Transcript Slide 1

The Social Emotional Impact
on Learning
RSAC 2006
Gail Owen, Director, Mid-Illini Educational Cooperative
Colette Leuck, Project Manager
Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership
Why are Schools Concerned
About Social Emotional
Learning?
Why SEL Standards and Policies Are Needed
• 15% to 22% of the nation’s youth experience social, emotional, and
mental health problems requiring treatment
• 70% to 80% of children in need are not getting appropriate mental
health services
• 25%-30% of American children experience school adjustment
problems
• 32% of children (including toddlers) at 10 Chicago childcare centers
are deemed to have behavioral problems
• 14% of students 12-18 years of age report having been bullied at
school in the 6 months prior to being interviewed. Those bullied
report greater levels of fear of being attacked at or away from school
and lower grades.
Reasons for Addressing SEL and Mental Health: Data about
Risky Behaviors from Youth 14-17 Years Old (CDC, 2003)
Behaviors
U.S. % of
students
Had 5 or more alcoholic drinks in a couple of hours (previous 30
days)
28.3
Used marijuana (lifetime)
40.2
Were in a physical fight on school property (previous 12 months)
12.8
Carried a gun on school property (previous 30 days)
6.1
Did not go to school because felt unsafe at school or on way to or
from school (previous 30 days)
5.4
Felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a
row that stopped doing some usual activities (previous 12 months)
28.6
Made a plan to attempt suicide (previous 12 months)
16.5
Currently sexually active (previous 3 months)
34.3
Reasons for Addressing SEL: Limited Social-Emotional
Assets in 6th to 12th Grade Youth (Search Institute, 1999)
Asset category
Social
competence
Support
Asset
U.S. % of
students
How people who know you well would rate you
on:
Thinking through the results of your
choices, planning ahead
29
Caring about others’ feelings, feeling sad
when a friend is unhappy, being good at
making and keeping friends
43
Respecting the values/beliefs of people of
different races/cultures
35
My teachers really care about me
24
What Is Social and Emotional
Learning (SEL)?
• SEL is the process of acquiring the skills to
recognize and manage emotions, develop caring
and concern for others, establish positive
relationships, make responsible decisions, and
handle challenging decisions effectively.
This process is facilitated in safe, caring,
well-managed learning communities, in which
all students feel supported, respected, and
valued and have abundant opportunities for
participation, collaboration, and service.
--CASEL (2005), Safe and Sound, IL Edition
What Is Mental Health?
Mental health is “the successful
performance of mental function,
resulting in productive activities,
fulfilling relationships with other people,
and the ability to adapt to change and
cope with adversity.” As such, mental
health includes competence in socialemotional skills.
--Dept. of Health and Human Services (1999).
Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon
General
What’s Needed for Students’ Academic
and Life Success
• Coordinated school, family, and community
efforts to promote social and emotional skills
in all children
• Provision of early intervention and student
support and mental health services for
children with social, emotional, or mental
health problems
Why SEL and Mental Health Are Important in
the School Setting
• Relationships and emotions affect how and what we
learn
• Social and emotional skills can be taught
• Students with good SEL skills and mental health have
fewer behavior problems and risky behaviors and are
better able to make good use of instructional time
• SEL skills are essential for academic achievement
as well as workplace and lifelong success
• Many mental health problems are preventable
• Quality SEL and early intervention can reduce the
need for grade retention and special education
• Educators can play an important role in identifying
and appropriately referring children at risk to student
support and mental health services
Three-level Prevention/Early Intervention
Services Model
Intensive intervention: Interventions for
emotionally disabled--intense, comprehensive,
interagency family-focused, sustained help.
Early intervention: Providing academic &
emotional support & remedial help to students
placed at-risk.
Universal prevention: Promotion of academic,
social, & emotional wellness for all students
through school climate, SEL skills, teacher
training, team support
--Osher & Dwyer, 2002
How Schools Have Addressed the Needs:
Many Programs for Many Problems
• AIDS education
• Conflict resolution
• Career education
• Mental health promotion
• Character education
• Multicultural education
• Civic education
• Service learning
• Delinquency prevention
• Injury prevention
• Dropout prevention
• Sex education
• Substance abuse prevention
• Suicide prevention
• Bullying prevention
• Truancy prevention
• Health education
• Violence prevention
Academics
Parent
Programs
Service
Learning
Health
Education
Communi
ty
Outreach
PBIS
Student
Support
Services
Character
Ed
Violence
Prevention
After
School
Effective Academic,
Social, and
Emotional Education
Reasons for SEL Standards: Research Says
SEL Promotes Students’ Academics
• Children whose social, emotional, and physical needs
have been met are better prepared to learn
• Safe, caring, and well-managed learning
environments promote greater student attachment to
school
• Mastery of social and emotional skills reduces risky
behaviors and promotes positive development
• Social and emotional factors have been found to
have a powerful influence on academic performance
-- Greenberg et al. (2003); Zins et al. (2004)
Goals, Standards, Benchmarks,
Performance Descriptors
• Take a puzzle piece
• Look at the handout descriptor for
your piece
• Be able to explain (and answer the
question on the back) to others with
the same colored piece
Three Goals that Organize
SEL Standards Developed by the Illinois State
Board of Education (ISBE)
• Goal 1: Develop self-awareness and selfmanagement skills to achieve school and life
success
• Goal 2: Use social-awareness and
interpersonal skills to establish and maintain
positive relationships
• Goal 3: Demonstrate decision-making skills
and responsible behaviors in personal,
school, and community contexts.
