SEL

Social-emotional learning and achievement at Valor

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Valor Collegiate Academies in Tennessee is crediting a sharp focus on social and emotional learning (SEL) for students’ astonishing academic success, which propelled its Tennessee schools to the top 1 percent of all middle schools in the state in its first year.

The success at Valor not only sheds light on the value of social-emotional learning, but also provides an opportunity to connect those lessons with broader discussions about good character and morals.

The Charter School Growth Fund, which invested $1.5 million for Valor’s first two schools launched in 2013, featured the schools in a recent “CSGF Portfolio Spotlight” on the organization’s website.

Todd Dickson, CEO of Valor Collegiate Academies, explained that the concept for the charter school was inspired by his work at a high-performing charter school in California that focused heavily on academics, and his twin brother Daren’s time helping children in social services with social and emotional skills.

“Students at Valor spend more time on their social and emotional growth than most traditional students. We first work on self-awareness and self-management to help them develop a strong sense of who they are. Then, we work on social awareness and social management to help them develop positive relationships with others. We believe that doing both things well helps develop healthy kids and communities,” Dickson said.

“We also hear from students that they feel safe here and that they have trusting relationships with peers and adults in the building. This has been beneficial in an academic setting; scholars are more willing to take academic risks. They listen to other people’s opinions and accept a diversity of perspectives.”

Valor schools use “The Valor Compass” to guide student growth and help them focus on four primary objectives: Sharp Minds, Noble Purpose, Big Hearts, and Aligned Actions.

“Mentor time, Expeditions, and academic courses all incorporate explicit and experiential experiences to help scholars develop sharp minds, big hearts, noble purpose, and aligned actions,” according to the Valor website. “Valor scholars develop character strengths such as kindness, determination, curiosity, gratitude, and integrity within a supportive community.”

Ryan Olson, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Culture at the University of Virginia, points out in “Character Education” that an SEL researcher argued that “the orientation of social-emotional learning toward action and skill” in SEL programs can complement the “concern for volition and intention often found in character and moral education programs.”

Adding curriculum resources on why students should do and be good—reasons outside oneself and for the benefit of others and a community—improves the stickiness of character formation, and getting students to go deeper by working on developing good sense when there is conflict between the social and emotional skills they’re learning, is an excellent next step, Olson argues.

The UK’s Jubilee Centre offers a worksheet to assist teachers to help students think about the kind of person and type of life they want to pursue.

Literacy education offers template for social and emotional learning

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The education technology company Newsela is offering suggestions for teachers looking to incorporate social emotional learning into their classroom, using literacy instruction as a template.

“Traditional approaches to literacy instruction are bolstered by cross-curricular methods; the same holds true for social emotional learning (SEL) instruction,” Newsela’s Christina Pirzada wrote in a column for EdSurge. “Whether your school has adopted a SEL program or not, you can build SEL into literacy instruction.”

Pirzada suggested three tactics for weaving social emotional learning into everyday lessons.

Using narratives of trailblazers or pivotal moments in history, educators can “emphasize the journey” in lessons by focusing less on achievements and more on “the process, frustrations, state of mind, and points of learning along the way.”

“If you point out examples frequently, students can learn to model and practice resilient thought, words and actions in their own lives,” Pirzada wrote. “For example, when reading about the inventor Thomas Edison, you might highlight that he was fired from his first two jobs and made more than 1,000 attempts to create the light bulb.”

Helping students to understand how their brains work is worthwhile as well, according to Newsela.

“Teaching students about the workings of the brain is a great way to introduce SEL into science and literacy curriculum. Have them read an article about the biology of brain and impulse, and how during key development years the prefrontal cortex is still forming,” Pirzada wrote.

“Show them how stress and other emotions impact their brain development,” she added. “Teaching students what’s happening with their bodies is the first step to empowering them to take control of their behavior and their state of mind.”

Newsela also suggests educators “help students find their voice” and encourage them to engage their communities.

