Social-Emotional Learning & Non-Cognitive Skills

As the old saying goes, “It’s not how many times you fall off the horse; it’s how many times you get back on.” This little motto is at the root of what I will be studying next year as a 2013 Rowland Fellow. Recent research confirms that while IQ cannot be taught, perseverance is a skill that can be taught. The good news is, perseverance seems to be far more important than traditional IQ for achievement in school and beyond. People with high levels of perseverance related skills such as curiosity, self-control, frustration-tolerance, and social-fluidity have more success in school, have higher earning power, are happier in their jobs, and have lower divorce rates as adults. This research puts perseverance skills as the key skills for all young people to develop in order to improve their lives and create more opportunities for themselves.

As a 2013 Rowland fellow, I will be traveling around the country visiting schools that are implementing perseverance programs. I will be researching the ways to make perseverance skills core pieces our learning expectations and school culture at Enosburg Falls High School. We all face adversity and challenges in our lives. In partnership with our community and staff, I will be working hard to help develop teachable, measurable, and learnable ways to improve our students’ perseverance abilities to “get back on that horse,” overcome that adversity, and close achievement gaps.

UPDATE

In the fall of 2012, a focus on social emotional learning as a crucial aspect to academic rigor was not a particularly hot topic. Over the past three years this conversation has picked up in both speed and intensity. The spark that the Rowland Foundation provided in this field of study has been very meaningful in creating positive change and growth in the Enosburg Falls learning community and beyond. Enosburg Falls middle school adopted a school motto of “Be Nice. Work Hard.” that provided a focus for a myriad of academic and school culture strategies. The goal has been to build the critical achievement skills of perseverance, integrity, kindness, optimism, and self-control. In 2014, the work was featured on VPR on two occasions. Additionally, the 2014 Annual Rowland Conference featured keynote speaker, Angela Duckworth, who was invited through my work with her at UPENN, made possible by the Rowland Fellowship. The Enosburg community also collaborated with the research of University of Pennsylvania Grit Lab.

Furthermore, Enosburg developed a community-wide focus on growth-mindset. The work and interest in the topic spread quickly with projects across Franklin Northwest Supervisory Union and some collaboration with the Johnson State College and the University of Vermont as well. Enosburg Falls High School embraced the work and created a new motto: “Encourage Effort, Honor Growth”. The high school’s work with growth mindset has led to a number of professional learning opportunities within the scope of the work, including two co-taught (Mike McRaith and 2015 Rowland Fellow-Gabrielle Marquette) Castleton University graduate courses: Increasing Student Achievement through Social Emotional Learning and Structures and Systems of Personalized Learning. These two courses have deeply enhanced the conversation in the Enosburg learning community as well pushing the conversation forward around the state as around 100 Vermont educators have taken the courses in the past year.

In 2015, I accepted the Montpelier High School Principal position. I am excited that Montpelier shares a strong interest in the value of social emotional learning and places an emphasis on school-wide learning expectations, or as the state refers to them, transferable skills. I look forward to continuing this work and collaborating with the Rowland Foundation for years to come.