To succeed, students need more than academics
By Xavier Botana, with Melea Nalli
Colleges look for good grades and test scores to assess
whether students can handle the academic rigors of postsecondary education.
Colleges also look beyond academics for well-rounded students who have other
indicators of success. Have they shown initiative, for instance, or a sense of
social responsibility?
At the Portland Public Schools, we know students need more
than academics to prepare them for college and career. We believe that
academics, work habits, and social-emotional skills are equally important in
school and in life. In fact, that belief is the third of our district’s seven
Core Beliefs about Learning. https://www.portlandschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_1094153/File/Academics/Beliefs%20and%20Core%20Teaching%20Practices.pdf
This is the third in our series of columns about our
Learning Beliefs that I’m writing with Melea Nalli, Assistant Superintendent of
Teaching and Learning. This month, we’ll discuss how social-emotional learning
and positive habits of work and learning are essential components of a
well-rounded education, along with academics.
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process by which we
learn and apply skills needed for learning and life, such as identifying and
managing emotions, building and maintaining relationships and solving problems.
Research http://www.casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2017-META-ANALYSIS-SUMMARY-final2.pdf
shows that SEL programs improve mental health, social skills, and academic
achievement in ways that are long-lasting.
Habits of work and learning (HOWLs) are performance
character traits students must develop to succeed in school, college and
career. In our work with Portland-area employers, they tell us they want
employees who can problem solve and communicate and work productively with
others. We teach our students such “soft skills” necessary to be successful.
SEL also is vitally important for success. Research shows
that multiple adverse childhood experiences in students’ lives can impact the
brain and learning. Students across all income and racial backgrounds can be
impacted. That is why the Portland Public Schools, Maine’s largest and most
diverse school district, believes that SEL skills are important for ALL our
students.
We are striving to build a full continuum of behavioral
health supports that range from proactive development of SEL skills, such as
responsible decision-making, to more responsive mental health supports for
students with more significant needs.
Our schools are setting up structures and routines to facilitate
this work, and we’re providing our teachers with SEL professional development
to help them weave SEL into their instruction.
Here are some examples of what we are doing to support SEL and
HOWLs development:
·
Proactive teaching: Most of our elementary
schools use a curriculum called Second Step, https://www.secondstep.org/ that teaches
students explicit skills around building positive relationships, making good
decisions and working well with others. For example, students can learn skills
involved in starting a conversation (give a compliment, ask a question, look
the other person in the eye) or in coping with situations where they have mixed
feelings, such as being excited and nervous about playing in a sporting event.
·
Giving students explicit feedback: At the
middle-school level, teachers set learning targets that involve both academics
and HOWLs. For instance, an academic lesson can include a HOWLs target of
collaborative planning that is explicitly reinforced throughout the lesson.
·
Providing trauma-sensitive supports and
structures for students who have greater needs: For example, in some schools we
use mindfulness practices or “calm spaces” to help students manage their
emotions. Also, in a handful of elementary schools, we run multicultural
groups, in partnership with Spurwink, that are designed to be both
trauma-sensitive and culturally responsive.
Also, through our free Parent University, we address SEL
issues important to families. For instance, a Parent U session titled “Raising
Powerful and Healthy Girls” is on Wednesday, Dec. 5, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30
p.m. at Lyman Moore Middle School. This workshop focuses on how parents can
partner with their daughters to challenge damaging messages and help them reach
their full potential. Learn more about Parent U at http://parentu.portlandschools.org/
Our Portland Promise is built around the idea that our
students graduate “Prepared and Empowered” for whatever is ahead. This requires
that we not only give the students the academic skills that they need, but also
the competencies, habits of mind and dispositions to succeed. SEL and HOWLs are central components of
preparation and empowerment in today’s world.