“History lessons are an ideal place for teachers to foster both student agency and voice – with literacy playing a key role. For example, you might start with a working definition of injustice. Then, to connect history to the present, read and discuss past events and time periods that were characterized by student activism,” Pirzada wrote.

“Although it may look different at different schools, research shows that activism is good for kids,” she contends. “Having opportunities to contribute to the world around them makes young people feel useful and valued, reinforcing SEL competencies such as motivation, goal setting and organizational skills.”

James Davison Hunter, founder of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture, wrote in “The Death of Character” about the important impact adults have on shaping students’ moral character, both in schools and their communities.

“(P)erhaps the most we can do is to create greater space in our social life (and not just in private life) for what remains of our wide-ranging and diverse moral communities to be renewed and to renew,” Hunter wrote.  “(I)t is precisely these kinds of social worlds, defined by a clear and intelligible understanding of public and private good mediated consistently through integrated social networks of adult authority, that moral instruction has its most enduring effects on young people.”

The Character Formation Project is one place educators can find a narrative library of historical figures who embody the virtues of good character, a valuable resource for SEL conscious teachers working toward renewed moral communities.

 

Survey: School bullying continues years-long decline

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New data from the National Crime Victimization Survey shows reported incidents of bullying have dropped by more than a third since 2007.

Data from the School Crime Supplement of the national survey released in mid-March shows 20.8 percent of students reported being bullied in 2015 – a nearly 11 percent decline from 2007.

According to U.S. News & World Report:

A similar – though not as significant – decrease was also seen in students reporting being called a hate-related word, with the 7.2 percent reporting such an experience in 2015 down from some 9.7 percent in 2007.

Moreover, the percentage of bullied students who reported being bullied most frequently – as in almost every day – also decreased, while the percentage reporting that they had told a teacher or other adult about being bullied increased.

A Data Point bulletin published by the U.S. Department of Education reports the School Crime Supplement involved a nationally representative sample of students between the ages of 12 and 18.

“The SCS asks students whether they were bullied or called hate-related words in the school building, on school property, on the school bus, or going to or from school,” according to the bulletin. “Specifically, students were asked to report if they were made fun of, called names, or insulted; were the subject of rumors; were threatened with harm; were pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; were pressured into doing things they did not want to do; were excluded from activities on purpose; or had property destroyed on purpose.”

Students were also asked if bullying involved “hate-related words” targeting their race, religion, ethnicity, gender or disability.

This survey is good news suggesting that there are positive benefits from the growing culture-wide sensitivity to bullying. No longer is a “boys-will-be-boys” attitude tolerated. The combination of external stigma and internal programs has helped to improve school climate. Researchers at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture found that “When social institutions—whether the family, peer relationships, youth organizations, the internet, religious congregations, entertainment, or popular culture—cluster together, they form a larger ecosystem of powerful cultural influences.” Around the experience of bullying these positive influences are now bearing fruit.

“Among student who reported they were bullied, the percentage who said the frequency of bullying was ‘almost every day’ decreased from 6.6 percent in 2007 to 4.2 percent in 2015,” the U.S. Department of Education reports. “The percentage of bullied students who indicated that they reported to a teacher or another adult at school about being bullied increased from 36.1 percent in 2007 to 43.1 percent in 2015.”

U.S. News & World Report noted that the progress in combating bullying in schools as administrators “have increased their focus on bullying prevention and focused more intentionally on what’s known as social and emotional learning in an effort to improve school climate.”

For more information on the National Crime Victimization Survey, please visit the Bureau of Justice Statistics website.

Teachers and principals interested in addressing bullying in their school might find support from the following resource: Stick Together

Canadian grad student studies impact of youth programs on social, emotional development

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A Canadian graduate student at Cape Breton University is studying whether youth programs in her community are helping students develop social and emotional skills.

Sheryl Fogarty, a senior psychology honors student, focused her thesis “Efficacy of Community Youth Programs on the Development of Social and Emotional Skills” on students in Whitney Pier, Nova Scotia, and their involvement with the Whitney Pier Youth Club.

