Giving Compass' Take:

• Social emotional learning benefits both students and educators in the classroom. Rethink Ed is developing a platform that will provide mental health solutions along with prosocial behavior tools to help both kids and teachers thrive at their school. 

• What about schools that do not have access to these tools or training sessions? What can edtech programmers do to prioritize expanding access to these types of beneficial platforms?

• Read the tips on providing social-emotional learning into everyday literacy instruction for students. 

 It's no secret that educators who champion the whole-child approach also laud social and emotional learning (SEL) for its scientifically linked success in creating a productive, positive, less stressful school climate.

At Rethink Ed, we know from examining the research that for SEL to have the most transformative effect, it must be embedded into the entire school—all day, every day.

And yet, unprecedented levels of bullying-induced stress are wreaking havoc on students’ mental, physical and behavioral health. The problem has gotten so bad that New York and Virginia recently mandated mental health education in their school curriculums to “enhance student understanding, attitudes, and behavior that promote health, well-being, and human dignity.”

Educators aren’t immune either. A 2017 report by the American Federation of Teachers says teachers are more stressed out more often than the general U.S. workforce, citing hostile work conditions, high-stakes testing, diminished autonomy, and lack of planning time as prevailing reasons.

So what’s holding educators back from experiencing the very real benefits of SEL, including better academic performance, greater self-efficacy, and higher quality relationships? For many, it’s a lack of training. A recent national survey found that although four out of five teachers are interested in SEL professional learning, only 55 percent have received it.

At Rethink Ed, we’re closing that gap by introducing a comprehensive, evidence-based, first-of-its-kind SEL solution that promotes mental health, emotional regulation, and prosocial behaviors for all learners—including the adults who teach and support them.

In developing our platform, we sought to better understand the who, what, why, and how of teaching social and emotional learning. Here’s what we found:

  1. SEL is for teachers, too. 
  2. Data must drive decision making. 
  3. SEL programming must be flexible.
  4. Implementation and collaboration supports are a must. 

Read the full article about social emotional learning by Diana Frezza at EdSurge