Nancy Willard

Engage Students to Embrace Civility Nancy Willard

Engage Students to Embrace Civility provides guidance for school leaders on research-based strategies to:



Engage all members of the school community in the effort to establish a positive school climate that embraces kindness, inclusion, and civility.

Empower students to embrace kindness, inclusion, and civility by engaging students as leaders in this effort, using a positive norms approach to encourage positive behavior, and increasing student resilience and skills as a witness to a hurtful situation, the one being hurtful, and the one treated badly.

Increase the effectiveness of teachers in supporting positive relations and responding to minor hurtful incidents in a restorative manner that supports increased resilience of all the involved students.

Increase the effectiveness of principals in investigating and intervening in the more serious or chronic hurtful situations in a manner that supports increased resilience of all involved students, holds hurtful students accountable, remedies the harm, corrects environmental concerns, and ensures ongoing monitoring until all involved students indicate that things have gotten better.





The Engage Students to Embrace Civility approach is fully compliant with civil rights regulations. The approach incorporates trauma informed practices and restorative practices.