According to the Cape Breton Post:

As part of the study, participants have been divided in two categories: Youth who are already taking part in the club’s programs and those who are wait-listed. …

Fogarty has hypothesized that students involved in the program will show a statistically significant increase in social/emotional skills compared to wait-listed students, as a result of being involved in youth programming.

Fogarty, a 35-year-old mother of two who grew up in Whitney Pier, previously worked in the mental health field, and she’s hoping the research will educate the public about the importance of positive youth programs and attract funding to support them.

“We really wanted to use the wait-list group versus the children who have been in the program – matched on age and gender – so we sort of used (the wait-listed) as a quasi-control group,” Fogarty told the Post. “We’re looking at group differences, not individual differences.”

About 30 students involved in the club volunteered to fill out questionnaires during the first phase of the study. Fogarty plans to carry out a second phase in the coming months, and to continue her work after graduation in May.

Fogarty said she was drawn to the research because she believes social and emotional learning is critical for young kids, and it’s not something that’s commonly taught in Canadian schools.

“Social and emotional learning to me was something that is a necessary skill and it’s very important for development and for understanding our emotions, managing our emotions, feeling empathy for others, creating positive relationships and responsible decision making,” she said.

“That really stuck with me. I really felt like that was something that was important for youth and something that wasn’t necessarily being taught, and definitely not taught in schools,” Fogarty added. “These types of youth development programs offer a lot of the opportunities that help to foster those skills.”

There are reasons why the “non-cognitive” aspects of child development have not been adequately explored. Researches at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture identified two. There is “the sense that these attributes are ‘soft’ and difficult to measure” and are also “centrally involve moral issues that can be politically sensitive in a diverse society.” Researchers state bluntly, “Even the most ‘rational’ or calculating spheres of modern life are built upon ‘nonrational’ foundations.” Clearly the development of these skills is a necessary developmental foundation for further moral instruction and so this research is timely and welcome.

For more information about the distinction between non-cognitive development and the default psychologistic account to moral formation, see The Content of Their Character.

For teachers and principals interested in knowing more about character and citizenship formation, information can be found at the UK’s Jubilee Centre.

 

‘Peace teacher’ highlights how social and emotional learning impacts school culture, safety

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Linda Ryden is a “peace teacher” at Lafayette Elementary School, and she contends her job “has never felt so important.”

Ryden recently explained her unique role at the Washington, D.C. school in a column for The Washington Post, detailing how her work to resolve conflicts between students ultimately developed into something more profound.

“I started out 15 years ago teaching conflict resolution, but I realized that children had a hard time remembering how to use conflict resolution skills when they are in a real conflict and are actually angry. They didn’t have any skills to help them recognize their emotions and calm down enough to work things out peacefully,” Ryden wrote. “This is what led me to bring mindfulness into my classes.”

Years ago, students dubbed Ryden the ‘peace teacher,’ a title she’s embraced.

Ryden argues that recent school shootings highlight the importance of teaching students to make good decisions and maintain healthy relationships – a realization that’s also fueling interest in social and emotional learning programs in schools nationwide.

At Lafayette Elementary, Ryden explained that her sole focus is to help students to process their emotions to maintain their composure and share kindness and compassion with their classmates. Through individual talks, a weekly peace class for all of the school’s 500 students, and other measures, students are learning to think before they act and work out their problems peacefully.

“What started out as a little experiment quickly grew into a schoolwide program with all classroom teachers leading daily ‘mindful moments,’” Ryden wrote. “We even have an alternative recess space called ‘peace club,’ where kids can go do decompress.”

“In class, we turn out the lights, and I tell students to count breaths or focus on one of their five senses. It calms them down and allows them to connect with their emotions and think about their bodies. They become more aware of their feelings and learn how to recognize anxious thoughts but not be consumed by them — the foundation of emotional smarts,” she wrote.

