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New Release: Schools of Social-Emotional Competence and Character Laminated Guide

Schools of Social-Emotional Competence and Character: Actions for School Leaders, Teachers, and Support Staff, the newest in NPR, Inc.’s series of laminated reference guides for educators, is now in-stock and available for purchase.

Written by Maurice Elias and Marvin Berkowitz, this six-page quick-reference guide offers information and action steps to help educators build schools that promote character, social-emotional competence, and a schoolwide climate of safety, caring, challenge, support, respect, and inspiration in which to educate students.

The guide outlines

Core social-emotional competencies
Key aspects of character
Research on character education & social-emotional competence
What leadership teams can do to cultivate a positive school climate that promotes of good character
Professional development approaches
Ways of encouraging student voice and empowerment

About the Authors:

Maurice Elias

Maurice J. Elias, PhD is a professor in the psychology department at Rutgers University and director of clinical PhD training. Other positions include:

Academic director of The Collaborative, Rutgers’ Center for Community Based Research, Service, & Public Scholarship;
Past president of the Society for Community Research and Action/Division 27 (Community Psychology) of the American Psychological Association;
Co-founder of the Consortium on the School-Based Promotion of Social Competence, a research consortium comprised of nationally prominent scientists;
Director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab;
Coordinator of Improving School Climate for Academic and Life Success (ISCALS) at Rutgers’ Center for Applied Psychology;
Founding member of the leadership team for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL.

The focus of Elias’ work is on establishing the field of prevention, school-based preventive intervention, and social competence promotion as a credible, important, and rigorous area of research, practice, and public policy. With colleagues at CASEL, Elias was senior author of Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators, which is already circulated to over 100,000 educational leaders in the U.S. and internationally.

Elias lectures nationally and internationally, has been featured on numerous television and radio programs, is frequently sought out as an expert in magazines and newspapers, and devotes his research and writing to the area of social-emotional and character development in children, schools, and families. He writes a blog on Social-Emotional and Character Development (SECD) for the George Lucas Educational Foundation, edutopia, at http://www.edutopia.org/user/67

Marvin Berkowitz

Marvin W. Berkowitz, PhD is the inaugural Sanford N. McDonnell Endowed Professor of Character Education, and Co-Director of the Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and University of Missouri Thomas Jefferson Fellow. He was the inaugural Ambassador H.H. Coors Professor of Character Development at the US Air Force Academy (1999), and Professor of Psychology at Marquette University (1979-1999).

He earned his Ph.D. in Life-span Developmental Psychology at Wayne State University in 1977.

His scholarly focus and expertise is in character education and development. He is author of Parenting for Good (2005), You Can’t Teach Through a Rat: And Other Epiphanies for Educators (2012), and more than 100 book chapters, monographs, and journal articles. He is founding co-editor of the Journal of Character Education.

Dr. Berkowitz received the Sanford N. McDonnell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Character Education Partnership (2006), the Good Works Award from the Association for Moral Education (2010), and the University of Missouri System’s Thomas Jefferson Professorship (2011-12).

5 Ways to Cultivate 5 Key Social-Emotional Competencies in Students

Schools today need to do more than just educate students; they need to promote character, social-emotional competence, and a schoolwide climate of safety, caring, challenge, support, respect, and inspiration. The following information and tips are excerpted from the forthcoming laminated guide, Schools of Social-Emotional Competence and Character: Actions for School Leaders, Teachers, and Support Staff, by Maurice Elias and Marvin Berkowitz. This new six-page (tri-fold) laminated guide will be available for purchase on October 1, 2015.

Schools-of-Social-Emotional-Competence-Character

Schools of Social-Emotional Competence and Character

5 Key Social-Emotional Competencies

Self-awareness: Accurately assessing one’s feelings, interests, values, and strengths; maintaining a well-grounded sense of self-confidence.
Self-management: Regulating one’s emotions to handle stress, controlling impulses,
and persevering in addressing challenges; expressing emotions appropriately; setting and monitoring progress toward personal and academic goals.
Social awareness: Being able to take the perspective of and empathize with others; recognizing and appreciating individual and group similarities and differences; recognizing and making best use of family, school, and community resources.
Relationship skills: Establishing and maintaining healthy and rewarding relationships based on cooperation; resisting inappropriate social pressure; preventing, managing, and resolving interpersonal conflict; seeking help when needed.
Responsible, ethical decision making: Making decisions based on consideration of ethical standards, safety concerns, appropriate social norms, respect for others, and likely consequences of various actions; applying decision-making skills to academic and social situations; contributing to the well-being of one’s school and community.

