Salt Lake City School District supports The Dignity Index and is committed to becoming a Dignity District by creating and maintaining learning and work environments where everyone is treated with dignity.  In 2021, a group called UNITE began work on The Dignity Index. The Index is an eight-point scale for measuring how we talk to each other when we disagree. The Dignity Index is grounded in a few core beliefs: 

• Contempt causes division; dignity eases division.

• If we put a spotlight on dignity and contempt, we will use more dignity and less contempt.

• If we show Americans how they can help ease our divisions, they will jump on it.

In October 2022, UNITE publicly introduced the Index in Utah during the mid-term elections, scoring political speeches on a weekly basis.  The Index was seen as reliable, fair, and intuitive.

With permission from UNITE, we’ve adapted The Dignity Index and have modified the language to be more easily used by students.

Our goal in launching this initiative is to elevate the discourse in our schools. To encourage each of us – students and adults alike – to reflect on how we treat each other, how we perceive each other, and to remind each of us that every person – even those who are not like us or with whom we disagree – is an individual worth treating with dignity.

This is going to require greater humanity in our interactions with each other. Our goal is to keep our conversations at “5 and up!” Please join us on this journey.