Schools are increasingly seen as being uniquely positioned to nurture the whole child by fostering social and emotional skills and expanding access to mental health supports. It can be challenging to develop and maintain a school climate in which all students and adults in the building feel a sense of safety and belonging, especially since the experiences that students bring into school, including trauma and poverty, can affect learning. School staff need strategies for building positive relationships with all students and teaching social and emotional learning (SEL) skills.
—Student
—Educator
—Community Member
—Community Member
Cultivating a climate of openness and belonging while building students’ SEL skills and integrating SEL into the curriculum can be a complex challenge. Students, families, and school staff have identified the following needs.
Explore the tiles below to learn more about projects and resources that aim to strengthen social-emotional learning.
The Learner Variability Project seeks to build on learning sciences research to better understand and address the needs of the whole learner, from PreK to adulthood, to personalize instruction.
The Learner Variability Navigator helps educators find research-based strategies to personalize learning experiences in order to understand and address the whole learner.
The Digital Promise Implementation Cohort on Learning Differences and Social Emotional Learning focused on the design of an effective system in addressing the extensive social emotional learning (SEL) and mental health needs of students brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
Implementation Cohorts |
Implementation Cohorts bring together forward-thinking districts from the Global Cities Education Network (GCEN) and the League of Innovative Schools who are facing similar challenges and have a shared commitment to driving sustainable change. Members gain access to cutting-edge tools, guidance from Digital Promise and external experts, opportunities to learn promising practices through domestic or international study tours, and a supportive community to collaboratively design and implement impactful innovations. |
Finland’s Whole Child Development, Teacher Autonomy and Alternative Methods of Evaluation and Assessment |
Education leaders shared what they learned from Finland about whole child development, teacher autonomy, and alternative methods of evaluation and assessment. |
Learning Salons |
Learning Salons fostered collaboration between districts and edtech/solution providers to co-design innovative and effective teaching and learning tools that addressed a problem of practice. |
| Resource |
Implementation Cohorts |
|---|---|
| Description |
Implementation Cohorts bring together forward-thinking districts from the Global Cities Education Network (GCEN) and the League of Innovative Schools who are facing similar challenges and have a shared commitment to driving sustainable change. Members gain access to cutting-edge tools, guidance from Digital Promise and external experts, opportunities to learn promising practices through domestic or international study tours, and a supportive community to collaboratively design and implement impactful innovations. |
| Resource |
Finland’s Whole Child Development, Teacher Autonomy and Alternative Methods of Evaluation and Assessment |
| Description |
Education leaders shared what they learned from Finland about whole child development, teacher autonomy, and alternative methods of evaluation and assessment. |
| Resource |
Learning Salons |
| Description |
Learning Salons fostered collaboration between districts and edtech/solution providers to co-design innovative and effective teaching and learning tools that addressed a problem of practice. |
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