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Area schools tackle social & emotional learning needs
By Janice Youngwith
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
"They're the well-adjusted,
well-educated, socially responsible
decision-makers we want to be our
neighbors, colleagues, civic leaders
and employees."
That's how Eric Taubery, area
administrator at Fox Lake's Grant
High School, describes his vision for
all high school graduates.
His concept, shared by educators
across the state, combines
social and emotional development
with academic acumen and is
at the heart of a new three-year
grant implementation program
challenging select area middle and
high schools to develop plans fully
integrating new statewide social
and emotional learning standards
into classroom curriculum.
"As educators, we've always
known that self-awareness, self-management,
social awareness, relationship
skills and responsible decisionmaking
are skills we need to teach,
right along with reading, writing and
math," explains Taubery, a former
social studies teacher. "It's why many
of us become teachers to make a
difference as we prepare tomorrow's
leaders in our classrooms today."
With its 1730 students and 185
staff members, Grant High School is
one of only three area high schools
and 14 local elementary schools
selected to participate in the statewide
grant program and charged to
formulate three-year implementation
plans for the social and emotional
learning standards.
"The first year is targeted for
information gathering, looking at
where we are as a school and what
our needs might be," Taubery
notes. "To date, student and staff
surveys have helped provide important
benchmarks. This month
we'll gauge parental response at a
special meeting."
Timing couldn't be more critical,
Taubery says.
"Many of our teachers discover
that they are already addressing
many of these topics in their classroom,"
he says. "With double digit
mental health issues in high schools
today and challenges of school violence,
diversity, tolerance and more,
it's time to formalize our social and
emotional learning efforts."
According to Marjorie Cave,
director of Professional Development
Services for the DuPage
Regional Office of Education, one
of six regional offices helping to
support first-year implementation
for school sites through additional
staff training and ongoing coaching
support, Illinois is at the forefront
when it comes to acknowledging and
implementing social and emotional
learning standards within the educational
system.
"As educators, we've always
known that students who are socially
and emotionally grounded do better
in school," she notes, pointing
to statewide social and emotional
learning standards, age-appropriate
goals, benchmarks and performance
descriptors adopted by the Illinois
State Board of Education in 2004.
"While the initiative is new,
I've always believed that students
who don't feel safe and valued
in the classroom, aren't ready to
learn," she states. "In our region,
several schools in DuPage, Kane,
Lake, Will, Grundy, Kendall and
McHenry counties have written
grants and received funding support
and coaching services as they take a
close look at curriculum and make
important links to the social and
emotional learning standards systemwide.
All children deserve an equal
opportunity to learn. Teachers spend
so much time with our children and,
ultimately, have the greatest impact
on their learning both academically
and socially."
The grant program, she
explains, challenges schools and
districts to systemically research,
develop and implement plans,
imbedding social and emotional
learning efforts into the system and
throughout classrooms. "
In addition to Grant High
School, teams at Adlai Stevenson
High School, Lincolnshire, and
Oswego High School, as well as
elementary districts in Woodridge,
Lombard, Lake Forest, Mundelein
and Crystal Lake are among the first
to tackle social and emotional plan
development and implementation.
"In looking at curriculum and
students, our current academic efforts
and school improvement goals, we're
examining our mission, vision and
values as well as benchmarking efforts
focusing on the whole student,"
states Marilee Muirhead, substance
abuse prevention coordinator
at Stevenson.
With its 4500 students from
Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire, Long
Grove and parts of Diamond
Lake, Vernon Hills, Kildeer and
Hawthorn Woods, Muirhead says
her team's goal is an integrated,
strategic plan incorporating existing
efforts such as the school's World
of Difference program and diversity
awareness initiatives.
Patti Marcinko, Ph.D., director
of student services at far west suburban
Oswego High School, concurs
on the need for a comprehensive and
systemic approach.
"Our team is actually looking
at each and every department to see
what's already being offered in
the curriculum," she states. "For
example, in our English classes, discussion
can focus on social and emotional
learning by exploring ethical
and societal factors that influence
behaviors of characters in literature.
During our student advisory periods,
teachers are focusing on connecting
the SEL standards to the pillars
of our Character Counts program.
We're trying to focus on all facets
of the educational experience and
look at each of our 1600 students as
a whole."
The bottom line, she notes, is to
answer the question "What skills do
we want our students to be able to
demonstrate upon graduation?"
"State testing shows we do a
good job academically," she says.
"Now is the time to formalize some
of those less tangible things like
work ethic, responsibility, awareness
and social competency."
What is social &
emotional learning?
Social and emotional learning is
the process through which children
and adults acquire knowledge,
attitudes and skills needed to
recognize and manage emotions,
demonstrate caring and concern for
others, establish positive relationships,
make responsible decisions
and handle challenging situations
constructively, according to Caryn
Curry, Mental Health America of
Illinois representative who oversees
the three-year statewide implementation
program for the Children's
Mental Health Partnership and current
efforts to help educators better
understand and implement the new
learning standards.
"Developing social competency
and skills such as anger management,
problem solving and interpersonal communications
can pave the way for academic success,"
she says. "The learning standards give
Illinois children a leg up in terms
of helping each and every child
have the best possible chance
for success in life. Competence in
the use of skills is promoted in the
context of safe and supportive
schools, family and community
learning environments in which children feel
valued, respected and engaged in
learning."
"There is a great deal of data
indicating that large numbers
of children are contending with
significant social, emotional and
mental health barriers to their
success in school and life," Curry
says, "Research indicates that children
from all walks of life show
significant academic improvement
on standardized achievement tests
when social and emotional skills
are taught."
According to Curry, a total
of 87 Illinois schools and 41
districts across all six educational
regions within the state, are already
involved as the state focus shifts
to helping educators provide
high-quality social and emotional
education for their students from
kindergarten through grade 12.
There is a strong research
base indicating that social and
emotional competencies improve
student's development, readiness
to learn, classroom behavior and
academic performance.
Drafting Illinois' social and
emotional learning standards was
a collaborative effort between the
Illinois State Board of Education,
the Illinois Children's Mental
Health Partnership and the Collaborative
for Academic, Social
and Emotional Learning (CASEL),
according to Curry.
According to Dick Carlson,
former Illinois State Board of Education
member currently consulting on
refinements to educational standards,
each social and emotional learning
standard includes five benchmark
levels describing what children must
know and be able to do in the early
elementary (K-3), late elementary
(grades 4-5), middle school (grades
6-8), early high school (grades 9-10)
and late high school (grades 11-12)
levels. Performance descriptors, he
says, soon will be modified to reflect
individual grade levels.
According to the Collaborative
for Academic, Social and Emotional
Learning (CASEL) currently
sharing expertise and research with
pilot project schools, there is a vast
amount of data indicating that
large numbers of children contend
with significant social, emotional
and mental health barriers to their
success in both school and life. In
addition, they indicate many children
engage in challenging behaviors
which educators must address to
provide high quality instruction.
According to a 2005 Youth
Risk Behavior Survey, six percent
of U.S. youth ages 14-17 did not
go to school on one or more of the
previous 30 days because they felt
unsafe at school or on their way to
and from school. Some 7.9 percent
said they had been threatened or
injured with a weapon on school
property during this same period.
Nearly 28.5 percent of these youth
reported having felt so sad or hopeless
almost every day for two weeks
or more in the last 12 months that
they stopped doing some usual
activities and 13 percent reported
having made a plan to attempt
suicide during this period.
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