SEL Standards for Goal 1:
Develop self-awareness and self-management
skills
to achieve school and life success
• Identify and manage one’s emotions and
behaviors
• Recognize personal qualities and external
supports
• Demonstrate skills related to achieving personal
and academic goals
SEL Standards for Goal 2:
Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills
to establish and maintain positive
relationships
• Recognize the feelings and perspectives of
others
• Recognize individual and group similarities
and differences
• Use communication and social skills to
interact effectively with others
• Demonstrate an ability to prevent, manage,
and resolve interpersonal conflicts in
constructive ways
SEL Standards for Goal 3:
Demonstrate decision-making skills and
responsible behaviors in personal, school,
and community contexts
• Consider ethical, safety, and societal factors
in making decisions
• Apply decision-making skills to deal
responsibly with daily academic and social
situations
• Contribute to the well-being of one’s school
and community
Meeting the Goals: Effective Programming
to Meet the SEL Standards
• Begins in preschool and continues through
high school
• Provides multi-year, sequenced classroom
instruction that builds upon and reinforces
learning from one year to the next
• Uses a variety of interactive instructional
strategies that connect academic work to
children’s lives
• Provides opportunities for students to apply
SEL skills and ethical values in and out of the
classroom
• Engages students in service activities in and
out of the classroom
Meeting the Goals: Effective Programming
to Meet the SEL Standards (continued)
• Establishes and enforces high behavioral and
academic standards
• Addresses multiple domains—individual student,
school, and community
• Has structured manual and curriculum to support
consistency of delivery
• Involves parents and community members in
program planning, implementation, and evaluation
• Provides ongoing professional development support
• Monitors and evaluates programming for continuous
improvement
Classroom-based SEL Instruction
Recognizing one’s emotions and
values as well as one’s strengths
and limitations
Managing emotions and
behaviors to achieve
one’s goals
Making ethical,
constructive
choices about personal
and social behavior
Self-awareness
Selfmanagement
social &
emotional
learning
Social
awareness
Showing understanding
and empathy for others
Responsible
decisionmaking
Relationship
Skills
Forming positive relationships,
working in teams, dealing
effectively with conflict
Classroom Applications
• Draw out of “Performance Descriptor” envelope
• How could you teach this in the context of a
classroom - or – within an established lesson?
• Share your idea/s
Examples of What Teachers Can Do
to Address the SEL Standards
• Teach and model SEL behaviors of respect,
caring, self-control, and fair decision making in and
out of the classroom
• In language arts or social studies lessons,
encourage students to discuss how characters
or historical figures did or did not express
understanding of others’ feelings or use good
problem-solving skills
• Participate in the committee that evaluates,
selects, and creates evidence-based SEL
programs and strategies
• Communicate regularly with parents to let them
know about the SEL-related classroom activities in
which their children are participating
What’s needed-moving from here:
Categorical
fragmentation in
addressing learning
barriers…
To here:
A coordinated
approach to
promoting students’
academic and life
success through SEL
Steps in Implementing School-wide SEL and
Mental Health to Support Academics
• Establish readiness of school leadership
• Engage key stakeholders, including parents, in a
steering committee
• Develop a shared vision
• Conduct a needs/resources assessment
• Develop an implementation plan
• Select an evidence-based program
• Conduct initial professional development
• Launch SEL instruction
• Integrate SEL instruction with student support and
mental health services and school-wide functions
• Engage in a continuous cycle of improvement
--CASEL (in press), Implementing School-wide Social
and Emotional Learning (SEL): Guide and Tool Kit
For further information about the standards and
policies, visit the website of the Illinois State
Board of Education at www.isbe.net
For further information about the Illinois
Children’s Mental Health Partnership, visit
www.ivpa.org
For the latest information about SEL
research and practice, visit the website
of the Collaborative for Academic,
Social, and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) at www.casel.org