Case Study: Duval County Public Schools achieves fewer discipline referrals, higher FSA scores, and a $2M+ ROI with Hero K12

Using Hero as a District-Wide Solution for Better-Behaving, Higher-Performing Schools

Duval County Public Schools, a large and diverse urban district in Jacksonville, FL, faced the challenge of getting all schools to use consistent, research‑based behavior practices so that lower‑performing schools could improve without disrupting higher‑performing ones. To address this, the district adopted Hero K12’s Hero platform as a district‑wide positive behavior management and tracking system to minimize negative behaviors, emphasize positive ones, and support student achievement.

Hero K12 piloted the Hero application in four schools in Spring 2016 and then expanded district‑wide, using digital tracking of referrals, tardies, and positive behaviors plus redeemable rewards and centralized reporting. Duval used Hero K12 data to compare Hero and non‑Hero schools and saw substantial reductions in referrals, with academic gains: of 12 Duval middle schools using Hero in 2015–16, 9 improved their FSA school grade and 3 stayed the same (none declined), versus only 1 improvement among 10 non‑Hero middle schools. The district also calculated a financial return of $2,072,375 in regained instructional costs attributed to the program.

Duval County Public Schools

Nikolai Vitti

Superintendent