x
Breaking News
More () »

LESSONS LEARNED | Social distancing may impact student development

Educators aren't just concerned about the academic COVID-slide, but also the impact of isolation on social and emotional learning.

TYLER, Texas — So much was missing from students' educational experience from March to May. You've likely heard about the academic gaps created from remote learning, but just think about what the isolation from friends, some family and teachers does to a young person still developing into who they are. That worries top educators in East Texas.

"Part of this separation – it has been pretty impactful to the mental health and to the social and emotional learning of students," Whitehouse ISD Superintendent, Dr. Christopher Moran, said.

"I am more worried about the social and cognitive gaps that may occur. There is something to going to school everyday," Tyler ISD Superintendent, Dr. Marty Crawford, said.

Mike Cobb, All Saints Episcopal School Head of School said, "The way the school is actually structured. It's really structured more about the social and emotional learning than it is the academics. What we do and how we come together is vital to how we keep kids healthy."  

"We need each other," Mineola ISD Superintendent, Cody Mize, said. "That's the way we're built."

The information learned in the classroom is just part of education. Experts in the field say students also learn in school through relationships, about life, yourself, working with others and making tough decisions. 

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning believes social and emotional learning isn't an educational perk, but an essential piece to help students academically and later in life. They say it should be a priority in a school year that will be unlike any other.

"A lot of our students said had they known they wouldn't have come back from spring break, they would have walked a little slower to get out the door which is something we take for granted," Whitehouse ISD high school counselor, Theresa Gray, said.

Little did they know, those school doors would close, not to re-open for the rest of 2019-2020 school year.

Whitehouse ISD counselors Theresa Gray and Kandi Tamez worried what that would mean for students socially and emotionally.

"I think our biggest concern in elementary was just those lost relationships," Kandi Tamez said. Our kids learn so much social skills and through that supportive network of teachers and peers and counselors, everyone at the school is a family and to have that loss, just really concerned us."

"My biggest concern was not being able to have readily the students at our hands. A lot of times, teachers, educators, counselors, doctors and nurses are the number one reporters for abuse," Theresa Gray said. "So, that was our biggest concern and we didn't have that access to students and know what the signs are because we can't see that student." 

The counselors found ways to connect with students by logging onto zoom, sending an email, making a phone call or in some cases a house call.

"We did a few home visits with those we couldn't get in contact with and we were concerned about," Gray said. We went with one of our administrators and counselors to their houses and made sure they were OK because they didn't have the technology to reach out to us."

Justina Schlund works as the Director of Field Learning at the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

Schlund said, "In terms of social and emotional learning, I think about now more than ever, everybody is talking about what is the impact on our students and not just their academic learning and what this means for their own emotions and how they are understanding themselves and how they're relating to others, especially since they've been physically distanced from people."

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been around for 25 years, and is based on rigorous evidence-based research, but to understand its impact, we need to better define social and emotional learning. 

SEL is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible decisions.(CASEL)

"We've been working with districts and schools. We really see it as a systemic approach to how the school is actually doing learning. In a lot of ways, what we do when we teach students and interact with students, it's social and emotional in nature. The process of engaging in a curriculum or learning about a subject in history brings up things for students naturally that causes them to connect with my own experiences... how i connect with other people," Schlund explained. "Their learning is really strongly tied to my relationships that I have with the other students in my class, the other teachers in my class."

The effectiveness of social and emotional learning is compelling when you look at the research from CASEL and its collaborators. 

A huge meta-analysis of thousands of students across pre-K to 12th grade in 2011 and 2017 found that when students were in engaged in high quality opportunities for social and emotional learning that their grades in reading and math increased 11% points.

"There's a lot of research out there right now about how students learn and develop and it shows that relationships and the type of learning environments that they are in and the attention to their social and emotional needs is really foundational for them to be able to engage really deeply in academic content," Schlund said. 

But teachers say connecting during the pandemic presented new challenges for social and emotional learning.

"I spent a lot of time trying to hunt down people that I wasn't hearing from," Algebra II teacher at Whitehouse ISD, Shelley Beaumont, said.

"You know, I am around high school kids all day long. High school is the time when you grow up and start pulling away from mom and dad and start to interact to the rest of the world and school is sort of a safe place where you can have those interactions under supervision and you can make connections with adults and those your own age. You learn how to be a leader and make good choices. I just think that's a key part of growing up or any education," Beaumont said.

The threat of COVID-19 on everyone's health also brought to light some real concerns when it comes to equality and education.

"There's lots of socio-economic issues and racial inequities that are being exasperated by the pandemic and this nationwide movement right now that I think are very important to pay attention to," Schlund said. "At the same time, something that I don't think as many people are talking about is there are some students that said school didn't always feel like a welcome place or motivating place for me and this new way of learning which means I am more self directed, I now have more interaction with my family, community partners and outside experiences and may be helping them thrive in new ways."

Helping children and adults thrive in this new world is something CASEL and more than 40 partners are trying to do with their new roadmap for reopening school.

First, they recommend taking time to cultivate and deepen relationships, build partnerships and plan for social and emotional learning.

"With the social and emotional learning, just learning how to cope with negative feelings, how to deal with stress at their house, how they feel about themselves, how they feel about others, those relationships. I think it's all intertwined. I don't think you can separate the learning from the social and emotional part of education," Tamez said.

Also, design opportunities where adults can connect, heal and build their capacity to support students.

"I have had parents reach out to me and asked me to check on their children. We also want to be there for the parents, but we also want to be there for teachers. They may be scared," Gray said.

Create safe, supportive and equitable learning environments.

"I think, for me, just giving our kids more time to express themselves," Tamez explained. Giving more time to talk about what they've been through just giving them a safe space and to talk with their peers too, and a lot of them may have been through the same thing, but to have those conversations and just giving them a safe space to talk and work through those issues they might have."

CASEL's last major guidance — use the data as an opportunity to share power, deepen relationships and continue to improve support for students, families and staff.

"So, I think when we talk about the impact on social and emotional learning, I think it's really important to think about the varied experiences. I think as schools are trying to transition in whatever form back to this school year, it's going to be really important to pay attention to these social and emotional needs so they are setting up support, to one, support these complex needs students face, and help them come back to school in ways that allows them to come back with their full self and allow them to acknowledge that they feel stressed, and talk about their emotions and process this experience and how they feel," Schlund explained.

Leaders in social and emotional learning say don't underestimate what students and parents are saying to you, even if it's virtually, because the classroom of the future may not look like the classroom of today.

Have a question about COVID-19 and your child's education or a topic you believe we should cover? Email Dana at education@cbs19.tv.

Before You Leave, Check This Out