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What should be ACPS’ top three priorities for strengthening the division’s behavioral and social-emotional learning programming? 

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What should be ACPS’ top three priorities for strengthening the division’s behavioral and social-emotional learning programming? 

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ACPS’ top three priorities for strengthening the division’s behavioral and social-emotional learning programming should be as follows:

1. Increase emotional support to Economically Disadvantaged, Black, Hispanic, English Learners, Hispanic and Student with Disabilities who are clearly impacted directly and the most, across all criteria's. The reason that these students are not meeting the expectations and not as excelling in higher percentage as White and Asian students is not because they don't have the same capability but rather they have to deal with and are exposed to many life challenges that are way too complicated and beyond what their young age allows them to handle and understand which ends up affecting them emotionally and get in the way of how they learn and function at school.

2. Teach all students the importance of self confidence, self awareness, self acceptance and self love to combat peer pressure and prevent all the issues that students get into to be accepted by their peers.  People who have deep self love and awareness, care too much about their life and their future to ever compromise it for anything or anyone and likewise  will have deep love and appreciation for the lives of all beings which will help prevent bullying. Self love is the key, the foundation, the basis and necessity of everything we need and seek outside, yet the very thing we are never taught or not taught enough and left to learn on our own through many trials and tribulations. If we teach our children to know, accept, love and believe in themselves at a young age, we can help save and enrich many lives. After all the success of their education in the end is as good as they feel about themselves.

3. Create more community service opportunity by partnering with local non-profits and make it a requirement for every student in every grade so they will learn to have empathy, understand the struggles many people face, find compassion and be inspired to come up with creative ways to solve issues that their community and world is facing.

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Thoughts:
Absenteeism and suspensions:
* Are we maximizing available resources to ensure that our 1st/2nd level ELL students have a better transition into the larger school setting? Is it possible to provide basic language support and adaptations to the school house prior to them having to navigate the larger setting?
*Do we have enough supports/staff to allow for proactive strategies to prevent activities that result in suspension?
What do we do when students have legitimate grievances "that teacher doesn't like me", "that teacher doesn't like blacks", etc.?
*Establish mentoring partnerships like that with the FBI or other groups that come in to the school and/or can connect with the families in the community.

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In addressing our students SEL needs I wonder:
* For EL students- are we doing the best that we can for level 1 and 2's? Can we possibly create a transitional educational program that they can to first before being integrated into the larger school setting?
* For discipline- Do we have enough strategies/supports in terms of personnel? Again, sometimes a walk might help or built on physical activity for ADHD students. But who can actually provide that service?
* Are we tapping into community partners? SEL personnel

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I can see how focusing on mental health and social supports in the school is a need. I don't want us to forget that students, their families, and community partners need to join in on the effort. First Aid Mental Health training is being offered to school staff as well as community members.

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The number of suspensions and in particular the racial disportionality multiplies out to adverse effects  for immediate learning and social emotional well being, carrying into adulthood for our ACPS students.  There is a lot to tackling this that connects to the other key recommendations across the chapters as well as a number of comments made by those on the SP group.   In looking at this data, while all is alarming, the large number of elementary students suspended is staggering and likely leads to suspension on older grades. I would be interested in the race/ethnic & gender breakdown in this age group and a priority in reducing or eliminating these suspensions.

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In no particular order my thoughts are:

-To what extent does implicit bias create an inequitable suspension/disiciplinary system vs. external factors that are outside of the district's direct control, and how do we resolve the dynamic between the two to create equity.

-What is the driving reason behind why so many of our Hispanic students do not want to come to school. Is it because they do not feel connected to the school and/or are their outside factors (like having to work multiple jobs to help support their famlies). Then, how do we develop solutions that target the root causes of this gap?

-If we change the metric for absenteeism, did we really address absenteism, or moved the goal line to make it look like we addressed absenteeism.

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I noticed that there was a marked decrease in students reporting on their level of self esteem. Also there was a large jump in Equity and Social Justice, I am curious what this could be attributed to. Was there a focus in the city or within ACPS that could be a contributor for this? I also thought that it was interesting that over the survey period, there was an increase in adult role models but a decrease in caring neighborhood and sense of safety. It would seem to make sense that if more youth are stating that they have more caring adults in their lives that they may also feel like they live in a caring neighborhood or feel safer.

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Restorative Practice : increase funding, evaluation with teacher/student feedback/

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Restorative Practice : increase funding, evaluation with teacher/student feedback/

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1.  What programs/curriculum (ie- responsive classroom) are we using to address social-emotional learning?  Unless a teacher is passionate about it, it isn't always addressed in the classroom or curriculum.  What resources are available for teachers to help students learn social and emotional competencies?
2.  Is it imperative that we ensure quality access to guidance counselors and mental health professionals in our schools.  It seems our guidance counselors are often pulled for other duties (testing duties, meetings, TAG referrals, etc...). It is a priority that our schools are fully staffed with counselors to support students behavior and social-emotional needs.
3.  How are we monitoring our students' social and emotional growth?  Chapter 3 outlined different data but I was unsure where those numbers were coming from and how those surveys were administered. Moving forward, how we are monitoring our student's social-emotion growth and needs?

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A few things really stood out from the reading this week. Firstly, the percentage of students who met the benchmark for social skills on the VKRP. I would be interested to know if there is any correlation between those students who met the benchmark then and where they are now. I know 8th grade and beyond seems very far from Kindergarten but it is important to start teaching those skills at a young age- even in preschool. Additionally, I noticed that students with disabilities are not absent nearly as much as those without. I wonder why that is.

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Chapter 3: What do you think should be ACPS’ top three priorities for strengthening the division’s behavioral and social-emotional learning programming?

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Chapter 3: What do you think should be ACPS’ top three priorities for strengthening the division’s behavioral and social-emotional learning programming?

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