Dignity for All (DFA) is a comprehensive school-wide approach to prevent bullying and violence and help shape a generation of kinder, more confident, and academically prepared students.

DFA teaches students how to reduce and prevent harmful behaviors by acquiring skills to become an Upstander instead of a Bystander, creating a culture and community that is safe, inclusive, and restorative while exceeding ELA and Common Core State Standards.

By transforming schools into safe and welcoming spaces for all students, DFA fosters empathy and an inclusive culture of trust that prevents bullying and cyberbullying behavior from occurring in schools. Rooted in neurobiology, DFA trains students to address bullying behavior in storytelling, role-playing, and critical reflection with their peers; and become Upstanders for safer, more supportive school communities.

DFA Upstanders set goals for understanding different cultures and beliefs, repairing the harm caused by bullying and discrimination, and transforming how students, parents, and administrators treat one another by building trust.

This curriculum helps you to facilitate students’ understanding and application of conflict resolution strategies, such as emotional regulation, empathic listening, and restorative practices. Students engage with interactive digital content to learn effective ways to respond to conflict in a variety of settings.

Students Learn:

Strategies: Analyze conflict resolution styles and explore successful conflict-resolution approaches.

Perspective-Taking: Develop empathy, social awareness, and respect for all involved in a conflict.

Effective Communication: Create non-threatening environments, and use language and tone that support finding solutions.

Accountability: Understand the importance of taking responsibility for one’s role in a conflict.

Students create an environment for sharing ideas and building relationships that are essential to working and living together in a community. They examine the way teams work - learning what motivates people, understanding the value of diversity, and analyzing the dynamics of high performance teams. The curriculum addresses issues related to reaching out to others, taking positive risks, building trust, and practicing good judgment.

Students learn to:

• Appreciate diverse and unique backgrounds of team members.

• Recognize the importance of uniting around a common goal.

• Build trust, share values and exchange ideas.

• Develop practical tools for setting achievable goals.

• Take risks in advocating your position and taking action.

• Become accountable for accomplishing the team’s mission and expected outcomes.

In this course, students examine their interests and talents. With this knowledge they set both short and long-term goals - to accomplish what they want in life and learn to advocate for themselves. This module helps young people discover their own personal learning style and offers suggestions for using this knowledge to improve their performance in school.

Students Learn:

• Self-Improvement: Identify strengths, personal interests and areas for increased achievement.

• Growth Mindset: Cultivate a willingness to learn new things, become more positive in attitude and behavior, track daily progress and eliminate distractions.

• Short and Long Term Goals: Set achievable goals and develop strategies for reaching them.

• Resilience: Learn to see obstacles as opportunities, build confidence and perseverance to succeed.

Students examine the possibility of positive change in a community starting with the vision of an individual, or small group, and causing a ripple of effect of energy and action throughout a large network of people who want to make a difference. The module aims to get students interested in civic involvement and service, which is often at odds with the perception that being “cool” means not caring about anything. Students learn more about their community and work together to build a vision for a community in which they will better able to live, and learn.

Students Learn:

• Civic Duty: Examine basic tenets of citizenship and value of community service.

• Vision Building: Create a vision for a community that will improve education, economic empowerment, and quality of life for its residents.

• Consensus Building: Inspire others to work for the good of the community.

• Resource Management: Mobilize assets and resources to achieve goals.

• Collaboration: Understand the power of diversity and working with others for stronger impact.

Students engage in experiential learning that addresses the multitude of factors in which influence habits and lifestyle. Students improve their knowledge, attitudes and behavior by getting the facts about foods that add nutritional value versus those that add “empty calories”. They conduct self-assessments to discover whether they need to increase their physical exercise or change their diet to achieve optimum health for a lifetime. Students also set their own goals for healthier lifestyles and learn about the effects of cigarette smoking.

Students Learn:

• Exercise and Nutrition: Understand the importance of health and how the body’s function is a direct result of healthy habits.

• Goal Setting: Formulate lifestyle goals and practical and enjoyable ways to carry them out.

• Choices: Examine eating and exercise choices, how habits are formed, and how they impact health.

• Analyze Risk: Identify the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and the consequences of an unhealthy one.

• Reflection: Analyze the influence of culture and media on health attitudes.