After only one year, the results have been encouraging. Researchers at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture can help explain why. Two important aspects are demonstrated here. First, individual character change happens when there is change in the surrounding culture. Many character programs wrongly focus merely on the individual. But individual character change happens when the group is aligned. So the fact that the weekly peace class is offered to all of the school’s 500 students is significant.

Second, too many character programs focus on the psychological preconditions or the thinking processes without any content specific moral direction. Here the focus on mindfulness is coupled with an emphasis on kindness and compassion. It is not a morally neutral process but one with content and direction. The proof is in their outcomes. For more on this perspective on character formation see James Davison Hunter’s book, The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil.

Reports of fights and bullying are down, and Ryden contends students are more focused and calmer, kinder and more compassionate.

“Some students started telling me they were even doing (mindfulness practices) at home to relax or fall asleep at night,” Ryden wrote. “Kids said mindfulness made them feel kinder, less nervous, more confident and better rested.”

She believes the focus on mindfulness, as well as character virtues like kindness and compassion, deserve as much attention in helping to protect students against school shooters and other threats as increased security measures and armed officers.

“I see schools spending more and more money on guards and staff whose sole purpose is to break up fights and discipline kids. Instead, how about getting to the root of these problems?” Ryden questioned. “Yes, we must make sure our schools are physically safe. But we also need to be sure our kids have the skills to deal with these difficult emotional times.

“Of course, no amount of school-based intervention can completely compensate for serious problems in the home or the community, but I believe we owe it to our students to give their hearts as much attention as we give their heads.”

The UK’s Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues provides resources for educators on character formation curriculum.

 

Measuring social-emotional learning for ESSA: no takers

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States submitting plans to the U.S. Department of Education to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act are opting not to measure social-emotional learning as part of school performance metrics.

The decision stems in part from the difficulty of measuring important character traits and interpersonal skills like cooperation, respect, and empathy, though groups like The Jubilee Centre are making strides in assessing character education in local schools.

Two years after Congress adopted the Every Student Succeeds Act, not a single state has submitted a plan to comply with the federal law that incorporates social-emotional learning into state measures for school accountability systems.

According to Education Week:

Schools that adopt social-emotional learning seek to nurture students’ development in areas like self-management and responsible decision making alongside traditional academics. Doing so helps to deepen students’ learning experiences and prepares them for interpersonal situations they will later face in the workplace, educators say.

As the U.S. Department of Education works to approve states’ ESSA plans, some of social-emotional learning’s biggest boosters are expressing relief that states are steering clear of trying to measure such personal skills for accountability.

“There is a groundswell of recognition that the academic, social, and emotional development of children are intertwined in all experiences of learning,” Tim Shriver, co-founder of Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), told the news site. “I think that’s booming . . . Someone might say, ‘Why aren’t you holding states accountable for teaching it?’ The answer to that is we are not ready for it yet.”

Current measures of social and emotional development consist mostly of student surveys in which they self-report on their own character traits, which makes it difficult to comply with ESSA regulations that require “meaningful differentiation in school performance” that are “valid, reliable, comparable, and statewide.”

Joseph E. Davis, sociologist as the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia highlighted the difficulty of “Measuring Virtue in the Audit Society” for The Hedgehog Review, a journal on interdisciplinary topics published by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.

“The very act of creating measures and benchmarks and rating scales can badly distort the nature of the thing being audited, throwing off all sorts of unintended consequences. Far from a merely derived and neutral activity, auditing and performance measurement can construct a system of knowledge and then re-shape the organizational environment to make that system successful. More germane to virtue is the distinct possibility that because the disposition itself is not readily amenable to verifiable, non-subjective measurement, what will be quantified is simply some aspect that is easy to count, often a crude and not very meaningful aspect at that,” Davis wrote.

“This aspect, because verifiable and thus more tractable and ‘real,’ then gets confused with the thing itself. Virtue becomes, as one of the speakers at (a January conference on character at Oriel College, Oxford) argued, ‘what virtue tests test,’” Davis continued.

