The Tribes process fosters a sense of belonging, which we believe is vital to a student's ability to feel safe, respected, and willing to risk. Students who feel part of a community, who value and respect each other and their teachers, learn. It's that simple.

More than 1,000 studies on the benefits of cooperative learning support the use of small group methods. Reports from schools using Tribes show at least 75% reduction in behavior problems, dramatic decline in school violence, and increases in academic achievement. Tribes has been studied by the Research Triangle Institute under a U.S. Department of Education grant and cited as a model program to teach students social skills (first grade-high school) and for use in special education classrooms.

Tribes is not a curriculum; Tribes TLC® is a process, a step-by-step sequence of strategies to achieve specific learning goals.The Tribes process is founded on four guiding principles:

• Mutual Respect
• Attentive Listening
• Appreciations/No Put Downs
• The Right to Pass

Students learn a set of collaborative skills so they can work well together in long-term groups called tribes. The focus is on how to:

• help each other work on tasks
• set goals and solve problems
• monitor and assess progress
• celebrate achievements.

The learning of academic material and self-responsible behavior is assured because teachers use methods based upon brain-compatible learning, multiple intelligences, cooperative learning, and social development research.

At Colby, we following Tribes processes in all that we do. Our faculty and staff also work in supportive tribes and enjoy the resulting participatory democratic process and creative collegiality.