Training Staff to Respond to the Mental States of At-Risk Students Leads to Increased Academic Performance
At-Risk students have faced challenges in education over time, but with the progression into college and career readiness skills and more complex learning, the challenges are even greater. By training staff to understand and respond to the mental states of at-risk students, the new learning environment allows for higher achievement socially, behaviorally, and academically. The new focus on positive states has led to increased academic performance and a decrease in behavioral incidents. Our Best Practice was designed to fill that one missing link to our increased student achievement and overall student growth. We looked at what else our students needed and what other obstacles we had. We studied the work of Eric Jensen and worked in how it best fit our individual school’s needs. Our Best Practice is a work in progress. We are continuing to learn, observe, implement, and grow in our understanding of how to engage the at-risk student for complex learning through in-house pro
fessional development sessions, emails, articles, sharing, etc.
Challenges or Obstacles:
- A challenge to this strategy is teacher buy-in. This strategy takes professional development time to educate all on poverty, at-risk factors, and how those are manifested in students.
- Another challenge is getting all to see a need for change in school culture.
Benefits and Successes:
- One benefit would be a change in school culture.
- Another would be gains in student achievement.
- Student discipline data shows a decrease in suspensions, which allows for more time in the school and classroom.
- A positive environment also promotes increased teacher-workplace satisfaction.
Submitted by: Jackie Samuels, Melissa DeWitt, and Jamie Qualls, Northside Middle School