The new school year is well underway at the Haiti Partners Children’s Academy (ADECA), with classes having started on schedule over a month ago. Third year teacher Francesse Antoine is especially excited by what she is beginning to see with her students, who are now starting their third year at the school. “Things are really different this year. The kids come to school ready to work. If I pull out learning material – like a balloon, for example – the kids rush to take their seats and hear what we’re going to do.”

Francesse credits the school’s non-violent, positive discipline for much of the progress. At the school where she taught previously, corporal punishment was central to her practice. “I never hit kids a lot, but I hit them. I had to. The principal insisted on it, and so did the parents.”

But Francesse could see it was counterproductive. “I’d hit kids for being unruly, then I’d have to stop everything, and spend time calming them down and comforting them just so that we could get back to work. It didn’t make sense.”

Thanks to the training ADECA has provided, Francesse feels better about her teaching. She has better relationships with her students, and those relationships help her and her students succeed. “My students love me, and they come to school every day excited to be learning together.”