From Superintendent Thomas Boasberg Launching Our Personal Success Factors Pilot: The Importance of Social & Emotional Learning Dear DPS Community: You could be a leader instead of being a knucklehead. This is not a comment any student expects to find on his report card -- but its essentially what my eighth-grade Latin teacher shared with me years ago. On my first report card of that year, Mr. Constantinople wrote little more than a couple of sentences about my academics; instead, he used the opportunity to share at least three paragraphs that had nothing to do with Latin -- my teacher was telling me and my parents about how I was doing as a person. And it wasnt a pretty story. I was taken aback -- until his message and intent became clear. He challenged me and continued to challenge me to grow as a person. What he was trying to tell me, against all the available evidence, was that I had potential to be a leader -- but only if I was willing to change. His comments were not just platitudes. They were very specific on the learning and growing that I needed to do. Though at times I resented the challenge, I also grew to appreciate just how concrete and thoughtful his support was. I am sure that all of you can think back to a teacher who helped you grow, not just academically but as a person -- someone who helped you grow socially and emotionally. For each of us, our own experiences tell us how important that personal growth is. And there is an increasingly powerful body of research that demonstrates just how important social and emotional strengths are to young peoples success in both school and in life. That is why in our new Denver Plan 2020, one of our five key goals focuses on support for the whole child. Just as our kids academic growth is essential to future success in college and beyond, so too are their non-cognitive skills and personal development. In order to achieve our vision, Every Child Succeeds, we must develop, nurture and celebrate these habits and behaviors in our kids. We heard this loudly and clearly from students, teachers and parents in our community discussions on the Denver Plan. Click here to read more about the Denver Plan 2020. Thats also why Im excited to announce a pilot this year to better integrate student personal success factors into our schools. In classrooms across Denver, teachers are already focusing on helping kids grow socially and emotionally. The purpose of our pilot with 10 schools is to provide these social and emotional supports in a more systemic, integrated way across all classrooms in participating schools and deeply infuse schools cultures and routines with recognition, celebration and accountability for demonstration of the personal success factors. This pilot will help schools determine how to name, teach, recognize, celebrate and give feedback on personal success factors with their students. The personal success factors include vital strengths such as grit, respect, gratitude, zeal, social intelligence and self-control. This year, 10 schools were selected to participate in the pilot. Congratulations and thank you to Colfax, College View, Force, Harrington, Palmer, Steck, Hill, Morey, CLA and Manual for helping pioneer this important work in DPS. Throughout the school year, these schools will collaborate with a community of like-minded colleagues and external partners to accelerate the personal success factors work in DPS, while we look to local and national models for learning and guidance in best integrating them. Click here to watch a DPS Features video about the personal success factors pilot. denverplan.dpsk12.org The work kicked off last week, when participants joined together to hear from the two co-founders of the nationally recognized Character Lab, Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth and Dave Levin. Professor Duckworth focused on the research basis behind grit and self-control, and the importance of a growth mindset as we nurture the development of these concepts with our students. Dave Levin shared how to practically make these personal strengths a focus of a school. Many of our kids come to us with challenges. The education that we are giving them every day is vitally important in overcoming the gaps in opportunities so many face. By pairing academic knowledge with growth in the emotional and social sphere -- developing their positive behaviors and habits -- we are helping our students develop tools to overcome these challenges and be successful in college, career and life. Best, Tom
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 21:11:26 +0000