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Wilson Middle School reports mixed but positive uptake of Character Strong; resiliency and leadership measures rose in one-year data
Summary
Wilson Middle School staff gave an update on the Character Strong pilot. Teachers adapted the program to local needs, introduced student-led sessions and hallway 'character dares', and reported increases in resiliency and leadership scores on a schoolwide metric; administrators plan continued refinement and a budgeted renewal.
Wilson Middle School administrators reported on the second year of their Character Strong social-emotional-learning pilot at a Carlisle Area School District committee meeting.
Staff said they focused on adapting the vendor-provided program to fit Wilson's culture rather than following materials verbatim. Teachers described student-led lessons, short hallway —character dares— and more student presentations; staff reported the practice of having students lead sessions increased peer engagement. Administration referenced third-party measurement (TerraceMetrics) and reported a fall-to-spring increase in students classified as —satisfactory— or —optimal— on a resiliency measure, a 9 percent rise from fall to spring for the categories cited and a 4 percent decrease in the share of students reporting elevated anxiety. Staff said TerraceMetrics leadership and social-connection subscales showed meaningful gains for the cohort.
Challenges identified included inconsistent classroom-level engagement across teams and the difficulty of sustaining participation among older students who may be less willing to share. Teachers and administrators said buy-in improved when they adapted activities locally and gave students leadership roles. The program renewal cost was cited as $1,999; administration said that amount can be covered from the student-services budget. The district will continue the pilot and coordinate with Lamberton to expand programming and teacher support; administrators said it generally takes three to five years for a culture program to be implemented with fidelity and show stable results.
