Impactful Adult SEL = Improved Culture and Climate

First Presenter's Institution

DeKalb County School District

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Dr. Torri Hornsby-Griffin, LPC is an administrator in DeKalb County School District’s Division of Equity & Student Empowerment. As a member of the Title IV Prevention Department, she works to ensure a safe and healthy learning environment for all students, especially in the area of their social and emotional development. Dr. Hornsby-Griffin has been in counseling and education for over 25 years serving students of all ages. She is most passionate about helping teachers, leaders and students develop healthy self-care routines that create healthy mindsets and lifestyles using her psychoeducational, educational and counseling techniques. She is a graduate of Emory University where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, the University of West Georgia, where she received her Master of Education degree in Guidance and Counseling and Georgia State University where she completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Counselor Education. She also practices psychotherapy in the Atlanta area.

Second Presenter's Institution

DeKalb County School District

Second Presenter’s Email Address

sabrina_m_pressley@dekalbschoolsga.org

Second Presenter's Brief Biography

Ms. Sabrina Pressley benefitted from an excellent education in DeKalb County School District in metro-Atlanta. She currently serves in that same school district where she has devoted 21 years of professionalism impacting communities as a teacher and local school administrator. Ms. Pressley’s educational credentials extend to a Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership (2006) and an accumulation of continuing education credits that support her commitment to being a job-embedded learner. These educational experiences have afforded the opportunity for Ms. Pressley to join forces with a diverse group of people to meet the shared goal of increasing student achievement. As a firm supporter of the DeKalb County School District and K-12 education, Sabrina Pressley has an unwavering belief that all students can learn when provided a positive learning environment, strong and knowledgeable leadership, and a committed learning focused team which includes supportive families.

Document Type

Individual Presentation

Primary Strand

Mindfulness and Wellbeing

Relevance to Primary Strand

Impactful Adult SEL = Improved Culture and Climate is an immersive approach to supporting Adult SEL in one metro Atlanta area elementary school. As school leaders/teachers and staff apply SEL techniques of self-awareness, self-management and interpersonal skills in their own lives, they are then more easily able to subsequently apply these same concepts to teaching students self-awareness, self-management, self-control and social awareness. The presenters will share the strategies and action plan implemented to improve self-awareness and improve self-management systems in the workplace.

Brief Program Description

The immersive approach of self-care for adults is used as a foundational springboard when developing and implementing a social-emotional plan or program for students in schools. This session will provide one school’s SEL approach and strategies used to improve challenges to school climate during and after a school closure due to COVID-19.

Summary

After a COVID related school closure and subsequent exposure on the news, an elementary school’s climate endured a definite hit. To improve morale and re-create a sense of community for teachers and staff, the school leadership team, supported by district level administrative support applied a variety of tactics to address the adult SEL needs of the staff. Utilizing a series of Self-Care Initiative activities that extended throughout the remainder of the semester and continuing to the end of the year, the leadership team was able to see results and improve the culture and climate in the school.

The Self-Care Initiative centers around the six domains of self-care: physical, mental/psychological, social/relational, emotional, spiritual, and workplace/professional self-care. The psychological effects of the COVID school closures have had a traumatic impact on teachers who are in classrooms servicing students daily. Research shows that teachers have suffered from stress that is exhibited through sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety. The decline or minimal growth in student academic success during the pandemic has contributed to the increased workload. Thus it is imperative for school and district leaders to encourage adult SEL and mindful strategies to improve faculty/staff social and emotional well-being.

Collaboration from district level support to assist administration in addressing the weighted climate due to anxiety, workload, and other job related stress was the catalyst of the Self-Care Initiative. Administration created time for staff to work with a mental health professional to complete personal inventory of self-care practices. They were able to be candid about next steps and needs from administration to make the workplace better. Administration listened and created a plan of action that began immediately. Routine visits and presence created a trusting relationship with teachers. Self-Care Initiative has been consistently mentioned by the principal in weekly emails, announcements, activities, morning check-ins, and professional learning sessions.

Evidence

Research shows that when teachers are able to effectively manage stress and the demands of teaching, their health and well-being improves and they are less likely to leave their profession (Greenberg, Brown, & Abenavoli, 2016; Ingersoll, 2001). As part of the retention efforts of one metro-Atlanta school, the staff members were exposed to a series of activities that were designed to encourage and enhance their personal self-care routines. The first activity, which was an assessment and planning session, was offered to the entire staff early in the semester and successive activities were provided (in faculty meeting settings as well as via Principal and District support emails) as recommended opportunities throughout the remainder of the semester..

Of the participants who responded to the end of the semester survey, more than 83% were either already participating in or were thinking about joining the Self-Care Initiative. In those 3 months, more than 77% had made good or preliminary progress on their self-care routines. The emotional and physical areas were the top two areas that progress was made in, with the spiritual area directly behind. The most popular physical activity mentioned was walking--the school had begun a walking club—and other exercise. Also mentioned were healthier eating, increased energy and weight loss. Other notable mentions were feeling "less stress[ed]" and more "comfortable at work" as well as "managing my time at work." Seventy five percent found the recommendations from the principal and district support helpful and 75% were using the tool offered or had a tool that they were using to support their self-care commitment.