“I recently heard a social scientist argue that when it comes to measuring morality any measure is better than none, an at-least-we’re-counting-something view . . . But surely, in light of the dynamics of real-world assessment practices, such a facile view is deeply mistaken. Only a very good measure is better than none,” Davis wrote.

And while experts argue that good measures of character and social emotional learning “are not ready for prime time,” as Louisiana State Superintendent John White told Education Week, the Jubilee Centre and others are providing excellent resources for schools to develop their own means of evaluating character education programs on a local level.

The Centre’s “Character Education Evaluation Handbook For Schools,” for example, “is intended to be a source that schools can adapt to their own context” based on “the premise that by using varied forms of self-evaluation teachers can develop a holistic and formative picture of their school’s character-education profile.”

The handbook is broken down into four sections, and takes educators from planning an evaluation, to developing a self-evaluation framework, evaluating curriculum strategies and activities, and eventually how “students’ self-reflection can support the development of character and more specifically practical wisdom.”

The handbook also provides examples of different approaches to student self-reflection on character currently in use by schools, according to The Jubilee Centre website.

Social-emotional learning and achievement at Valor

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Valor Collegiate Academies in Tennessee is crediting a sharp focus on social and emotional learning (SEL) for students’ astonishing academic success, which propelled its Tennessee schools to the top 1 percent of all middle schools in the state in its first year.

The success at Valor not only sheds light on the value of social-emotional learning, but also provides an opportunity to connect those lessons with broader discussions about good character and morals.

The Charter School Growth Fund, which invested $1.5 million for Valor’s first two schools launched in 2013, featured the schools in a recent “CSGF Portfolio Spotlight” on the organization’s website.

Todd Dickson, CEO of Valor Collegiate Academies, explained that the concept for the charter school was inspired by his work at a high-performing charter school in California that focused heavily on academics, and his twin brother Daren’s time helping children in social services with social and emotional skills.

“Students at Valor spend more time on their social and emotional growth than most traditional students. We first work on self-awareness and self-management to help them develop a strong sense of who they are. Then, we work on social awareness and social management to help them develop positive relationships with others. We believe that doing both things well helps develop healthy kids and communities,” Dickson said.

“We also hear from students that they feel safe here and that they have trusting relationships with peers and adults in the building. This has been beneficial in an academic setting; scholars are more willing to take academic risks. They listen to other people’s opinions and accept a diversity of perspectives.”

Valor schools use “The Valor Compass” to guide student growth and help them focus on four primary objectives: Sharp Minds, Noble Purpose, Big Hearts, and Aligned Actions.

“Mentor time, Expeditions, and academic courses all incorporate explicit and experiential experiences to help scholars develop sharp minds, big hearts, noble purpose, and aligned actions,” according to the Valor website. “Valor scholars develop character strengths such as kindness, determination, curiosity, gratitude, and integrity within a supportive community.”

Ryan Olson, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Culture at the University of Virginia, points out in “Character Education” that an SEL researcher argued that “the orientation of social-emotional learning toward action and skill” in SEL programs can complement the “concern for volition and intention often found in character and moral education programs.”

Adding curriculum resources on why students should do and be good—reasons outside oneself and for the benefit of others and a community—improves the stickiness of character formation, and getting students to go deeper by working on developing good sense when there is conflict between the social and emotional skills they’re learning, is an excellent next step, Olson argues.

The UK’s Jubilee Centre offers a worksheet to assist teachers to help students think about the kind of person and type of life they want to pursue.

High school teaches social emotional skills

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Hinsdale High School District 86 in Illinois is showing high-schoolers how to identify and measure their emotions, in hopes that the social and emotional skills can help them balance life and focus in school.  The district recently adopted the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence’s “RULER” approach—an acronym that stands for recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotions.

