About

As a program (and district), we emphasize relationship-based and trauma-informed strategies.  We believe in, and continue to provide district-wide training regarding, the importance of connecting with students and families through relationship.  Without authentic and supportive relationships, we will continue to struggle with meeting the educational, social and emotional needs of our most vulnerable students.  This is a foundational concept for trauma-informed systems.

Restorative practices are embedded in our daily work with students.  As Lucille Eber said, “This puts the repairing of harm done to relationships and people over the need for assigning blame and punishment.“

“Human beings are happier, more cooperative, and productive, and more likely to make positive changes in their behavior when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them” (IIRP, 2014).

Practical application of all of these skills are enhanced daily as we are a tri-core program paced for mastery of academic skills, emotional health, and social skills.

Westwood Trail Academy is in the process of utilizing the Sanctuary Model to encourage organizational change.  The aim of Sanctuary is to promote emotional, moral and social safety for Westwood students and staff.
 
Westwood embraces the organizational philosophy of the Sanctuary Model.  Creating Sanctuary is the actual process of providing an emotionally safe and healing learning environment for children who need to recover from adversity in their childhood experiences.  Such experiences disrupt the normal development of a child and can interfere with the ability to learn.
 
Building on that knowledge, Westwood is committed to reversing the effects of childhood adversity and/or trauma by creating a non-violent, democratic school community where staff and students are empowered to overcome challenges.

To foster a therapeutic learning community to meet individual needs and prepare for a successful transition.

Nonviolence:  Being safe physically, emotionally, socially, and morally.
Emotional Intelligence: Managing our feelings so we don’t hurt ourselves or others.
Social Learning: Respecting and  sharing the ideas of our teams.
Democracy: Shared decision making.
Open Communication: Saying what we mean and not being mean when we say it.
Social Responsibility: Together we accomplish more.
Growth & Change: Creating hope for our students and ourselves.

As a District focused on continuous improvement, each of our 23 schools develops a site-based school improvement plan every year. The plan outlines the goals and actions the building plans to take throughout the year to improve various areas of performance.  

View the School Improvement Plan

A pyramid of intervention is a tiered approach to prevention and intervention strategies to support students both academically and behaviorally. The pyramid uses a variety of strategies and techniques to help all students stay on the right track. The foundation of the pyramid offers Tier 1 supports for all students. Tier 2 interventions provide additional support for smaller groups of students who need more targeted help. Tier 3 provides the most intensive supports for individual students when Tier 1 and 2 interventions have been unsuccessful. Our schools review and update their pyramid on a regular basis to ensure new strategies are incorporated and all are aligned with best practice.

Attendance Pyramid of Intervention