Systematically Recognize & Reward More Students

Schools typically recognize and appreciate the top 25% and provide support for the bottom 25% of students, but the ones in the middle often get overlooked. Renaissance Cards are an effective way to recognize and reward all students, especially the middle 50%  and motivate students to work towards higher goals. 

In this article, we will cover how your school can set up a Renaissance Card system and provide several models from schools across the US. Jump to these examples:

• Getting Started with Renaissance Cards
• Renaissance Cards for GPA and Attendance
• Renaissance Cards with Several Requirements and Opportunities
• Visible Punch Cards
• PBIS Point Cards
• Elementary Renaissance Cards
• Last Minute Tips

Why Renaissance Cards

Based on the concept of business loyalty cards, Renaissance Reward Cards are created by schools and earned by students who meet requirements or growth in areas determined by the school. Requirements often include, but are not limited to, attendance, academics or a lack of disciplinary referrals. Once earned, students can use their card to receive rewards like discounts to school events, snacks, school apparel, or more unique rewards like parking spots.

Renaissance Card systems are not an award that educators bestow to students — they are based solely on hard data and give every student the opportunity to earn one. If you feel like the same 15 students are earning all the choice-based awards, this system can help remove unintended bias. 

Getting Started with Renaissance Cards

1. Talk with your administration about creating a school-wide system that would reward academics, behavior, attendance or a combination of the three.
2. Brainstorm how many levels your system would use as well as their requirements with administration, Staffulty and student leaders. Don’t over-complicate them — you’ll need to run reports and create the cards a 2-4 times each school year.
   • We recommend focusing on areas where your schools wants to see improvement or that are important to your school culture and values.
   • Consider adding some baseline requirements for earning a card:
     • Student must not have any failing grades for the grading period
     • Student must not have any outstanding incompletes for the grading period
     • Student must not have any discipline reports or referrals for the specified period
     • Student must not have any unexcused absences for the specified period
     • Student must not have any more than three instances of tardiness for the specified period
3. Brainstorm rewards students could earn at each level. Click here for some of our favorite free, low cost and high value rewards!
4. Spread the word among Staffulty (staff+faculty), school partners and parents that there are opportunities for them to get involved through sponsorships, like discounts, or donations for this project. Encourage them to share the information with their employers or anyone who might be a good fit.
   • You will want to secure rewards that are easy to obtain as you begin. As this system grows, you will be able to use its stories of success to encourage outside sponsorships and donations. Keep in mind that it can take several weeks or even months for a company to decide if it will sponsor a program, and how. Generally, the larger the company, the longer it takes.
5. Determine the specified periods that cards will be awarded to students. Schools often do this in quarters or semesters.
6. Start communicating the details of your Renaissance Card system to the student body. If students don’t know about it, they won’t work for it!

Examples of Renaissance Cards in Schools

Renaissance is a framework, not a program — so it looks and works differently at each school. To help inspire you, read about several Renaissance Card systems that have been implemented across the US. 

It won’t happen overnight, but take it from these schools: once you get a card system established, students will go the extra mile to qualify for the next level, and support their friends in doing so as well.

Keeping It Simple

Bixby High School, Oklahoma

Renaissance Cards don’t have to be overly complicated. Bixby High School set up their system to recognize and reward students who have good attendance and have maintained at least a 2.75 GPA.

Levels

1. LEVEL ONE: 2.75 – 3.24 GPA and no more than two absences during the previous semester
   • REWARDS:
     • One free ticket to an athletic event
     • One free ticket to a fine arts event
2. LEVEL TWO: 3.25 – 3.74 GPA and no more than three absences during the previous semester
   • REWARDS
     • One tardy pass (up to five minutes)
     • One free snack
     • Two free tickets to an athletic event
     • One free ticket to a fine arts event
3. LEVEL THREE: 3.75 and above GPA and no more than four absences during the previous semester
   • REWARDS:
     • One tardy pass (up to five minutes)
     • Two free snacks
     • Two free tickets to an athletic event
     • One free ticket to a fine arts event

This version of Renaissance Cards is great for large campuses because only two kinds of data, GPA and attendance, need to be pulled and the rewards are low cost.