Yale officials held a workshop with Hinsdale South High School staff at the beginning of the school year, and planned social and emotional learning is now required as part of physical education for all freshmen, the Chicago Tribune reports.

A key to the program is a “mood meter” to help students better identify their emotional state.

According to the Tribune:

The upper right quadrant is yellow and describes when someone is energetic and in a good mood. The lower right quadrant is green and with words such as tranquil, content, chill and secure, describes when someone is feeling good, but not very energetic.

The lower left quadrant is blue, representing when someone is disgusted, alienated, disappointed, bored or ashamed. The upper left quadrant is red, with words such as furious, frustrated, shocked, nervous and annoyed, describing someone who is feeling both unpleasant and high energy.

Teachers of all subjects are receiving training, and are incorporating social and emotional skills into other daily lessons, as well.

Math teacher Gina Gagliano, for example, offers extra credit to students who use the mood meter phone app to record their mood at three different times throughout the day for about two months, and analyze patterns.

Both students and teachers were skeptical about the lessons at first, but several students said they learned more about themselves than they expected.  “At first I thought it was kind of dumb,” freshman Lilly O’Donnell told the Tribune. “I thought, ‘I don’t want to talk about my feelings.’ But I learned ways you could deal with your emotions.”

Fellow freshman Nola Colakovic agreed.  “I didn’t think we really needed it,” she said. “I thought I knew how to handle what I was feeling. But as it went on, I learned there were better ways.” Instead of getting sassy when she’s annoyed, Colakovic said she’s learned to take a moment to think before she reacts.  “That actually helped,” she said.

Hinsdale’s focus on social-emotional learning underscores the reality that schools are formative institutions, with a mission that extends far beyond academics.

James Davison Hunter and Ryan S. Olson, with the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, write in The Content of Their Character:

Human beings, after all, are not merely cerebral, but sentient; not merely rational, but feeling—and beyond the intellectual and emotional, they are social and normative beings, too.

The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues helps teachers and students with those questions through building compassion for others. By connecting emotions, choices, and actions, the Jubilee Centre materials push students beyond skills and toward the virtue of compassion.

Students take control of their curriculum

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The Achievement First charter school network is modifying its approach at several schools to test a new Greenfield model that give students more autonomy over their education, an effort to promote responsible learning that will help students through college.

Achievement First reworked its educational approach several years ago after data showed less than a third of its high school graduates earned college degrees on time. Officials at the charter network conducted extensive research and worked with consultants to interview parents, staff, and alumni to find ways to better support students through college.

“One (alumni) said, ‘In college you have to teach yourself more than half the content on your own,’” Dacia Toll, Achievement First’s CEO, told The New York Times. The reoccurring theme “sort of led to the whole concept of self-directed learning.”

The Greenfield model—which blends the charter network’s high expectations and strict rules with new elements designed to develop independence, and a sense of identity and character—is now in a pilot phase in three of the network’s 34 schools: Achievement First Aspire Middle School in Brooklyn, New York; Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island; and Elm City College Preparatory Elementary School in New Haven, Connecticut.

According to the Times:

The model emphasizes what the network calls “student-directed,” or online, learning; three-times-a-year classes called expeditions, meant to allow students to explore their interests and discover possible careers; a social-emotional curriculum focused on developing students’ sense of identity and community; and a beefed-up role for parents and other caregivers and mentors. The aim is to cultivate students who are more self-directed and resilient, as well as to give parents confidence in their ability to support their children through the challenges of college.

Achievement First implemented an online learning platform and tasked students with completing units in humanities, math, science, vocabulary, and grammar by specific dates, with weekly progress reports sent to parents. Officials also added goal coaches to help students set goals for themselves.

Students participate in expeditions three times per year. These are two-week-long segments of three hours a day focused on their specific interests and potential careers. Students in 3rd grade and above select their own expeditions—which typically include full day field trips and hands-on action—from courses on things like debate, building and architecture, and the medical field.

