OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING AND THE DEVELOPING SAFE AND CIVIL SCHOOLS INITIATIVE

A Program of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab

What is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)?

Vision for Developing Safe and Civil Schools: A Social-Emotional Initiative

Components of DSACS

What is Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)?

SEL refers to the skills, classroom and organizational structure and curricular and program content that is important for optimizing students’ potential to be caring, competent and committed individuals. Given the challenges facing students due to the fast pace of life, economic demands on parents and the array of digital media and pervasive advertising, a focus on SEL is critical because it promotes success behaviors, reduces safety and health concerns, positively impacts on academics, builds caring communities, prepares students to be ethical leaders, and provides resources and political capital in the community.

The effective coordination of SEL adds value to schools in the following ways:

1. Builds students’ skills for success by:

• developing academic, career and relationship skills; and

• establishing caring communities of learners, where there are strong connections to staff, peers and to the school as a valued place to belong.

2. Develops students’ character by:

• fostering good citizenship;

• developing purpose and sense of optimism about the future;

• teaching how to make sound choices;

• increasing the likelihood of students’ making realistic “means-ends” connections; and

• developing skills and values for service learning in and out of school.

3. Prevents student problem behaviors by:

• developing safe environments free from bullying, intimidation, harassment and victimization; and reducing the likelihood of problem behaviors such as violence, bullying, substance abuse, truancy, school dropout, depression, apathy and disaffection.

Vision for Developing Safe and Civil Schools: A Social-Emotional Initiative

The Developing Safe and Civil Schools: A Social-Emotional Learning Initiative (DSACS) is designed to build local educational resources for improving SEL conditions in the participating school districts. Low-performing non-Abbott school districts will be selected for participation in this initiative. The non-Abbott school districts traditionally have fewer resources than Abbott districts, but also have students with high academic need. Additionally, non-Abbott school districts generally have fewer dedicated state resources and initiatives than Abbott districts, thereby providing a better opportunity to demonstrate the impact of the initiative on the climate of the school districts and the behavior and performance of students.

Current SEL-related efforts in schools include character education, bullying and violence prevention, substance abuse prevention, counseling and related services and other SEL curriculum programs, positive behavior supports and efforts toward school-wide positive recognition of students, and service learning. In many cases, these efforts are not coordinated across the school district. This has two major results, especially in schools in low-performing settings:

• The whole is less than the sum of its parts. Schools are not receiving the benefits of the SEL-related services in proportion to the effort and expenditure required for implementation.
• Students’ emotional, behavioral and attitudinal skills are not affected to the point where they can direct sufficient energy to academic learning and demonstrate real progress. Schools are not receiving benefits in proportion to the efforts made to increase academic proficiency.

Components of DSACS

Under the DSCAS initiative, all eligible school districts are provided the opportunity to attend a workshop entitled “Putting the Pieces Together: Improving Academic Outcomes and School Climate, Safety and Civility.” The workshop is designed to train district teams in essential principles of coordination for existing SEL efforts in character development, positive behavior, health promotion and at-risk behavior prevention. Participants learn how to put the puzzle pieces together so students and staff can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their SEL efforts.

 The DSCAS initiative also provides an opportunity for school districts that attend the “Putting the Pieces Together” workshop to apply for our Follow-Up Mentoring and Support component. Selected participants will receive three days of training for the designated SEL coordinator over the course of the school year, support materials, ongoing mentoring and support from an established SEL mentor, and ongoing technical assistance access to the New Jersey SEL Mentoring Coalition, the DSACS SEL Leadership Team and the DSACS staff. On-site consultation also can be arranged when needed.

The training, technical assistance and other supportive services and resources provided or coordinated by project staff at Rutgers University through this initiative, are intended to assist school staff in organizing various resources, programs and services to create strong SEL conditions designed to result in reduced at-risk student behavior, the development of positive learning climates and improved academic performance among students in participating schools. Further, the DSACS initiative is aligned with and can assist districts in meeting the requirements of N.J. A.C. 6A-16-7, the new regulations for the Student Code of Conduct. Perhaps most importantly, participation can help move toward our collective vision for the schools of New Jersey:

Students entering schools in New Jersey will feel they have a positive purpose in being there.

They will feel engaged, attached, and connected and see the schools as a place they can learn and do things to contribute to the world around them, advance their sense of purpose, and become more literate in academic, media, artistic, and civic areas. This will be accomplished in part because the students will experience coordinated and continuous efforts to build their social- emotional skills, positive character, service-learning contributions, and health, and to prevent substance abuse and violent/bullying behavior in a safe, civil, caring, supportive, and ethical environment.