at school for
breakfast at 7:30 a. m. They secure all their personal possessions, including
purses and cell phones, in a locked room. If they are not wearing their school uniform,
they borrow uniform clothing from the school. Everyone must be in uniform.
Classes, divided into 90-minute learning blocks, begin at 8:00,
with a break for lunch at 11:30 and dismissal at 2:50. Students take math, science, social studies,
English and intensive reading. Students are placed into middle school and high
school cohorts with 10-12 students per class, each class separated into three
or four learning levels. Some high
school students are working at middle school level, and the teachers are
especially adept at managing this. The
math teacher, for example, can teach basic arithmetic and algebra in the same
class. Time in class is set aside to
complete “homework” and work on study skills.
Also scheduled into these 90-minute blocks are community service projects
and classes in life skills and career readiness.
“I have never met
teachers as nice and understanding as these,” said Emily whose traumatic childhood
with a drug-addicted mother and the foster care system left her defiant, truant
and on the verge of being expelled from school. “They are [at PACE] because
they care about us succeeding. You do
not know how much it means to have so many people who care.”
 |
| Sherry Thompson Giordano and PACE girls |
PACE is open year round, students are admitted on a rolling
basis, and students typically remain at PACE for 15 months before graduating or
returning to their home school. They come from the length and breadth of Miami-Dade
County usually by public transportation, with passes issued by the school. As time to leave PACE approaches, the girls
work with their counselors on transitioning out and then return once a month to
meet with the counselor. Every three
months, the school holds a transition celebration, a reunion of sorts for
former students.
Begun in Jacksonville 30 years ago, the PACE concept is now
a statewide network of 19 schools. PACE
Miami is the newest center, with 70 students, 17 staff and two interns. Half the school’s annual budget of $1.7
million comes from the Department of Juvenile Justice, 20% from the Department
of Education, and the balance from private funding.[ii]
When funds permit, PACE would like to
open a second center at the south end of the county.
PACE Center for Girls of Miami
1400 NW 36th Street, Suite 200
Miami, FL 33142
T: 786-254-2460; F: 786-456-4682
Sherry Thompson Giordano, Executive Director
[i]
Statistics from PACE Center for Girls 2014 Annual Report
[ii] PACE is currently raffling a seven-day
Royal Caribbean cruise as a means of raising funds for the Miami Center.
Drawing will take place December 10, 2015.
https://app.etapestry.com/cart/PACECenterforGirls/cart17/index.php
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