What was found most helpful were the 3 interpersonal factors (encouraging reminders from the school’s principal and district leadership as well as impromptu conversations among colleagues) on staff members’ self-care progress made. This is further supported by the fact that 47% found an improvement in collegial comradery from the beginning of the semester to the end. The school leadership believes collegiality has a direct impact on the collective efficacy needed to improve student achievement by having a positive learning environment and school climate. There is also the belief that a positive learning environment is a major contributor to job satisfaction and teacher retention. In support of that idea, CASEL states, “stress affects teachers’ health and well-being, job satisfaction, job turnover, and student outcomes (Greenberg et al., 2016).”

The Self-Care Initiative will continue with additional Self-Care in the Workplace activities throughout the semester that will be designed to impact the social and emotional learning (SEL) activities between teachers and students in improving the quality of classroom interactions. Teachers will be practicing their own self-care routines and allowing students to participate, offer feedback, and even create their own classroom rituals that are based in mindful self-care practices. Strong teacher-student relationships also improve school and classroom climate and help students feel more connected to their class, school, and learning (Darling-Hammond, Ancess, & Ort, 2002).

In this school example, the primary focus of the first semester was to raise staff member awareness and connect each person with their ability to impact their own self care routines. The focus of the second semester is to build on that foundation and implement those adult SEL activities that enhance social interaction involving both colleagues and students. These efforts are also documented as Priority Area 3 of the School Improvement Plan to ensure there are more positive interactions that support the ultimate goal of improving the school’s culture and climate for all stakeholders. When a school focuses on student SEL alone, it forfeits the foundational impact of adult SEL. That’s what makes this different! We have to ensure that the adult SEL needs are met so that they, as socially and emotionally secure educators, are able to demonstrate and implement those skills in the classroom. According to CASEL’s Schoolwide Guide to SEL (2022), to promote students’ social and emotional competence, it’s important for schools to simultaneously foster a supportive staff environment that cultivates the social and emotional competence and capacity of the adults in the building. Alongside the self care efforts for adults at the school, the staff is implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) which also encourages improvement in school culture and climate. It is a tiered approach to effective systems and data that affects student outcomes. Dr. Kara Hill found that “the implementation and sustainability of PBIS equips the educator and school staff with tools and processes to first change their own behavior and then change the control within the classroom (Hill, K., 2011). We have several programs that work well together and these two compliment each other and cement the efforts to improve the school climate.

Works Cited

Abenavoli, R., Jennings, P., Harris, A., Greenberg, M., & Katz, D.. (2013). The protective effects of mindfulness against burnout among educators. The Psychology of Education Review, 37(2). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256464666_The_protective_effects_of_mindfulness_against_burnout_among_educators

Aperture Education (2021). Reducing Teacher and Student Stress with SEL [White Paper]. Retrieve from https://apertureed.com/white-paper-reducing-teacher-and-student-stress-with-sel/#

CASEL. (Revised 2022). Guide to Schoolwide SEL. Retrieved from https://schoolguide.casel.org/focus-area-2/overview/.

Darling-Hammond, L., Ancess, J., & Ort, S. W. (2002). Reinventing high school: Outcomes of the coalition campus schools project. American educational research journal, 39(3), 639-673.

Hill, Kara L., "Perceptions of faculty and staff of the positive behavior process utilizing team process and staff satisfaction survey" (2011). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3239. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3239

Biographical Sketch

N/A

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to identify a school-wide assessment process that determines the need for a self-care initiative at Oak View Elementary School. Based on the responses of the teachers after the school closure (due to COVID), returning to the face-to-face educational environment warranted action from the school leadership team.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to review the self-care initiative steps taken at the school from assessment to planning to implementation of school-wide changes along with the personal and individualized behavioral changes that helped shift the culture and climate at the school.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to review the symptoms of staff burn-out, compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress that may be impacting their SEL objectives and review a system that can help them determine the status/ level of their self-care needs. They will then participate in the personal self-care assessment, planning and implementation system utilized at Oak View Elementary School and experience the beginning stages of applying this awareness to their self-care routines, as well create a preliminary action plan for their school.

Learning Objective 4

Participants will be able to discuss the impact and process of developing a mindful room/space for faculty and staff.

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Impactful Adult SEL = Improved Culture and Climate

After a COVID related school closure and subsequent exposure on the news, an elementary school’s climate endured a definite hit. To improve morale and re-create a sense of community for teachers and staff, the school leadership team, supported by district level administrative support applied a variety of tactics to address the adult SEL needs of the staff. Utilizing a series of Self-Care Initiative activities that extended throughout the remainder of the semester and continuing to the end of the year, the leadership team was able to see results and improve the culture and climate in the school.

The Self-Care Initiative centers around the six domains of self-care: physical, mental/psychological, social/relational, emotional, spiritual, and workplace/professional self-care. The psychological effects of the COVID school closures have had a traumatic impact on teachers who are in classrooms servicing students daily. Research shows that teachers have suffered from stress that is exhibited through sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety. The decline or minimal growth in student academic success during the pandemic has contributed to the increased workload. Thus it is imperative for school and district leaders to encourage adult SEL and mindful strategies to improve faculty/staff social and emotional well-being.

Collaboration from district level support to assist administration in addressing the weighted climate due to anxiety, workload, and other job related stress was the catalyst of the Self-Care Initiative. Administration created time for staff to work with a mental health professional to complete personal inventory of self-care practices. They were able to be candid about next steps and needs from administration to make the workplace better. Administration listened and created a plan of action that began immediately. Routine visits and presence created a trusting relationship with teachers. Self-Care Initiative has been consistently mentioned by the principal in weekly emails, announcements, activities, morning check-ins, and professional learning sessions.