The Unfulfilled Promise of Education: Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills

Why the “Soft Skills” are the Hard Skills, and Why they are Essential for Students’ Academic Success- - What Outcomes should be Targeted?

Dear Colleagues,

   For all of the rhetoric about ensuring that students are “college and career” ready, the reality is that our schools are still focused on students’ academic success and- - because of federal legislation and the U.S. Department of Education- - academic success that is measured largely by a single, high stakes, standards-based test.

   And yet, we know that many university freshman are spending a significant amount of time in remedial courses because they do not have the prerequisite skills (regardless of their high school diploma) to be successful at the college level. 

   We also know that many students do not complete their college careers- - many, perhaps again, because they don’t have the prerequisite academic skills to be successful. 

   And, we know that many high school graduates- - who enter the job market directly from high school- - need significant levels of (re)training in order to apply their reading, math, oral, and written skills to their new-found jobs.

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Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills

   But today’s discussion is not about academics.  Instead, it is about students’ social, emotional, and behavioral skills (or lack thereof).  Because no matter how prepared or unprepared our students are academically, they are substantially more unprepared in the areas of social, emotional, and behavioral interaction and collaboration. 

   This is largely because our schools are not systematically teaching our students the social, emotional, and behavioral self-management skills that they need for success. . . skills that help them to learn and interact positively and prosocially in the classroom, with their peers, with teachers and other adults in school. . .and eventually in college and the workplace.

   Some call these skills the “Soft Skills.”  But, I think that these are the hard skills.  This is because these interpersonal, social problem solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional coping skills most often occur under challenging, sometimes highly emotional, situations and circumstances.  Moreover, when people are unsuccessful in these areas, they damage relationships, alienate colleagues, and sometimes lose the jobs that they are otherwise academically prepared for.

   And so, as Congress rethinks our country’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act, our states, districts, and schools need to seriously consider developing a developmentally-sensitive, scaffolded preschool through high school Health, Mental Health, and Wellness curriculum with a specific scope and sequence of content, instruction, and skill development.

   While some educators may say, “Another thing to do ??!!”  It is important to note that hundreds of research studies over the past 20 years have demonstrated that students who learn and master social, emotional, and behavioral skills in their classrooms, academically outperform students who do not learn these skills- - at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels.

   But our schools are already spending a significant amount of money, time, and training on a number of programs whose “common denominator” are the social, emotional, and behavioral skills that all students need.  The problem is that many of these programs are being “marketed” (some by the federal government or our state departments of education) in mutually exclusive ways.  Moreover, some of these programs have not demonstrated- - empirically and independently- - that they can be successful in different communities with students and staff from different backgrounds and who have different presenting needs, issues, and concerns. 

  Indeed, over the past decade, schools have been encouraged (or mandated) to have programs and/or strategies for:

   * Implementing school teasing and bully prevention programs

   * Decreasing office discipline referrals and disproportionate (minority and student with disabilities) school suspensions and expulsions

   * Facilitating “trauma sensitive” classrooms

   * Improving school climate and preventative mental health services

   * Increasing gender, multi-cultural, racial, LGBT, disability, and other awareness, sensitivity, and interactions.

   Clearly, schools do not have the money, time, personnel, or wherewithal to implement substantially separate initiatives in each of these areas.

   But the reality is:  Districts and schools do not need these substantially different programs or initiatives.  This is because, once again, they all share the same underlying social, emotional, and behavioral goals and skills that will help all students to be successful.  These are the goals and skills that help students to be socially, emotionally, and behaviorally proficient.

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The Most Important Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Goals for Schools

   To expand on the last statement, I would like to suggest the primary goals for a district-wide social, emotional, and behavioral initiative in the context of a Health, Mental Health, and Wellness preschool through high school “curriculum.”  These goals provide a “common denominator”- - whether we are talking about the need to address, for example, teasing, disproportionality, trauma, school climate, or racial insensitivity. 

   NOTE also that the goals below are designed to reflect a multi-tiered prevention-strategic intervention-and-intensive need continuum where services and supports are available to students who (a) are not responding to effective, classroom-based skill instruction; and/or (b) are presenting with persistent or significant social, emotional, or behavioral challenges.

Student Goals:

Student social, emotional, and behavioral competency and self-management as demonstrated by:

   * High levels of effective interpersonal, social problem solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional coping skills and behaviors by all students;

   * High levels of critical thinking, reasoning, and social-emotional application skills and behaviors by all students; and

   * High levels of academic engagement and academic achievement for all students.

Staff Goals:

   * High levels of effective social, emotional, and behavioral skill instruction and classroom management across all teachers and instructional support staff; and

   * High levels of teacher knowledge, skill, and confidence relative to analyzing why students are academically and behaviorally underachieving, unresponsive, or unsuccessful, and to implementing strategic or intensive academic or behavioral instruction or intervention to address their needs.

School Goals:

   * High levels of positive school and classroom climate, and low levels of school and classroom discipline problems that disrupt the classroom and/or require office discipline referrals, school suspensions or expulsions, or placements in alternative schools or settings;

   * The availability of a well-designed and field-tested social, emotional, and behavioral classroom-based skill instruction program, along with support staff to facilitate its effective implementation.

   * High levels of the consultative resources and capacity needed to provide functional assessment leading to strategic and intensive instructional and intervention services, supports, strategies, and programs to academically and behaviorally underachieving, unresponsive, or unsuccessful students;

   * High levels of parent and community outreach and involvement in areas and activities that support students’ academic and social, emotional, and behavioral learning, mastery, and proficiency; and

   * High levels of student success that eventually result in high school graduation and post-secondary academic, interpersonal, and vocational school success.

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Some Important Skill Targets for Schools

   Critically, from a student skill perspective, the student self-management goals exist along a continuum from social-emotional competency (i.e., how students feel) to cognitive-behavioral competency (i.e., what they think and then what they do).   

   Using this cognitive-behavioral perspective, students’ positive feelings, thoughts, beliefs, attributions, and ability to emotionally cope with different situations represent important emotional and cognitive goals.  Students’ positive interpersonal, social problem solving, and conflict prevention and resolution skills represent important behavioral goals.

   More functionally, below are 12 behavioral skill clusters that students should learn and master before high school graduation:

   Listening, Following Directions, Staying On-Task

   Accurately interpreting Non-Verbal Cues and Voice Inflection

   Being Positive, Motivated, and Persistent

   Communicating Clearly, Constructively, and Courteously

   Knowing how to Discuss, Interrupt, Debate, Agree, Compromise, and Disagree

   Cooperating with and Accepting Others’ Opinions

   Respecting Others, Being a Team Player, Taking on Different Group Roles

   Knowing how to Ask for Help, and Accept Frustration or Consequences

   Knowing how to Accept Failure, Losing, and Being Wrong

   Showing Confidence, Dealing with Peer Pressure, Standing up for Self/Others

   Controlling and Expressing Emotions, Responding to Others’ Emotions

   Demonstrating Goal-oriented Planning and Time Management

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Summary

   Schools across the country are split between ignoring the social, emotional, and behavioral skills that our students need to be fully successful; and chasing (or being encouraged to chase) another generation of “band-wagons” that are unproven, over-specialized, unrealistic, and unsustainable.  

   In the middle of this dichotomy are a set of common goals and skills that will help all students to learn, master, and apply essential social, emotional, and behavioral skills.

   But if our schools do not systematically teach these skills, we will not fulfill the real promise of education- - to truly prepare our students to be college and career ready- - such that the next generations of adults are personally, professionally, and collectively successful.

   It is time to stop selling solutions, and begin investing in them.   

   It is time to stop trying to corner the market, and to begin investing in super-markets where everyone can choose the corner that works for them.  

   It is time to balance our schools’ investment in “getting smart,” with the need for our students and staff to be “getting along.”

   This will require approaches that are proactive and planned; not reactive and reflexive.

   As Congress again tries to frame our country’s educational policy, I hope they consider these thoughts.   

   As educators across the country begin to re-frame what they want their schools to be in the coming new year, I hope that these thoughts are helpful.

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  If you are “on vacation,” I hope that you are enjoying the break.  As always, if I can help your school(s) or district in any of the areas related to these discussions, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

  

Best, 

Howie    

School Disproportionality and the Charleston Murders: Systemic Change vs. State Statutes

Why New State Discipline Statutes will NOT Solve the Minority/Special Education Disproportionality Problem in Our Schools. . .  Connections with Ferguson, Baltimore, and now Charleston, SC

Dear Colleagues,

   This has been quite a week. . .

   From Tuesday through Thursday, I had the great honor of presenting at the annual Maryland School Psychologists’ Association Summer Institute.  On Wednesday, my entire presentation focused on explicit and field-tested solutions to address the fact that, across our country and in states like Maryland, minority (especially African-American) students and students with disabilities have been disproportionately sent to the “Principal’s Office” as “discipline problems,” and have been disproportionately suspended and expelled from school.

   In fact, studies have determined that many of the precipitating “discipline offenses” are minor in nature, and that white students are not sent out of class for these same offenses- - even though the minority and students with disabilities are.

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Maryland Schools are a Prototype of Schools across the Country

   In Maryland, the most-recent “disproportionality journey” began with a March, 2014 report by the U.S. Department of Education:  Disproportionality in School Discipline:  An Assessment of Trends in Maryland, 2009-2012 [CLICK HERE to see this report].  This Report documented the disproportionality noted above by analyzing data from every county school district across the state during three consecutive school years.  The study found that:

   * Disproportionalities between African-American and White students increased during the 2011-2012 school year despite an overall decrease in the number of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions.

   * African-American students received out-of-school suspensions or expulsions at more than twice the rate of White students.

   * Students with disabilities were removed from school at more than twice the rate of students who were not in special education.

  These results parallel those found over at least the past five years in other states and large cities across the country- - with the most recent reports coming from, for example, California [CLICK HERE], New York City [CLICK HERE], and Chicago [CLICK HERE].

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   Somewhat in response to this Report and as part of a Maryland law that directs the Maryland State Board of Education to establish “guidelines defining a state code of discipline for all public schools with standards of conduct and consequences for violation of the standards,” the Maryland State Department of Education published (on July 22, 2014) The Maryland Guidelines for a State Code of Discipline. 

   According to the Report’s Introduction:

   “The purpose of these guidelines is to provide a framework for Maryland local school systems to use in establishing local codes of conduct and in development new discipline-related policies.  These guidelines include behavioral expectations for all members of the school community who have a direct impact on creating healthy teaching and learning environments for promoting student success.  They also provide suggested prevention, intervention, restorative, and incentive-based strategies to respond to student misconduct, detailed explanations of specific student behaviors that are not permitted, and other factors for local districts to consider in revising their policies.”

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The Problem with Statutory “Solutions” to Disproportionality

   While taking some positive steps by (a) conceptualizing students’ behavioral problems along a continuum of frequency and intensity, and (b) listing (albeit without any logical organization- - see below) a number of responding services, supports, strategies, and interventions, the Maryland Guidelines have a number of flaws that WILL NOT change the core nature of disproportionality in that state’s schools.

   This is because the Guidelines document:

   * Focuses specifically on deficit student behaviors, and never describes/defines the specific prosocial or expected behaviors that help students to be successful in a school or classroom.

   * Does not differentiate early elementary versus late elementary versus middle school versus high school differences in student behavior.

   * Organizes misbehavior across five levels of intensity, but does not provide objective criteria to differentiate the intensity levels for some behaviors and, thus, leaves a suspension or expulsion as administrative options for some behaviors that may not warrant these actions.

   * Does not logically organize its different responses to inappropriate student behavior in categories like “Services or Supports,” “Strategies or Interventions,” “Consequences or Punishments,” “Problem-solving Actions,” and “Administrative Actions.”  Instead, the document somewhat randomly lists a number of possible responses without providing any guidance to administrators or others as to which approaches will work best for what student problems.

   * Does not explicitly emphasize the importance of determining the underlying reasons for a student’s ongoing, significant, or unresponsive misbehavior so that strategic interventions can be implemented to decrease or eliminate the misbehavior, while replacing the behavior with appropriate, prosocial behavior.

   * Does not discuss the expertise or a specific ratio of personnel (e.g., behavioral intervention specialists and mental health staff) that districts and schools need at the prevention, strategic intervention, and intensive support levels in the areas of school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management.

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   Beyond this, while Maryland’s disproportionality numbers may change because of this document, a broader and more functional perspective is needed.

   My point here is that, in states and districts around the country (see those cited above), while the number of suspensions and expulsions have decreased due to state and district statutory changes, the disproportionality ratios have persisted or increased.  Moreover, in some districts, while out-of-school suspensions have decreased, disproportionate in-school suspensions have increased.  And nationally, requests to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate cases involving students with disabilities and school discipline actions have surged.

   And so, in all states, districts, and schools nationwide, it is not simply about the disproportionality data- - it is also about a functional perspective that ensures that:

   * Students (and staff) are taught and use the interpersonal, social problem-solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional coping skills needed to successfully function individually, in small groups, and in large groups;

   * The different peer groups (and staff) that exist in schools expect, encourage, and reinforce these prosocial skills; and

   * There is a consistently positive climate across the school and in the classrooms that is supported by positive student-student, student-staff, and staff-staff interactions and relationships.

   These are the outcomes that need to be measured alongside the disproportionality data because (a) these characteristics will decrease student misbehavior, office referrals, and suspensions/expulsions for ALL students on the front-end; and (b) they are the REAL and TRUE indicators of student (and staff) success when students return from a “disciplinary event and action” on the back-end.   

   Indeed, while some states (like Maryland) are recommending district changes to their student discipline codes, other states (e.g., Connecticut, California) and districts (e.g., the District of Columbia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis) are simply prohibiting suspensions for students at specific age levels or who display certain inappropriate behaviors. 

   While this will change the disproportionality numbers, it will not improve how students are behaving and interacting in their classrooms- - nor will it impact their academic engagement or, ultimately, their academic success.

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The Charleston Connection

   This past Wednesday night, in between my Summer Institute session on disproportionality and my Thursday morning session on “Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Interventions for Disobedient, Disrespectful, Disruptive, Defiant, and Disturbed Students,” nine parishioners from the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC were murdered as they attended their weekly Bible study class.

   The assassin, a high school drop-out, had a Facebook page with pictures and symbols that have been adopted as emblems by modern-day white supremacists.  The crime is being treated as a hate crime.

   Significantly, this atrocity follows a spring-time (in fact, three or more years) filled with racial controversy, injustice, and death.  From Trayvon Martin (over three years ago now) to (most recently) Michael Brown in Ferguson to Freddie Gray in Baltimore to others, the racial divide that has always existed in this country has been tragically and traumatically exposed.

   And while the Charleston murders were committed by one individual allegedly due to racial hate, and the Ferguson and Baltimore losses occurred due to racial profiling and pre-judgement, we have still not confronted the fact that the disproportionate suspensions and expulsions of African-Americans (for many decades) in our schools has many common racial roots.

   Indeed, when I asked the Maryland school psychologists this past Wednesday to identify some of the reasons for disproportionality in schools, one of my good colleagues (who happens to be African-American) said immediately, “I’m just going to say it- - racial prejudice.”

