The Effects of a Word on the Month Program on a Small Independent School

This paper explores the effectiveness of a Word of the Month program and its effects on student behavior in a small independent school. Using Heidel and Lyman-Mersereay\u27s curriculum, students throughout the school were introduced to one word a month that exemplifies positive characteristics that the school hoped would develop within the student population. Effectiveness of this program was assessed by interviews with the faculty from the school. These assessments looked for behavior changes in the students in relation to the words that were presented, “respect” and “responsibility”. It was hypothesized that the Word of the Month would have a positive effect in developing respectful and responsible behavior. Most teachers reported increases of “respectful” and “responsible” behavior after the implementation of the program and felt the program was effective. All the teachers reported that they hoped the program would continue