Third, this part is
less wonky, more social/emotional/behavioral:
Social emotional learning (SEL)
is a topic that is gaining more attention and focus as districts are asked to
increase work around supporting the “whole child,” with research showing that
it supports improved academic outcomes for students. According to the
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the
definition of social emotional learning is: …”the process through which children and adults acquire and
effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand
and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for
others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible
decisions.” Their work is here: http://www.casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning/.
The last segment of Tuesday’s
Citywide PTO included a thoughtful discussion of SEL, its history (in broad
terms and in Melrose), implementation, examples, and more. Supt. Taymore spoke
to the district’s employment of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and
Supports (PBIS) model that is currently used in the elementary schools. It
originated from Special Education Law about 40 years ago and “took off” around
seven to eight years ago. The first application in Melrose was at the Lincoln
School where Mr. Conway implemented the CARES system. Because it needs to be
organic, each school has their own PBIS. The programs have grown significantly
over the last three years, with schools having their own mascots as well as
common language and expectations. In many cases, families are using this
language in their homes to partner with the schools. The ECC is doing focused
work in this area too. Kindergartens use the “Incredible, Flexible You”
curriculum (more here: http://www.theincredibleflexibleyou.com/).
Many administrators spent time last summer working with the Educator Effectiveness Guidebook for
Inclusive Practice, a DESE resource “to create a place for all students to
thrive in general education settings. (More here: http://www.doe.mass.edu/edeval/guidebook/Guidebook.pdf.)
There is never enough money for what the Supt. refers to as research and
development, but the Melrose Education Foundation (MEF) has been very generous
in their support of R&D in the schools. Supt. Taymore is evolving the
district’s Strategy Overview (http://d1868cr0a5jrv6.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MelroseStrategyOverviewFY16Decupdate.pdf)
to present social emotional learning more overtly (see especially p. 4). More
professional development is planned in this area. A next step is to build on
this mapping using the recently released report from the Rennie Center (http://www.renniecenter.org/topics/SEL_policy.html).
Supt. Taymore chairs the
professional development committee of the Mass. Assoc. of School Supt’s (MASS),
and they have done an entire conference on SEL. They spent time talking about
the rise in student trauma, anxiety, depression, etc. and are working with
experts from the Dept. of Public Health (DPH) and Dept. of Mental Health (DMH) on
this issue. The emerging thought is that there must be a shift away from
student accountability. The new federal education law, ESSA, includes “soft”
measures of achievement (as noted in my previous blog post) because there has
been so much pushback on traditional accountability (like testing) from
teachers, parents, and health professionals. In Melrose, she is trying to build
a sustainable SEL system.
The Supt. contends that at
this time, it is tougher being a teacher than it was 30 years ago. It’s tougher
to be a student too. Some community members and parents say things like “we
don’t get enough students into Harvard,” and at the same time say “our kids are
stressed.” Higher ed is starting to see this dichotomy and are hopefully
shifting the paradigm. Supt. Taymore doesn’t want to lose the advances made in
curriculum and instruction; she sees that students need skills to find and use
information because there is so much content now. Teaching in this era means one
can’t be a “filing cabinet teacher” (one who uses the same lessons for each
class every year forever), or a “sardine can teacher” (one who opens the
sardine can of the classroom and pours the content into the tin of students).
Staff members like social workers can be supportive to teachers and students in
this work.
One challenge: how will
parents react to SEL? Some parents think this work should be done exclusively
in the home and schools should stay out of it, while other parents feel it is
critical in schools. There are students who are stressed when navigating the
use of SEL strategies, e.g. what if it’s used at school but not valued at home?
What if it’s used at a custodial parent’s house but not at a non-custodial
parent’s house (or vice-versa)?
[A Citywide parent asked
about the use of restorative justice as a practice in the schools. (More on the
concept here: http://restorativejustice.org/.)
MVMMS has a team attending a grant-sponsored event regarding this topic with
other local educators.]
SEL is not a “silo’d”
approach. Research is showing mixed results for a “canned” curriculum because
it doesn’t build a culture, so Supt. Taymore feels that embedding it into all
areas of the schools’ work is the best approach. (Also, it’s expensive to train
new staff members on specific curriculum every time there is a new hire so
embedding it is more fiscally responsible.) Another Citywide parent mentioned
that one thing MVMMS principal Mr. Conway is doing is beginning the practice of
not bringing dates to the traditional 8th grade semi-formal, and one
way she thought parents could support that kind of change would be to have a
mandated parent information night like the high school’s mandated parent prom info
nights. Supt. Taymore indicated that parents must understand that we teach all
students, and some have extreme behaviors; there are stresses in classrooms for
the students with the behaviors and the students who witness and experience
those behaviors. (SEL learning can help with that.) Reflecting back on the
curriculum piece, the Supt. is very concerned about asking a teacher to take it
on (for example, a 3rd grade teacher), since they aren’t clinicians.
The state is talking about mandating alcohol/drug screening for 7th
and 10th graders (ref: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/24/bill-would-mandate-school-drug-screenings/nNB5B5BGKpBeRbIDgIzsfI/story.html)
and she worries that teachers will need to decide whether a student needs
intervention services.
At the elementary level,
students are employing devices like “accountable talk.” At the high school,
when the Urban Improv program caused concern among some participants and
parents, it was determined that students need more skills around how to listen,
take perspective, and develop a two-way dialogue. This realization gave
teachers an “aha!” moment: they asked themselves whether they were modeling
those practices in their own classrooms. Supt. Taymore is working with teachers
in so many academic areas now – new elementary reading social studies texts,
etc. and struggles to ask them to do even more. If we work on the culture
piece, it will build capacity to embed SEL in the content work being done. One
implementation of this work is found in using the first three days of the
school year for three specific purposes: build relationships between and among
teachers and students; build routines; and set class expectations. Supt.
Taymore will continue to follow this topic closely and work with staff to embed
quality SEL practices for the benefit of students.
