Missouri Board Of Education Seeks to Clarify Social-Emotional Learning
Education department hopes to assist K-12 teachers control classroom behavior.
;)
Untangle Your Mind!
Sign up for our free newsletter and start your day with clear-headed reporting on the latest topics in education.
Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter
惭颈蝉蝉辞耻谤颈鈥檚 are being refined to focus on student behavior after the State Board of Education reviewed on the program.
Some board members referred to the current draft as a 鈥渂eginning,鈥 and the board decided not to vote on passing the standards during its meeting Tuesday.
The public was invited to comment on the department鈥檚 proposed social-emotional-learning standards in September. Although a majority of responses were positive, the State Board of Education decided to alter the state鈥檚 approach.
Chrissy Bashore, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education鈥檚 coordinator of school counseling and student wellness, said there was 鈥渁 great deal of confusion around social emotional learning and what it means鈥 鈥 particularly as she read negative comments.
Positive comments were optimistic about potential mental-health gains for students, whereas negative comments told state officials that this was beyond their role.
鈥淜ids belong to their parents, and parents have the right to educate their kids and the responsibility to see that their kids are well-educated,鈥 one comment said.
Others complained that social-emotional learning, often abbreviated as SEL, sounds like diversity, equity and inclusion and accused the department of 鈥渋ndoctrination.鈥
鈥淲hen conservatives hear social emotional learning,鈥 Kimberly Bailey, a board member from Raymore, said during the meeting, 鈥渢hey think of the loaded-up, ideological version that you find in some places. That鈥檚 not what we鈥檙e trying to do.鈥
Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven suggested changing the word 鈥渟tandards鈥 to 鈥渇ramework鈥 to reiterate the optional nature of the state鈥檚 plan.
鈥淭hey can choose to use the resource, or they can choose not to,鈥 Board President Charlie Shields said. 鈥淭hey can develop their own frameworks.鈥
Board members said they were eager to provide a resource for teachers that want to address behavioral issues, but they wanted schools to have 鈥渓ocal control鈥 to create their own plans.
Shields said the SEL guidelines should assist teachers who feel overwhelmed by student behavior, likely helping the teacher retainment issue.
鈥淭eachers are asking us for some level of expectation about the classroom environment,鈥 he said.
鈥淭his is an opportunity to not just focus on one thing but to take on that charge of being thought leaders and create that portfolio,鈥 she said.
She wants to study other states鈥 resources to see what Missouri can offer educators.
Vandeven wondered how fruitful the study would be.
鈥淭he issue is states are implementing SEL standards or they are forbidding them,鈥 Vandeven said. 鈥淭his is a very divisive issue.鈥
Board member Kerry Casey, of Chesterfield, wanted to focus more on the standards and proposed renaming them to remove the 鈥渟ocial-emotional learning鈥 title.
鈥淲e are concerned about behavior in the classroom because that is what is certainly impacting our teacher retention and recruitment,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 affecting the lives of our students and their ability to learn.鈥
Her proposed name would include 鈥渂ehavior鈥 instead of emotions.
Shields said the name wouldn鈥檛 fit, for not every guideline addressed a behavior.
Other board members thought the public would be suspicious of a title change after the standards stirred controversy.
Vandeven was worried about the time to make larger changes Casey mentioned, pointing to the two DESE staff members working on the framework.
鈥淭here are two of them,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat will take all year.鈥
Vandeven also worried that some criticisms would persist even after edits.
鈥淲e have the potential of revisiting something, and we could find ourselves in the same place again,鈥 she said.
Although they received harsh words from some community members, the board seemed to focus on the potential to help educators. The criticism was not the sole reason for making changes.
鈥淭he controversy doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 not the right thing to move forward,鈥 Shields told the board.
The board reiterated the importance of creating a guide for student behavior and interactions.
Carol Hallquist, the board鈥檚 vice president, said those who want to reserve behavior as a parent鈥檚 responsibility may not see all the work educators do.
鈥淭he desenters said this is the job of the parent,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 the job of the parent to feed them, and we鈥檙e doing that. It is the job of the parent to ensure that children have warm clothes to wear, but we鈥檝e got clothes closets in schools.鈥
A handful of those in attendance at the meeting applauded.
Casey said districts who have implemented a similar program to the proposed standards have enviable results. She referenced Potosi R-III School District鈥檚 work implementing researchers鈥 methods.
鈥淚t not only benefited the teachers, but it benefited the students. It benefited the students in terms of academic outcomes, their behaviors and their success in life,鈥 she said.
Christi Bergin, associate dean for research and innovation at the University of Missouri, helped create Potosi鈥檚 program. She is co-chair of the group creating 惭颈蝉蝉辞耻谤颈鈥檚 framework.
is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on and .
Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter