Different Ways How Schools Can Support Their Students.

Currently, our education system often focuses on a narrow sliver of children’s cognitive development with an emphasis on transmitting content knowledge, often to be memorized and repeated in the same form it was received. Lessons in math, science, and reading—and tests in those skills—dominate the curriculum.

While those subjects are fundamental, learning involves far more than merely acquiring inert knowledge in algebra or chemistry. Such a narrow focus gives short shrift to the ways that children need to grow and learn in their relationships, identity, emotional understanding, and overall well-being. After all, children are multi-dimensional whose development is complex and rich.

Recent research in neuroscience, developmental and learning sciences, education, sociology, and many other fields confirms that a “whole child” approach is not only desirable but necessary to ensure that children learn well. According to two?comprehensive reviews?of the science on children’s development and learning:

• Brain development is shaped by consistent, supportive relationships; responsive communications; and modeling of productive behaviors. The brain’s capacity develops most fully when children and youth feel emotionally and physically safe; and when they feel connected, engaged, and challenged.
• Learning is social, emotional, and academic. Positive relationships, including trust in the teacher, and positive emotions, such as interest and excitement, open up the mind to learning. Negative emotions, such as fear of failure, anxiety, and self-doubt, reduce the capacity of the brain to process information and learn. Children can build skills and awareness to work with emotions in themselves and their relationships.

At the Learning Policy Institute, as part of a new initiative on the Science of Learning and Development, we synthesized these scientific findings to identify how schools can best promote?child development. I have identified four main ingredients of school success that allow us to care for and nurture the potential in all children: a positive school climate, productive instructional strategies, social-emotional development, and individualized supports. Here’s what we’ve learned so far about why these ingredients are meaningful and how to put them into action.

Foster a supportive environment that promotes strong relationships among staff, students, and families

Creating a positive school climate based on strong relationships provides a bedrock for learning. Students need to feel a sense of safety and belonging in order to thrive in school. Some elements that promote a sense of community and allow teachers to know their students well include:

• Smaller school and class sizes.
• Looping, where teachers stay with the same students for more than one year.
• Staff who practice cultural competence, inviting students’ experiences into the classroom and communicating that all students are valued.
• Home visits and regular parent-teacher-student conferences to strengthen connections between school and home.

Implement meaningful, engaging instructional practices that develop students’ ability to manage their own learning

Students crave opportunities to learn things that matter and are relevant to their lives. Instruction helps students grow in their understanding when it builds on students’ prior experience and scaffolds learning by meeting them where they’re at. For example, teachers can connect lessons in mathematics to common tasks students are engaged in that use those skills, such as in cooking, artwork, sports, and other settings. Or they can connect a history unit on the Civil Rights movement to modern-day issues like the racially motivated attacks in Charlottesville and police brutality against people of color.

When skillfully combined with direct instruction, inquiry-based learning that is driven by students’ interests boosts their motivation and develops real-world skills. In one middle school class in Oakland, for example, students decided to study how environmental pollution affects the ocean and then designed a campaign to reduce waste and litter and increase recycling at their school. These projects teach valuable skills of collaboration, problem-solving, and organization, and have a tangible impact.

Assessments that include feedback and opportunities to revise work help students learn how to learn and encourage an intrinsic desire to understand the material and challenge themselves, beyond just making the grade. This type of “mastery-oriented approach” is associated with more meaningful learning. For example, some schools cultivate student inquiry and revision skills through?"capstone projects" —yearlong research projects—that give students an opportunity to learn deeply about an issue that matters to them and, often, work to create change in their own community. These projects are usually revised to meet a high standard of inquiry and presented to panels of educators and other adults from outside the school, as a dissertation defense.?

Develop habits, skills, and mindsets that build students’ social, emotional, and academic competence

Developing students’ social-emotional skills teach them how to manage stress, while also boosting social skills like collaboration and empathy. In this way, social-emotional skills involve developing greater awareness of oneself and others. Many schools teach these skills explicitly through programs of social-emotional learning, which have been found to?improve students' achievement, as well as their feelings of safety and belonging at school.

Create an integrated system of school supports that includes extended learning opportunities and community partnerships

Not all children have the material and social capital that affords access to high-quality learning environments and experiences. For example, high-income parents increased their spending on “enrichment activities” for their children, like tutoring and extracurricular activities, by 151 percent over the past several decades, compared to 57 percent for low-income parents. These differentials augment the achievement gap between affluent and low-income students.

Additional supports are also needed for the growing number of children who experience adversity in the form of poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, learning obstacles, or lack of health care. Schools need a flexible system of supports to address these needs.

The?community school model?is one in which public schools partner with families and community organizations to provide well-rounded educational opportunities and supports for students’ school success. It typically includes before- and after-school enrichment, such as mentoring and academic support, as well as summer learning opportunities, like workshops on film and art, sports camps, and long-distance trips to visit college campuses. Some schools partner with local organizations and university staff to offer immersion experiences where students learn from professionals through internships or workshops on topics of interest, like technology, film, and art.