The 'WHY' matters! Leveraging educational neuroscience to drive positive school climate for under-resourced learners
First Presenter's Institution
Francis Marion University
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Tammy Pawloski has served since 2004 as the director of The Francis Marion University Center of Excellence to Prepare Teachers of Children of Poverty (www.fmucenterofexcellence.org), and the content of this presentation is based on almost 20 years of research and practice conducted in schools that serve students who arrive with limited resources. Pawloski has facilitated more than 2000 presentations across the nation, including keynote addresses and plenary sessions at national and state conferences, as well as sustained school-level projects that focus on implementation of specific actionable steps grounded in the science of learning. Pawloski is a noted expert because of her breadth of knowledge, however what resonates most with teachers and school leaders is her ability to deliver an uncommon combination of research, practice, and compelling stories from the field that both empower and challenge.
Document Type
Event
Primary Strand
Social-Emotional Learning
Relevance to Primary Strand
Teachers often report that students with limited access to resources often appear hopeless, disengaged, or unmotivated, and are failing to scratch the surface of their potential. The science of learning offers new insights into why this may be happening and which teacher and school moves matter most. When teachers, school leaders, and stakeholders better understand the neuro-biological reasons for the struggles that many students experience in schools, authentic, strategic, and budget-neutral accommodations and interventions can be designed and implemented. And, when a goal-focused model is used to frame those interventions, fewer students will be lost within a system that means well, but has not leveraged what we now know about the structure and function of the brain, including the promise of neural plasticity.
Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics
Professional Capacity
Brief Program Description
Do you have students who are not scratching the surface of their potential? Are many disengaged, unmotivated, or disruptive? If traditional practices are not yielding the positive results you desire, now may be the time to leverage the power of the science of learning. Leave this session with brain-based, budget-neutral shifts in policy and practice that will enable your under-resourced learners (and ALL students!) to attain school and life success.
Summary
Research shows that learners living in financial poverty often arrive at school with skills and experiences that are different from those around which schools are often based. And, when the definition of poverty is expanded to include the 'absence of any resource needed for success,' still more learners are identified who are missing social and emotional resources, along with cognitive, spiritual resources, and physical resources. These students are living in poverty of absent resources. When students have been shaped by lives with limited access to resources, teachers must have a solid understanding of the implications of those struggles in order to fully comprehend the importance and urgency of every action taken during every school day.
This session will consider the impact of school- and teacher-moves that can shift neural functioning on a moment-by-moment basis. Evidence from neuroscience that focuses upon the brain’s capacity for change as a result of experiences will justify a series of specific, research-based strategies that create environmental contrasts that purposefully support cognitive and affective brain development that is most likely to lead to increased school success.
Stakeholders who understand the implications of struggles faced by under-resourced learners recognize the importance and urgency of every action taken during every school day. Attendees will explore the science that grounds actionable strategies designed to remove barriers for students with absent resources and take away budget-neutral shifts for policy and practice and materials and resources for immediate use. They will learn how to reframe the challenges faced in high-poverty schools as opportunities for changing the futures for under-resourced (and ALL!) students.
Evidence
This presentation is based on more than 18 years of original research focused on the impact of poverty and positive mitigating factors, including:
-Rural high school's ESEA waiver grade moved from 'F' to 'A' in one year.
-K-5 school's EVASS growth rating moved from 1 to 5 in one year.
Additionally, the 25 identified high-impact teacher and school moves that will be shared have their foundation in the work of research leaders in the science and practice of learning, including: Carol Dweck (Mindsets), John Vito (Motivation), Eric Jensen, Judy Willis, Bruce Perry, Karl Alexander, others (Neuroscience), Robert Marzano, John Hattie, Dylan Wiliam, Albert Mehrabian (Pedagogy), Joyce Epstein (Family Engagement), Lorin Anderson (Educational Research). Example implementation strategies for each have been developed for learners at all levels, but, more importantly, a strong research base is offered that empowers teachers, leaders, and stakeholders to examine common practices with an eye for alignment.
Learning Objective 1
Explore school and life challenges associated with financial, social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and spiritual poverty.
Learning Objective 2
Identify common threats to achievement linked to limited access to resources.
Learning Objective 3
Take-away resources for 25 research-based, goal-directed, and high-yield moves that can positively impact school success.
Recommended Citation
Pawloski, Tammy, "The 'WHY' matters! Leveraging educational neuroscience to drive positive school climate for under-resourced learners" (2023). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 23.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2023/2023/23
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
The 'WHY' matters! Leveraging educational neuroscience to drive positive school climate for under-resourced learners
Research shows that learners living in financial poverty often arrive at school with skills and experiences that are different from those around which schools are often based. And, when the definition of poverty is expanded to include the 'absence of any resource needed for success,' still more learners are identified who are missing social and emotional resources, along with cognitive, spiritual resources, and physical resources. These students are living in poverty of absent resources. When students have been shaped by lives with limited access to resources, teachers must have a solid understanding of the implications of those struggles in order to fully comprehend the importance and urgency of every action taken during every school day.
This session will consider the impact of school- and teacher-moves that can shift neural functioning on a moment-by-moment basis. Evidence from neuroscience that focuses upon the brain’s capacity for change as a result of experiences will justify a series of specific, research-based strategies that create environmental contrasts that purposefully support cognitive and affective brain development that is most likely to lead to increased school success.
Stakeholders who understand the implications of struggles faced by under-resourced learners recognize the importance and urgency of every action taken during every school day. Attendees will explore the science that grounds actionable strategies designed to remove barriers for students with absent resources and take away budget-neutral shifts for policy and practice and materials and resources for immediate use. They will learn how to reframe the challenges faced in high-poverty schools as opportunities for changing the futures for under-resourced (and ALL!) students.