5 Action Steps Educators Can Take to Promote Character and Social-Emotional Competence:

Emphasize social-emotional competencies and character in setting up classroom rules and norms, in language arts reading and writing assignments, and/or in social studies and current events. For example, discussing what skills characters in books use to handle interpersonal situations and the kind of character shown by people in history and current events.
Greet and welcome students at the start of the day; use their names when you speak to them, and speak to them as you would wish people to speak to your own children or grandchildren.
Inventory all the ways you use rewards and public recognition as motivators, and try to replace them with collaboratively created agreements on norms for behavior, private affirmations (such as positive office referrals and notes home), simple pats on the back, and collective affirmation of whole classes or the entire school
Be the character you want to see in your students. Children focus more on what you do than what you say. They may not remember what you say but they remember how you made them feel.
Give students and staff voice and choice in how they show what they have learned, in addressing and resolving the problems of the school, and in helping one another learn better and act with more positive character. Share power and responsibility with all stakeholders.

Learn more about how to create schools of social-emotional competence of character in Maurice Elias and Marvin Berkowitz’s new laminated reference guide for National Professional Resources, Inc.

Strengthening Social Emotional Learning Programs in Schools: Tips for Overcoming Common Challenges by Maurice Elias

Authors publishing with National Professional Resources include leading experts in a variety of specialty fields in education, special education, and psychology. Dr. Maurice Elias, author of the guide School Climate: Building Safe, Supportive, and Engaging Classrooms and Schools, is a leading authority on the topic of social emotional learning and character development in children, families, and schools. At Rutgers University, Dr. Elias is a professor and director of clinical PhD training. He also is the Director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab and Coordinator of Improving School Climate for Academic and Life Success (ISCALS) at Rutgers’ Center for Applied Psychology. He is a founding member of the leadership team for CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning), as well as the Co-founder of the Consortium on the School-Based Promotion of Social Competence. In addition, he authors a blog on social emotional learning at Edutopia.org.

On his Edutopia blog, Elias recently posted an entry discussing the common challenges when implementing social emotional learning (SEL), along with suggestions for overcoming these challenges.

Curriculum-based social and emotional learning (SEL) and related programs “are necessary but not sufficient to produce generalizable skill gains in their recipients,” explained Dr. Elias. For such programs to succeed, they must be thoroughly integrated into the fabric of the school, from academics, to language, to school culture. It is essential for school leadership to provide an implementation support system that is available to offer guidance and connect new and experienced practitioners for consultative problem solving.

Elias identifies potential barriers to effective implementation of SEL programs, and provides suggestions for addressing each. These include

Understanding: Staff must understand that SEL and character development represent a set of skills and habits that ultimately mediate academic, civic, and workplace success. True academic and life success integrates the intellectual, emotional, and social facets of learning
Potency and Integration: The adequate dosage of an SEL-related program is at least 25 to 30 times over the course of the school year, for at least 30 minutes per week.
Ongoing Support: Provide training to develop Leadership Teams and help them evolve in professional learning communities. Teams require at least 3 years to implement SEL programs, with ongoing support of outside experts.

Elias argues that “implementing SEL in schools can no longer be considered an option. It is a developmental right and an ethical and moral imperative.”

For more on improving the social, emotional and character development of your students and the climate of your school, view the full post at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/avoiding-common-mistakes-when-implementing-sel-maurice-elias, and check out Dr. Elias’ quick-reference laminated guide on school climate at https://www.nprinc.com/school-climate-building-safe-supportive-and-engaging-classrooms/

Suicide Prevention: Make it a Priority Today and Every Day

Today, September 10, is the eleventh annual World Suicide Prevention Day.

Did you know:

Almost 1 million people worldwide die from suicide each year–the rough equivalent of one suicide every 40 seconds.
Suicide is second leading cause of death among people aged 15-44 years, and is one of the top three causes of death among people 15-44 years old.
Suicide rates are highest among persons 70-years old and above.
Globally, suicides account for 50% of all violent deaths in men and 71% of violent deaths in women.
For each adult who died of suicide there are more than 20 who attempted suicide.
Suicide is complex with psychological, social, biological, cultural and environmental factors involved.
Social isolation can increase the risk of suicide and, conversely, having strong human bonds can be protective against it.
Easy access to a means of suicide – such as pesticides or firearms – can mean the difference between life and death.
A prior suicide attempt is the most important risk factor for suicide.
Though there has been a trend toward decriminalization, in some counties suicide is still illegal, making it more difficult for those at risk to seek help.