In this course, students examine the reasons behind their spending and the influences that advertising and image have on behavior. They learn how to manage money wisely, distinguish between necessities and luxuries and understand the benefits of saving over time for specific, well-planned purchases. Students are instructed in basic financial concepts, such as the importance of having a savings account and developing a budget to monitor income and expenses. Topics also include basic banking services and personnel, managing credit card spending and avoiding accumulating debt.

Students Learn:

• Value: Learn to analyze and compare the cost and benefits of goods and services.

• Budgeting: Develop skills to set goals and use budgeting as a tool to manage money.

• Decision-Making: Learn the benefits of saving money, investing, and making smart financial decisions.

• Entrepreneurship: Learn how to use skills and talents to start a business and learn the basics of entrepreneurship to build wealth.

• Banking: Learn how to use bank services to achieve a long-term financial plan.

• Debt and Credit: Understand loan interest, credit rating, and how debt can impact life goals.

Students learn about the benefits of finishing high school and planning for education and career; how to identify available options for post-secondary education; how to recognize relationship between education, careers and lifestyles; develop effective study habits and time management skills; learn on-line resources for SAT and Act preparation.

Students Learn:

• Big Picture: Recognize the relationship between education, careers and lifestyle.

• Reflection: Analyze environmental influences on educational choices and values.

• Goal Setting: Set goals based on interests and aptitudes and develop a working plan.

• Skills and Habits: Develop effective study habits, skills, and test taking strategies.

• Resources: Do college and grant searches, find mentors.

Students learn the importance of personal appearance, body language, and good hygiene as they apply to different situations. They learn the value of employing healthy grooming habits like brushing teeth, washing hair, caring for nails and applying deodorant. Students learn the difference between having an individual style in a personal, casual setting, and dressing appropriately for a professional setting, and how to assess the value in both.

Students Learn:

• Critical Reflection: Analyze cultural and media influences in choices around personal appearance.

• Self-Awareness: Learn the value of positive messages in dress and body language.

• Health Benefits: Learn how personal hygiene and grooming habits can improve job opportunity.

• Dress for Success: Choose appropriate dress for the occasion and demonstrate confidence in your choices.

This course helps students develop healthy, rewarding relationships. Students build the skills to identify their own values, feelings and attractions, understand the outside influences that affect their behavior, and then apply their interpersonal skills to realize mutually respectful and healthy relationships. They will begin to discern the different levels of intimacy that relationships assume and the risks and responsibilities that come with them. This module is intended to provide skills to support youth in the difficult decisions they will make about sex in their young lives.

Students Learn:

• Assess Relationships: Identify values, analyze strengths and challenges, recognize environmental influences.

• Goals and Decision-Making: Set boundaries, align long-term goals with short-term choices and behavior.

• Social and Emotional Skills: Foster healthy relationships, communication for trust, mutual respect, and problem-solving.

• Title IX support: Examine gender roles and stereotypes, communication, and attitudes around sex, prevent acts of discrimination and harassment.

This course encourages teens to take action to protect themselves and their communities against the public health threats of STIs and AIDS. Students investigate topics such as the life-threatening consequences of irresponsible sexual activity, examine their own behavior and health risks, and learn to make healthy decisions grounded in personal and social responsibility. Students become aware of the long-term health risks associated with sexually transmitted infections, different ways infections are transmitted, and the physical symptoms of STIs and AIDS.

Students Learn:

• Identification: Understand the different types of STIs, biological impact, transmission and treatment.

• Healthy Choices: Learn to make healthy and positive choices, including benefits of abstinence and preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

• Risk Assessment: Weigh health risks associated with sex and drugs.

• Environmental Influences: Identify peer pressure, media, and misconceptions.

Students build the critical thinking skills necessary to assess risk and the consequences of using drugs and alcohol, take steps to increase their self-control and self-esteem, develop coping skills for relieving stress and anxiety and build positive, healthy attitudes despite the negative and unhealthy influences they may face. Through the activities in this course, students come to see the value in becoming “powers of example”, or role models, to fulfill their own dreams and make a difference in their community.

Students Learn:

• Environmental Influences: Analyze social and media influences on attitudes toward drug and alcohol use.

• Risk Assessment: Understand the connection between drug use, violence and other risky behaviors.

• Consequences: Understand the physical, emotional and psychological effects of drugs and alcohol.

• Support and Care: learn the physiology of addiction, path toward recovery, and how to lead by example.

• Responsible Decision-Making: Assess decisions based on values versus peer pressure.