Alliance City Schools encourages students to make thoughtful decisions

ALLIANCE – Making thoughtful choices is the most effective way to create a positive outcome.

That was the message speaker Derek Avera told an audience Tuesday at Alliance High School during the school district’s R-Factor Community Night.

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“Leaders create the culture that drives the behaviors that lead to results,” he said. 

Avera works for Focus 3, a Columbus-based organization that provides consulting and training resources to school districts, businesses and athletic programs.

During the event, he discussed a performance strategy known as “The R-Factor.” This idea encourages people to be mindful about their actions using a simple formula: event + response = outcome. 

People cannot always control the events that shape their lives, Avera said, citing the coronavirus pandemic as an example. However, he explained that they can control the way they respond to different situations. This response can help them achieve the outcome they desire. 

R-Factor prompts school districts and workplaces to create a positive cultures that encourage students and employees to be thoughtful and intentional in their decision-making.

Avera said that through hard work and discipline, people of different backgrounds can come together to create a culture that inspires growth and development. 

“If you get the culture right, nothing can stop you,” he said. 

Alliance City School District Superintendent Rob Gress said the district started incorporating The R-Factor into its culture to teach students how to succeed in life by equipping them with important life skills. 

Students begin learning about The R-Factor as early as kindergarten. Gress said this strategy helps reinforce the idea that the better response a person has to a situation, the better the outcome they will receive.