In the News

students hanging out

A Program to Gauge Mental Health in Middle Schools

Concerns over growing teen suicides nationwide and youth mental health issues have prompted officials at Crystal Lake Elementary District 47 to start talking about it in class and assess whether students are at risk. This month the district rolled out a suicide prevention and depression awareness program, known as Signs of Suicide or SOS, for seventh- and eighth-graders. It’s the latest effort to address students’ social and emotional needs.Read More

Read More at Daily Herald


students talking in class

How to do SEL in K-12

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a real thing and if teachers in your school, district or state are not already explicitly teaching SEL skills, it is likely that they soon will be. Several states have adopted SEL standards for K-12 curriculum.Read More

Read More at Question Tank


students playing

Looking for SEL programs? New RAND report has answers

A new report from the RAND Corporation identifies 60 elementary, middle and high school-level SEL programs that can meet ESSA’s expectations for using an evidence-based intervention. The report also lists which positive outcomes the program or practice might produce, such as reducing aggression, improving motivation or addressing test anxiety.Read More

Read More at Education Dive


students with cellphones

New Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum Helps Students Find Lifelong Success

St. Mary of Gostyn School is introducing a new program called “Second Step”, which helps students learn to express themselves appropriately, accept others’ differences, and detect social cues. “While we do a great job with academics and incorporating faith into our curriculum, we feel we need to cover the social and emotional needs of our students,” said Chris Kalal, Assistant Principal at SMG.Read More

Read More at mysuburbanlife.com


students working in class

How Waddell Elementary dramatically improved its academic performance

Last school year, 77 percent of Waddell’s 462 students logged in to Achieve3000 after school, on weekends or during holidays, totaling 3,491 log-ins. On one of the walls in the school, Waddell displays for each grade level each month the average reading level attained and the number of articles the students read and correctly answered at least 75 percent of the comprehension questions.Read More

Read More at Ledger-Enquirer


students working in class

Greenbrier Elementary Piloting Social-Emotional Learning Program

Joan Cole Duffell, executive director of Committee for Children, in August issued a statement in response to the Unite the Right rally. She said fostering the social-emotional development of children could help extinguish hatred, violence, and intolerance in future generations.

“It is of paramount importance to build children’s social-emotional competencies — so that they might grow up to be adults who start from a place of empathy and kindness, not fear and hate,” Duffell wrote.Read More

Read More at Charlottesville Tomorrow