Raising the Bar

Morenci High School, Arizona

If your school wants to see improvement in multiple areas, Renaissance Cards are a great way to reinforce those areas through recognition and reward. Morenci High School’s system has five levels that recognize and reward students for academic achievement as well as having few or no behavior referrals, tardies and absences. 

LEVELS

1. LEVEL 1: Grades are 70% or higher, no more than one referral, four or fewer tardies, and four or fewer absences.
   • REWARDS:
     • Homework pass
     • Five bonus points
     • Teacher’s choice
2. LEVEL 2: Grades are 80% or higher, no referrals, two or fewer tardies, and two or fewer absences.
   • REWARDS:
     • Homework pass
     • Five bonus points
     • Teacher’s choice
     • 10 bonus points
3. LEVEL 3: Grades are 90% or higher, no referrals, no tardies, and no more than one absence.
   • REWARDS:
     • Homework pass
     • Five bonus points
     • Two teacher’s choice
     • Two opportunities for 10 bonus points
4. IMPROVEMENT: A special improvement level for students who make improvements in grades or any of the other categories. This level ensures that standards are held up while recognizing the importance of growth and effort.
   • REWARDS:
     • Homework pass
     • Five bonus points
5. NEW STUDENT: This card is given to any new student to introduce the concept of the system, and so they get a taste of the benefits. 
   • REWARDS:
     • “Give Me a Break” Pass: a special pass to help students acclimate to their new school. A range from a bathroom pass, tardy pass or a snack. 
     • One Teacher’s Choice Reward (snack, bonus points, tardy pass, etc.)

Visible, Tangible, Walk-Aroundable Punch Cards

La Salle-Peru High School, Illinois

To make their Renaissance Cards Visual, Tangible, and Walk-aroundable™, La Salle-Peru High School created paper cards that go on student lanyards. Whenever a reward is claimed by a student, the educator simply punches the paper card to show it has been used. 

LEVELS

1. IMPROVEMENT: GPA increase of .5 or more
   1. REWARDS:
      1. Five extra credit points
      2. One early lunch dismissal
      3. One free t-shirt
      4. One free treat
2. LEVEL ONE: 2.5 or higher GPA, two or fewer discipline referrals and no unexcused absences.
   • REWARDS:
     • Two opportunities for five extra credit points
     • Two early lunch dismissals
     • One free t-shirt
     • One free treat
3. LEVEL TWO: 2.75 or higher GPA, no more than one discipline referral and three or fewer excused absences
   • REWARDS:
     • Three opportunities for five extra credit points
     • Three early lunch dismissals
     • One free t-shirt
     • One free treat
4. LEVEL THREE: 3.0 or higher GPA, no discipline referrals and no more than one excused absence.
   • REWARDS:
     • Three opportunities for five extra credit points
     • Three early lunch dismissals
     • One free t-shirt
     • One free treat
     • One tardy pass
     • Access to a special field trip

La Salle-Peru High School implemented Renaissance Cards over a decade ago, and are still seeing the value in their school. Watch the video to hear about their experience.

PBIS STYLED RENAISSANCE CARDS

L’Anse Creuse High School, Michigan

L’Anse Creuse High School also wanted to see growth in several areas, but needed a streamlined process for their campus of 1200 students and incorporated their already existing PBIS points. They created a clear system that they communicated to all students along with the points that students need for each level.

The Points:

__________

The points, using Powerschool and the VLOOKUP function in a spreadsheet (download a template here), are tallied to find each student’s level.

