The emerging body of research emphasizes the critical role that addressing students’ social emotional needs should play in a LEA’s learning acceleration plan (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020, USDE, 2021). Improving academic outcomes for all students requires attending to the social emotional needs of all students, particularly students who have experienced health, economic, and/or social trauma during the pandemic.  LEAs are encouraged to explore and implement protocols for assessing students' social emotional and academic needs, evaluate resources available, and prioritize actions.

The focus should remain on nurturing strong relationships with students and their families in order to reengage students and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Family partnerships are as vital as ever before. Families need detailed and timely information about instructional approaches and learning expectations to best serve as critical partners in decision making about what student supports are most helpful.

The Council of Great City Schools (CGCS), among other leading organizations, has voiced a significant concern that exclusive focus on remediation will only create greater inequities for students (CGCS, 2020). A fundamentally different teaching and learning strategy is required to ensure every student is on track to demonstrate mastery of grade level standards. The need has never been greater for LEAs to strategically apply targeted interventions addressing the academic challenges that students will face, as well as any trauma students have experienced from extended social isolation, the loss of loved ones, or economic instability.

Creating a Framework for Meeting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Needs

For example, educators may:

• Review current methods for supporting student social, emotional, and academic needs to ensure inclusion of a wide range of services that address disrupted learning.
• Design learning environments and conditions that help students work through the traumatic experiences caused by the pandemic and thrive.
• Recognize that underserved students may have experienced a disproportionate burden of the pandemic and create additional supports and interventions to ensure they develop the confidence to take risks and achieve at higher levels.
• Design systems, policies, and procedures that reflect restorative practices rather than punitive, disciplinary actions.
• Leverage tools such as the NJDOE school climate survey to gather feedback from stakeholders to address challenges as a result of the pandemic.
• Collaborate with extended/summer learning staff and community partners to promote a coherent approach to meeting the students’ social and emotional needs.
• Partner and engage with community stakeholders, including parents and caregivers, to meet students’ academic, social and emotional needs.

Principles in Action

Denville Township School District posted a short video clip, Denville Township School TSS, on their district website to help family members understand how their tiered systems of supports can be beneficial to all students. In addition, it provided specific examples of how students will be supported throughout the process to meet established goals.

Lumberton Township is implementing the CASEL framework for wellness supports and is incorporating this into a culturally responsive positive behavior intervention support system.

As a community school designee, Newton Public School District is leveraging local partnerships to offer a comprehensive and integrated focus on academics, health and social services. They are partnering with community counseling services to provide additional onsite support for individual students, strategically reducing barriers such as scheduling and transportation. The district is also working with the Sussex County Hunger Coalition, who will provide an onsite market for families and will offer weekly bags of necessary food items. Newton Public Schools are expanding their role in the community and working with partners to offer a range of critical supports and opportunities. 

Building Strong and Trusting Relationships among Students, Families, and Educators

For example, educators may:

• Establish systems that promote supportive adult-student relationships to ensure that all students have at least one caring adult who checks in regularly with them and their families and is able to connect them with any needed supports.
• Facilitate and/or host opportunities for students, staff, and families to connect and reflect.
• Utilize different strategies to communicate with families and staff about the importance of SEL (e.g., online newsletters, school website, nightly virtual meetings, social media).
• Partner with families by providing more information about the SEL supports and instructional approaches and learning expectations for their students and collaborative, seek more input to understand what strategies work best, include families in decision making about what strategies work best for each child.

Principles in Action

Hamilton Township School District has implemented a home visit program, even prior to the pandemic. Students are identified as needing additional support due to a significant number of suspensions, chronic absenteeism, HIB involvement, and/or social emotional needs. School administrators, counselors, and teachers make home visits and have positive interactions with students throughout the year. These interactions focus on the primary or secondary criteria that has led to this intervention. Many students have complex issues that impede their educational success. School staff support, guide, and work with the students and families to remove as many barriers to success as possible. 

Establishing Safe, Positive, and Stable Environments

For example, educators may:

• Expand existing programs that have demonstrated results such as enrichment activities and experiences provided by community partners; work with them to support afterschool, weekend, and summer enrichment opportunities that can benefit more students.
• Ensure that systems are in place to identify staff or students that may be struggling and best support their needs; build supports to explicitly address the isolation, anxiety, and trauma some members of the school community have experienced.
• Acknowledge the school’s critical role in the lives of students experiencing homelessness; they may be the main source of support for, physical and mental health, social, and emotional needs for those students.
• Ensure the continuity of critical support services for some students when schools are closed, offer very limited programs, or do not provide transportation.

Principles in Action

KIPP: Cooper Norcross created a hotline for families to call if they are in need and established a family support team to help families experiencing homelessness or displacement, food insecurity, and mental health issues. They serve meals to almost one-third of families by delivering meals to their homes.

Linden Public Schools created a bilingual parent outreach team. This team of teachers were on call to help families resolve problems and navigate the complexities of virtual learning, including help with tech support, schedules, and resolving daily issues. When students were identified for missing classes or struggling academically, these bilingual support teachers arranged meetings, uncovered issues and connected families to people and resources available to help.

Explicitly Teaching Critical Social, Emotional, and Academic Skills Using an Integrated Approach

For educators, educators may:

• Teach and practice social skills within the context of learning to help students respect and care for one another in an emotionally and physically safe classroom environment.
• Revise learning experiences to be asset-oriented and personalized to better meet students where they are.
• Redesign assessments to emphasize applied learning to accommodate and celebrate diverse ways of thinking and problem-solving.
• Actively engage students in meaningful and culturally and linguistically relevant learning experiences.

Principles in Action

Upper Saddle River School District established a homegrown K–8 curriculum (Community Circles), incorporating social emotional learning experiences into the classroom daily. In addition, the district revised their reading and writing units of study for grades K–8 to include experiences that develop their students’ SEL competencies.

Providing Access to Support from School Counselors, Psychologists, and Trusted Staff Members

For example, educators may:

• Establish building-level wellness teams to address the SEL needs of both students and staff.
• Develop a protocol for identifying and supporting students who may be experiencing social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges.
• Collaborate with outside entities and agencies in order to establish partnerships to provide mental health and trauma supports to adults and students.
• Consider staffing needs that would be most appropriate in addressing the trauma and social and emotional well-being of students.

Principles in Action

Mainland Regional High School District developed a School Wellness Team, consisting of a Social/Emotional Learning Coordinator, Student Assistance Counselor and School Wellness Counselor. The School Wellness Counselor is a new position that was added to the team this year to provide an additional layer of social, emotional, and academic support to students and their families as well as staff.

• Does your LEA have a coherent system that incorporates the LEA staff, community partners, resources, communication procedures, protocols and processes to address social-emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges?
• In what ways have you adapted your student support services to address the academic and social-emotional needs of all learners?
• In what ways will you inform and engage family members, students, educators, and community partners in identifying specific resources and strategies that can address challenges resulting from the pandemic?
• What type of professional learning is needed to meaningfully integrate SEL in teaching, including the skills to foster positive learning environments and utilize techniques for trauma-informed instruction?
• How might staffing and scheduling be adapted to address evolving social and emotional needs?