Other changes include twice-weekly student “circles” borrowed from the social-emotional curriculum at Valor Collegiate Academies in Nashville. Achievement First students huddle in circles and use emojis to describe how they’re feeling, allowing teachers to follow up with struggling students. The circles also allow students to share ways to relate to each other, and build a sense of trust.

Aylon Samouha, a consultant who helped develop the Greenfield model, told the Times that helping students to feel they’re valuable and belong leads to improved focus in the classroom. “You can release some of that and free up your working memory to work on the tasks at hand,” he said.

While increased focus on autonomy and responsibility at Achievement First are ultimately aimed at improving academic success, they’re equally important for building character.

James Davison Hunter and Ryan S. Olson of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture write in The Content of Their Character:

In its formal sense, character is comprised of moral discipline, moral attachment, and moral autonomy: the capacities of an individual to inhibit his or her personal appetites or interests on behalf of a greater good, to affirm and live by the ideals of a greater good, and to freely make ethical decisions for or against those goods.

Hunter and Olson argue that “this doesn’t happen in isolation from the social world.” Rather, it is formed in a “conversation” between “individual subjectivity, moral ideas and ideals, and the structure of social institutions.”

Helping students to take responsibility for learning and virtue are as important as the moral ideals presented in history, literature, and art. Together these constitute what Hunter and Olson call the “moral ecology” of a school. That moral ecology can form students who understand learning as a worthy end in itself, and teach them that their actions influence their learning.

The Great Hearts charter school network provides a paradigm that promotes a similar path. According to the school’s mission,”Great Hearts is passionately committed to cultivating the hearts and minds of students through the pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.”

Retired Air Force General wants kids to have a purpose

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Craig McKinley is a strong proponent of developing social and emotional skills in students, and the retired four-star U.S. Air Force general recently sat down with The Aspen Institute to explain why.

“I think SEL prepares young people to be part of a process where they believe in something bigger than themselves,” said McKinley, who also served as president and CEO of the National Defense Industrial Association.

McKinley discussed his views on social and emotional learning last fall during a meeting of The Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional & Academic Development. McKinley serves as a commissioner with the group, which is “uniting leaders to re-envision what constitutes success in our schools.”

The Commission works with teachers and students across the country to “explore how schools can fully integrate social, emotional and academic development to support the whole student,” according to The Aspen Institute website.

With social and emotional learning, students “are taught it isn’t all about them,” McKinley said, “and that they can achieve excellence by practicing integrity, and doing all the things that some kids get naturally, and some kids get late in life.” “SEL is that tool, that conveyance, that takes a young person from not believing in himself or herself to a place where he or she can be a very productive part of society and contribute as much as they can,” he said.

The Aspen Institute’s Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD) program researches and champions the role of social and emotional learning (SEL) in education because “overwhelming evidence demands that we complement the focus on academics with the development of the social and emotional skills and competencies that are equally essential for students to thrive in school, career, and life.”

When students thrive, they’re accomplishing much more than simply succeeding. As General McKinley suggests, it points to a connection to something greater than the self, and it’s an acute need in education today.

University of California, Los Angeles sociologist and researcher Jeffrey Guhin studied the formation of character in urban public schools for the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture’s School Cultures and Student Formation Project. In contrast to General McKinley’s vision of a connection to a greater good, Guhin reported in The Content of Their Character, “[I]n the absence of a stronger ethical sensibility that could carry throughout the school community, students were left to find larger ethical visions that might work for them . . . To the extent students were committed to altruism, solidarity, or broader public virtues, it was always through this diffuse institution of individualism, of insisting that what you most owe the world is your own self-realization.”

General McKinley points out that SEL is not simply about self-realization, but rather a deep recognition among students of a purpose “bigger than themselves.”

Often, students learn to develop social and emotional skills through service to others. Edutopia featured one example of a meaningful service project that builds character with a 4-minute video about Eminence Independent Schools in Kentucky, where students collaborate twice a year on projects to help their community.

©2017 Advanced Studies in Culture

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