   And so, this is not simply about state statutes and school numbers.  This is not simply about training the police to be racially sensitive while ensuring accountability.  This is not simply about securing our churches, synagogues, and mosques- - or about gun control- - or about our lack of mental health staff or a sound community mental health system.

   This is also about systemic and institutional change that involves our homes, schools, communities, and society.  It is about beliefs, attitudes, discussion, debate, commitment, collaboration, and our ability to heal the past while establishing a new present.

   This is about confronting reality, beginning to have uncomfortable conversations, and dealing directly with the issues.  And yet, my Sunday paper today described Charleston as “genteel and- - because of the abundance of churches- - as ‘the Holy City.’”  But strikingly, it went on to note that “(p)eople there say it’s awkward, if not impolite, to talk about race” there.

   In many ways, the same is true of schools.  Discussions about race and students with disabilities still are awkward in most schools.  Educators would rather avoid, rather than embrace, the discussion.  And even when the conversations occur across educators, they rarely involve students and families.

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Some Systemic Causes of School Disproportionality:  Starting the Conversation

   I respectfully suggest that minority (especially African-American) students and students with disabilities have been disproportionately sent to the principal’s office for discipline problems, and disproportionately suspended and expelled from school for the following reasons:

   * School, district, family, and community gaps in cultural competence; and the absence of ongoing and effective conversations about multi-cultural, racial, socioeconomic, gender, sexual orientation, and disability-related similarities and differences in our schools- - from preschool through high school

   * Flawed and short-sighted zero tolerance policies, perspectives, and related practices advocated for many years across the country by some legislatures, state departments of education, and national professional education associations (and others)

   * Teachers, administrators, and other educators not effectively trained in school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management approaches in their pre-service university training programs, or within their pre-tenure or post-certification professional development, supervision, or evaluation experiences in the field

   * The lack of a school and classroom focus on teaching and reinforcing students’ social, emotional, and behavioral development, growth, and learning; and the absence of an articulated, scaffolded preschool through high school “Health, Mental Health, and Wellness” curriculum

   * District codes of conduct that (a) focus (almost) exclusively on deficit or inappropriate student behaviors and exclusionary practices (rather than determining the underlying reasons for students’ inappropriate behaviors that are then linked with strategic services, supports, strategies, and interventions); (b) do not specifically define and operationalize inappropriate student behavior along a continuum that discusses the frequency and/or intensity of the behavior; and (c) do not emphasize the specific expected individual, small group, and large group behaviors that all students need to learn, along with approaches to motivate and positively reinforce their occurrence

   * Teachers who are evaluated solely on students’ academic proficiency, rather than also being evaluated on establishing and sustaining positive relationships and classroom climate, positive classroom management systems and supports, and teaching and reinforcing students’ academic and behavioral self-management skills

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   In saying this, I am advocating a number of conversations that need to result in definitive actions with demonstrable results.  Clearly, these conversations need to involve many community partners, educational institutions, and district and school stakeholders.  Some of these conversations will need to be facilitated by trusted leaders.  But all of these conversations are critical if we are going to address the root cause of our longstanding disproportionality problem.  

   But beyond these conversations, there are many strategies already available to address virtually all of the gaps noted above.

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Summary

   It is hard- - and maybe unfair or inappropriate- - to compare a suspended student with the loss of life in Ferguson, Baltimore, and now Charleston.  But, a predominant common denominator across these situations is historical and institutional prejudice.

   If we do not address and begin to solve this denominator, the numerator will continue to proliferate.

   There is no “silver bullet” here. . . but I hope that there IS a “silver lining” in the midst of these tragedies and injustices.

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   I hope that some of the ideas above resonate with you.  Please accept my best wishes as many of you are now “on vacation.”  As always, if I can help your school(s) or district in any of the areas related to these discussions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Your comments are always welcome.  Thanks for all that you do.

  

Best, 

Howie