PAXIS is a scientifically based, practical, cost-effective system for schools and communities to address major elements of their vision, mission and legal requirements. Schools universally seek to provide the best education possible for all their students, while maintaining a safe, disciplined and drug-free learning environment. Schools universally seek to promote positive family and community involvement in the instructional and community objectives.

Schools in the United States also seek to improve the health, citizenship and readiness for adult life of their students. The role expectations for schools have grown dramatically in the past 25 years, placing heavy burdens on educational systems.

PAXIS seeks to bring proven, simple, integrated and effective tools to educators, schools, parent and community advocacy groups. Such tools must be cost-effective and make a meaningful difference.

Objective 1: Accomplishment

Increase academic achievement, elevate performance standards, and improved attendance for students, regardless of their background.

Objective 2: Peace

Decrease verbal abuse, disruptions, aggression, vandalism, fighting, insults and intentional injuries; increase social competence, cooperation and belonging for all young people, regardless of histories.

Objective 3: Health

Decrease illnesses and increase well days; reduce negative impact of disabilities; decrease use of medications, emergency treatments, serious injuries.

Objective 4: Happiness

Reduce abuse of legal and illegal substances. Decrease helplessness, depression, anxiety, impulsivity; increase joy, fun, positive excitement, pleasure in life, laughter, pleasant relationships.

Applications:

K through middle school; high-school; private and public schools; mainstream and special education. The school-based applications link to business, workplace and community applications.

Staff Development:

Four hours for instructional staff each year plus special booster sessions that do not take staff-development days; mini-trainings for support staff. Training can be done on site, off-site at central locations or by certified local trainers. Community-based entities or school districts are invited to become PAXIS Partners or PAXIS Best Practices Partners to operate training and support services.

Further Staff Development:

The materials and web-site provide ongoing tools for rapid, frequent and easy to manage plans to make the whole school community are empowered PAX leaders. Local PAXIS "Partners" may provide additional services.

Materials:

Materials are provided on CD-ROM and a pass-code web site. This delivery reduces costs and makes updates faster.

Support:

Web-site; email or fax prompts; scheduled conference phone calls; annual and local events and conferences; technical publications; research and principles of effectiveness consultations. Additional support may be available from PAXIS "Partners."

Evaluation:

Built into the modules, collected by students and staff; meet standards of peer-reviewed publications when well implemented.Web-based services allow sites to monitor progress, and specific protocols allow sites to evaluate their progress to meet many of the most rigorous standards of effectiveness evaluation while providing feedback to improve effectiveness.

A comprehensive data collection system is presently in the design phase.

Title 1 & IV:

Meets all criteria. The system also addresses tobacco prevention issues, using the latest epidemiological findings on risk and protective factors.

504 Plans:

The techniques and procedures address many of the most common 504 Plan needs. Sample 504 plans for common concerns and issues are available, with references to the clinical literature available by the web. Please see the page on these issues for updates and contributions from practitioners.

Standards:

Many of the key interventions meet common standards or benchmarks for schools, referenced and updated on the web site. Customizable forms have input spaces for academic standards.

Flexibility and Integration

"Not another program," cry school staff with good reason. Every year seems to bring a new program to deal with the problem of the month. The promoters of the new program seem to be unaware of the existing demands on time and resources.At PAXIS, with our Practitioners in Residence, we have paid particular attention to this issue. We designed something that can flex with new needs, by building in "plug-ins" that can be designed on site or by others. The approach also maps out how to make use of existing investments for maximum benefit.

A participating PAXIS site will find that there are migration pathways to build on the successes of other fine programs and approaches such as Second Step, Resolving Conflict Creatively, the Comer Model, PeaceBuilders®, Positive Action®, Success for All, Life Skills, Integrated Thematic Instruction and more. As a part of a commitment to best practices, PAXIS even offers a special rebate to sites in the second year when they document and share ways they have integrated prior best practices on site.

One of the problems of so many programs brought to schools is the lack of understanding how issues connect, so that the program promoters tend to argue that their issue is completely unconnected to other issues. Thus, schools get hit with programs for tobacco prevention, health promotion, violence prevention, substance abuse prevention, self-esteem, life skills, school-to-work, resiliency and protective factors, parenting, child-abuse prevention, learning disabilities, and more. If a school did all of these, there would be no time, funds or energy to do anything else. The scholars, scientists and practitioners affiliated with PAXIS made an obvious and long-need commitment: To design a systems-approach that works across problems, issues and local concerns at the most cost-effective level for people and dollars.