Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2016 V46 No 1 | Page 16

Leveling the playing
field through socialemotional learning:
CULTIVATING GRIT IN EXPANDED
LEARNING PROGRAMS

As educators strive
to implement myriad
reforms, emerging
research on the role
expanded learning
programs play in
narrowing achievement
gaps and educating the
whole child warrants a
deeper look into what
works in education.

16

Leadership

Grit is a four-letter word. To

many professional educators, “grit” is a
term that conjures up issues of inequality
among race, culture and socio-economic
status. To others, grit is simply dismissed as
the latest fad, the educational flavor of the
month. Supporters of grit argue it is neither
a trend nor an inequitable strategy in education, but rather an essential ingredient
for student success in school and beyond.
Despite the myriad school reform initiatives K-12 education has endured over several decades, the academic performance of
U.S. students has changed little. According
to the National Assessment of Education
Progress (NAEP), reading and math scores
among American teens have remained
static for the past 40 years (Steinberg,
2015). America’s abysmal global standing
on the K-12 academic stage is well documented, which begs the question: What are
we missing?
A 2013 study, “The Missing Piece,” by
the Collaborative for Academic, Social
and Emotional Learning (CASEL) found
that, “In too many classrooms and schools
across America, children are missing a

critical piece of their education. Year after
year, and test after test, students and their
teachers focus on the cognitive elements of
education, while other life skills are often
absent from the in-school experience.”
Current research suggests the mastery
of social-emotional learning (SEL) skills
in early childhood is a stronger indicator
of positive adult outcomes than academics
for predicting future success in school, the
workplace and society.
A recent peer reviewed study published
in the American Journal of Public Health
found “statistically significant associations
between measured social-emotional skills
in kindergarten and key young adult outcomes across multiple domains of education, employment, criminal activity, substance abuse and mental health.”
In other words, how very young children
interact socially with their peers, as well as
how they manage their own emotions, can
more reliably predict how well they will
fare in all aspects of adult life, more so than
grades, test scores or grade point averages.
By Amy Cranston