Dive Brief:
- Budget cuts in the Washoe County (Nev.) School District have educators rallying for better pay and smaller class sizes. Some teachers are assigned 38 students in one class, according to EdSurge.
- At B.D. Billinghurst Middle School, however, social-emotional learning (SEL) practices are bolstering school climate under these stressful conditions. While SEL has been in place for students for several years, now principal Roberta Duvall is ensuring teachers are active participants.
- Professional development exercises, some akin to corporate team-building activities, build trust among staff members. Though a few practices are more difficult for the educators to adopt than others — restorative justice and reacting to negative behavior with positive reinforcement, for example — Duvall has kept teachers enthusiastic by focusing on the results of SEL practices and creating safe spaces for them.
Dive Insight:
Improving climate is extra important in a school that's overcrowded. SEL practices, especially when they're incorporated into teacher professional development, can help do that. Traditionally, the focus has been on the students, under the assumption that the adults involved were masters of the skills they were trying to impart. In a 2017 research paper, Edward Fergus of Temple University and Anne Gregory from Rutgers University make the point that teachers need to maximize their own SEL competencies before they can effectively foster those in students.
Looking at the big picture, as Caralee Adams reported in Scholastic Administrator, superintendents have a better shot at getting lawmakers to support public school by positioning small class sizes as a matter of economic development. Get to know school board members individually, then stay on the message that small class sizes, especially in K-3, can save money in the long run, as fewer students are retained, enter special education, and/or drop out.