ASU Preparatory Academy is a public charter school network, serving more than 7,000 full-time students across 6 schools, from Pre-K to grade 12. They are grounded in a set of values, inspired by the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework, and want to find ways to reinforce these characteristics with their students. ASU Prep recently adopted ClassBank in their fifth and sixth grades as a way to engage students in these values while teaching them important financial literacy and life skills.
ASU Prep is also using ClassBank in a unique way to build community across the entire school. Fifth and sixth graders manage the school store for the entire K-6 community.
We are able to administer ClassBank as leaders and see how often the students and teachers are using the tool to support our culture work. We love it because we’re asking our students to use their financial literacy skills, and as a huge added bonus, it's strongly reinforcing our values. Our students are displaying our SPARKY characteristics more now than before ClassBank. – Nichole Perez, Assistant Principal
ASU Prep sought a digital positive behavior management system that provides immediate recognition for students who display their SPARKY values, while also building financial literacy skills for their fifth and sixth grade students.
ASU Prep has been using paper “SPARKY” bucks for years (and continue to do so in the younger grades), but they wanted a more real-time, interactive classroom economy — one that easily moves from the classroom to the playground to the hallway. Assistant Principal, Nichole Perez shared, “the paper buck system simply wasn’t enticing enough for their older students. We wanted a way to immediately reward students for positive behaviors while teaching them important life and personal finance skills.”
The ASU Prep team searched for an online platform that would enable them to move paper SPARKY bucks to a digital management system, as it had become cumbersome to track and manage across many classrooms, teachers, and students. Further, the leadership team felt that they were missing out on important real-world opportunities to show students how SPARKY bucks are actually a simulation for how money can be earned, spent, and managed.
We had two teachers pilot ClassBank last year. They bought their own subscription and gave us feedback. They spoke so highly of the program that we decided to purchase ClassBank for all of our 5th and 6th grade students.
Leaders and teachers have been astounded at how quickly ClassBank has taken off and become firmly rooted in their community. Perez said, “Because of the easy alignment to SPARKY, students can see how ClassBank reinforces the school culture.”
Today, the fifth and sixth grade students manage the SPARKY store for the entire school, depositing the younger students’ paper bucks and managing the product inventory. Further, students are applying math skills as they manage their bank accounts — depositing paychecks, making withdrawals, and saving and spending money.
As a result of using ClassBank, the team shared that more students are living the SPARKY values, including:
We are able to administer ClassBank as leaders and see how often the students and teachers are using the tool to support our culture work. We love it because we’re asking our students to use their financial literacy skills, and as a huge added bonus, it's strongly reinforcing our values. Our students are displaying our SPARKY characteristics more now than before ClassBank. – Nichole Perez, Assistant Principal
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