A wealth of resources on preventing suicide can be found on the website of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Of particular note for educators are the following reports, which focus on this year’s theme, “One World Connected:”

Connectedness & suicide prevention in college settings
Connectedness and Suicide Prevention in Adolescents: Pathways and Implications
Connectedness Is Key to Preventing Suicide Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth
Fostering School Connectedness: Staff Development Program
Peer Involvement in Campus-Based Suicide Prevention: Key Considerations
School Connectedness – It matters to student health

These reports and many others can be found at http://www.iasp.info/resources/World_Suicide_Prevention_Day/2014/Connectedness__Mental_Health_and_Suicide_Prevention/.

Additionally, National Professional Resources carries a wide variety of resources for educators that can help with suicide prevention efforts, including quick-reference laminated guides, books, and videos on topics such as

Finally, in conjunction with Wold Suicide Prevention Day, the World Health Organization has just released the World Suicide Report, “Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative.” It can be accessed at http://www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/world_report_2014/en/. The report, which is available in multiple languages, provides a global knowledge base on suicide and suicide attempts as well as actionable steps for countries based on their current resources and context to move forward in suicide prevention.

A Shameful Lesson in Character Education

Character education is a concept that has been widely embraced in this country by educators, parents– even the federal government, which for years has promoted character education programs in our nation’s schools. The idea that a child’s education should involve not just learning academics, but also learning certain core virtues that are the basis of good character seems like a no-brainer. Children who possess character traits such as honesty, integrity, perseverance, respect, caring and fairness tend to be happier, do better in school, and be more successful as adults.

Recently, schools have turned to character education and related programs such as social emotional learning (SEL) in order to combat the problem of bullying in schools (and cyberbullying from home–or anyplace). It’s only logical: helping kids develop empathy, respect and an appreciation for the “golden rule” (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) should naturally lead to a decrease in bullying behaviors. And so educators spend time and effort developing and implementing character education or social emotional learning programs in schools to explicitly teach students character virtues and help them develop good character.

But everyone knows that children learn just as much, if not more, from what they see/hear/experience outside of school as from what they are taught in school. Perhaps more than anything, children learn from example. So, it’s worthwhile to consider the example we, as a society, are setting for kids. Are we demonstrating the character virtues we seek to impart through character education?

Look at Washington– and how can you not these days? The airwaves are currently saturated with blow-by-blow coverage of the budget showdown and resultant government shutdown. Congressmen and senators, vying for the media spotlight, seek to outdo one another with hostile and inflammatory rhetoric– not just about the other party, but about individuals, as well. What we see from Washington these days are not reasoned policy debates or principled disagreements; rather, we see our elected officials almost gleefully tearing into one another, exhibiting the utmost disrespect for one another, for the citizens they represent, and for the stature of their office.

On television, partisan “pundits” echo and often amp up the rhetoric coming out of Washington. TV “news” anchors relentlessly bait the most outrageous guests they can book, eager to elicit a headline-making put-down. Though it’s hard for any put-down to make headlines at a time when it has become routine for politicians refer to the opposing party as Nazi’s, terrorists, traitors, hostage takers, wife beaters, lunatics, frauds (and the list, of course, goes on).

Even more troubling than the rhetoric coming out of Washington is the unparalleled dysfunction of the government– a consequence of the fact that our leaders cannot work together to carry out the most basic responsibilities of government: to pay our nation’s bills and set a budget.

By all accounts, this time is different. It’s not just rhetoric. The animosity and bitterness between two parties and individuals within them is making cooperation and compromise impossible. In a recent article in the Washington Post, entitled “Some say bitter rift between McConnell and Reid could endanger deal,” it was reported of the two Senate leaders: “On the Senate floor, their rhetoric has grown so heated that their colleagues recently held the equivalent of an intervention. Off the floor, their relationship has been marked by personal slight.” And, “Reid and McConnell’s relationship has been so poor in recent months that they have used intermediaries to negotiate.”

Here we have two of the most powerful individuals in the nation who literally cannot sit down with one another to do business– and apparently are not even trusted to be in the same room together. There is no trust, no respect, no basis for cooperation, and a shameful lack of integrity all around. The Senate chaplain has recently prayed to deliver members of Congress from hypocrisy and ‘stubborn pride.’ Until his prayers are answered, what kind of lesson in character education do we–through our elected officials in Washington– offer to our children?