Giving Compass' Take:

• Diana Lee, writing for EdSurge, interviews Dr. Bill Daggett, founder of the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE), about relationship-building as a means of strengthening social and emotional learning during the pandemic. 

• What extra resources or services might school districts need to invest in relationship-building? 

• Read about the impact of student agency on remote learning and teaching. 

When creating the transformative, deep learning experiences we all want for our students, relationships matter. Intuitively, we know this to be true, but what does it look like in schools?

When creating the transformative, deep learning experiences we all want for our students, relationships matter.
As more students are living with trauma and serious mental health issues, and educators face a landscape of shifting priorities along with mounting pressures to demonstrate positive student outcomes, it’s more important than ever to understand the proven, tangible steps schools can take to help.

“Most people talk about academic rigor,” says Dr. Bill Daggett, founder of the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE) and former teacher, administrator and director with the New York State Education Department. “But we believe that successful schools begin with relationships to determine what is relevant to a child. Then building your instructional practices around that relevance is what makes rigor possible. You can’t talk about relationships or SEL (social-emotional learning) and mental health in isolation any more than you should be thinking about academics in isolation.”

EdSurge spoke with Daggett about how school and district leaders can address students’ social, emotional and mental health needs to support learning in these critical times.

Read the full article about investment in relationships for school by Diana Lee at EdSurge.