Levels:

1. STARTER: This card is given to all students at the beginning of the year as well as students who are new to campus throughout the years.
   • REWARDS:
     • One tardy pass
     • One homework pass
2. LEVEL ONE: For students with 4-5 points
   • REWARDS:
     • One tardy pass
     • One homework pass
     • Five bonus points on an assignment or quiz
3. LEVEL TWO: For students with 6-7 points
   • REWARDS:
     • One tardy pass
     • One homework pass
     • Five bonus points on an assignment or quiz
     • One free entry to a school event
     • Skipping lunch line privileges
     • $1 off at the school spirit store
4. LEVEL THREE: For students with 8+ points
   • REWARDS:
     • One tardy pass
     • One homework pass
     • Five bonus points on an assignment or quiz
     • One free entry to a school event
     • Skipping lunch line privileges
     • $2 off at the school spirit store
     • Social media shout out
     • One free snack
5. ENCOURAGEMENT: For students with 0-3 points. While there are no rewards for this level, this level ensures that all students receive recognition.

Because their system has several requirements and reward opportunities, educators and student leaders unite to make this a reality at L’Anse Creuse High School. For more details on how to do it at your school, click here.

And the educators at L’Anse Creuse High School would say the work is worth it – in their first year of implementing Renaissance Cards, the amount of students qualifying for their top three levels grew 10.5%!

Click here to access and edit the above Renaissance Cards for your school!

Elementary Edition Renaissance Cards

Stetson Elementary School, Colorado

The above systems are great for recognizing and rewarding students who have GPAs and are more in control of showing up – but what about younger students? With different objectives and goals, the above models don’t quite fit in at elementary and intermediate schools. One way to adapt is to focus on growth and achievements in math and reading. At Stetson Elementary School, educators created three levels that focus just on those two important factors.

Levels

1. LEVEL ONE:  50% growth or 70% achievement in STAR Math and Reading tests.
   • REWARDS:
     • Name listed on a wall display
     • A card mailed to their home, congratulating them for their growth or achievement.
2. LEVEL TWO: 60% growth or 80% achievement in STAR Math and Reading tests
   • REWARDS:
     • Name listed on a wall display
     • A card mailed to their home, congratulating them for their growth or achievement.
3. LEVEL THREE: 70% growth or 90% achievement in STAR Math and Reading tests.
   • REWARDS:
     • Name listed on a wall display
     • A card mailed to their home, congratulating them for their growth or achievement.

With a clear focus and plan, Stetson Elementary School was able to recognize and reward more than 60% of their student population.

Last Minute Tips

Feeling ready to bring Renaissance Cards to your school? Awesome! Here are some closing tips and reminders from educators who have been through it before:

• Large student body? Explore QR codes or bar codes on student IDs and use the app Scan to Web that auto fills a form or spreadsheet.
• Involve your students! Have your student leaders choose the rewards and help with distribution. 
• Make sure you have access and a process! If your levels are based on school data such as GPA or attendance, make sure you have a reasonable process for compiling that data after each term.
• Don’t print and cut them yourself! Save yourself time and papercuts by printing with a local business or Staples. We recommend the business card size.  
• More is good! The goal is to recognize students for doing the right things, not just reward the highest achievers. Be sure your membership levels are achievable for most students.
• It’s all in the numbers! This system will often reveal that there really are many students who are doing good in the building – and that there might be some bias in choosing students who receive choice-based awards. Make sure that the numbers do the choosing. Nominations or other subjective considerations can be used for other awards 
• Go outside the building! Involve local businesses in offering discounts to students who show their cards.
• Reinforce the requirements where you can. If possible, include the criteria for membership right on the card to connect the reward with the actions.
• Review results each year. Your school won’t get it right away – and that’s ok! Review results and school goals each year to make sure that the system is working the way your school wants it to work. 
• It’s not just about the rewards. Recognition matters, too. Be sure that your Staffulty know the requirements and tell students “congratulations” for qualifying. 

Want more guidance on starting your Jostens Renaissance programing? Consider the online Renaissance Certified Educator Course.