Children graduating from K-12 schools are largely unprepared for workplace challenges, and with the rise of smart machines, workforce readiness gaps are likely to increase. What are promising practices for preparing students for the changing world of work? How can educators help students develop their uniquely human attributes and flexible skills that can be applied Read more about Issue Brief: Preparing Learners for an Uncertain Future[…]
Integrating Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD): An Action Guide for School Leadership Teams provides practical advice, curated resources, and action steps for school leaders to improve the student experience, calling out specific equity implications in every section. Published by Education First and co-developed with practitioner-leaders from Minneapolis and Nashville public schools and experts from the Read more about Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development[…]
Recently in Getting Smart, Katherine Prince of Knowledgeworks discussed a new foundation for readiness for work in the 21st century. Excerpts of the piece appear below: From today’s vantage point, we can identify two critical drivers of change shaping the future of readiness for further learning, work and life: the rise of smart machines and Read more about Preparing All Learners for an Uncertain Future of Work[…]
The intensifying interest among education policymakers in the social and emotional dimensions of student success is encouraging news. By complementing the important work in recent years to raise standards and strengthen instruction, the increasing focus on school climate and students’ relationships to their peers and their schools is a potentially powerful catalyst for school improvement Read more about Measuring the Social and Emotional Sides of Student Success[…]
The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) launched The CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL that provides an interactive planner, step-by-step guidance, field-tested tools, and continuous improvement processes to help educators implement social and emotional learning (SEL) in their schools. The free, online resource helps school teams coordinate and build on their evidence-based practices Read more about CASEL Releases Comprehensive Guide to Help Schools Implement SEL[…]
The Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development has released a major national report, “From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope,” calling on all sectors of society to accelerate efforts to ensure that all U.S. students have access to quality social and emotional learning (SEL). The report is an Read more about A Nation at…. Hope[…]
Recently in the New York Times, David Brooks wrote a column about the importance of emotion in learning. Excerpts from his piece appear below: We used to have this top-down notion that reason was on a teeter-totter with emotion. If you wanted to be rational and think well, you had to suppress those primitive gremlins, Read more about Putting Relationships at the Core[…]
How can schools better align their practices with what science says about human learning? A new video series of 20+ videos from Edutopia, featuring Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of Learning Policy Institute, and Pamela Cantor, MD, founder and senior science advisor of Turnaround for Children, pairs research insights with a variety of illustrative strategies Read more about How Learning Happens Video Series[…]
In an economy driven by technological innovation and a complex social landscape, schools must invest in instructional approaches that allow students to express more agency over their learning and create space to apply what they learn to solve real-world problems. Based on a two-year study of personalized learning in 39 schools across the country and Read more about Mind the Gap: Will All Students Benefit From 21st Century Learning?[…]
Restorative justice is the focus of a series of reports authored by the WestEd Justice and Prevention Research Center, through funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The reports include: What Further Research is Needed on Restorative Justice in Schools? Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools: Summary Findings from Interviews with Experts Restorative Justice in U.S. Read more about Restorative Justice: An Alternative to Traditional Punishment[…]
Schools play a significant role in supporting the health and well-being of children and youth, including those affected by traumatic experiences. In a trauma-sensitive school, all aspects of the educational environment—from workforce training to engagement with students and families to procedures and policies—are grounded in an understanding of trauma and its impact and are designed Read more about Leading Trauma-Sensitive Schools[…]
To close achievement gaps, education leaders must adopt more complete approaches to outstanding learning for all, secure and healthy learners, and a culture of equity within low- and moderate-poverty schools. A shortfall in any of these three areas within a school magnifies the impact of unequal access to resources-educational, personal, and sociopolitical-outside of school. In Read more about Outstanding Learning for All, Secure & Healthy Learners, and Culture of Equity[…]
The Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development has released a report from leading educators describing the practices and principles that can make a new vision of learning part of the fabric of schools and classrooms across the nation. The Practice Base for How We Learn outlines promising practices that show how Read more about Educators Reach Consensus on What It Takes to Integrate Social, Emotional, and Academic Development[…]
In partnership with NoVo Foundation, Education First is pleased to launch a new website and video series on teacher practices to support social and emotional learning (SEL). This is an exciting moment for SEL. Yet as the field learns more about how students learn the social and emotional skills necessary to succeed in school and Read more about Social and Emotional Learning: A Teacher’s-Eye View[…]
Responding to the need to look beyond test scores to measure school quality, an increasing number of school districts are striving to incorporate socio-emotional learning measures in their accountability policies. Growth mindset – believing that intelligence and talent can change – is one of these measures. Experimental research has found that developing a growth mindset Read more about New Evidence that Students’ Beliefs about their Brains Drive Learning[…]
Mounting evidence suggests that social and emotional (SEL) skills are critical to students’ success in and out of the classroom. For schools, districts and states looking to help children build these competencies, a new RAND report offers guidance on how educators can use funding streams in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to implement SEL Read more about How States and Districts Can Use ESSA funds to Support SEL[…]