WHOLE-CHILD DESIGN

Time and Space for Skill Building

School staff, leadership and caregivers have different perspectives on what skills and mindsets matter for students and why. For example, a school’s mission might focus on civic identity and self-direction, yet staff might be concerned that students are struggling to behave and get along. Alternatively, staff might see their role as strictly to teach “academics,” assuming students learn these other skills outside of school. When skills are supported, they often support the agenda of those in power within the school (e.g. a focus on compliant behaviors, rather than student advocacy).

Minimal time is allocated for support of social, emotional and cognitive skills, and the time that is allocated may be siloed into a separate block. Because of this, students do not have consistent opportunities to apply and practice skills across contexts. The supports that do occur may come from a prescriptive program and/or may be driven by only staff’s perception of what skills matter, and may focus on student deficits (e.g., “some of my students are so mean,” or “they can’t control themselves”).

Integrated Strategies and Supports

While students are at school (whether in class, during a community meeting, at lunch or recess, etc.), supports tend to be for either “behavior” OR “academics,” and do not always support skills and mindsets. For example, during a group science project, students may be told the behavior expectation is to work together respectfully and the academic task is to complete an experiment, but they may not be supported in building integrated skills like managing conflict as a scientist.

Supports for skills and mindsets might perpetuate inequity in one of the following ways: a “no excuses” approach that punishes students when they struggle with skills or do not conform to school culture or a lack of clear, shared expectations and support for skills, creating a chaotic and dysregulating environment.

Modeling and Metacognition

Adults do not consistently act as models of holistic skills and mindsets like stress management, organizational skills, and strong collaboration, and the modeling that does happen may not build off all students’ cultural backgrounds and values. Adults rarely think aloud or intentionally model how they are using holistic skills. Students may guess how to demonstrate skills based on their own observation of adults or may appear unskilled due to lack of support.

Students do not have shared ways of talking about their skill development. When working together, they may struggle to talk about what is going well and what might be getting in the way of their success. For example, during a group project or while trying to play a game at recess, students may spend the bulk of their time negotiating roles and materials. Adults do not give regular feedback on holistic skill development.

Adult Reflection and Capacity Building

Adults lack time and space to reflect on and practice their own skill development. When students have lagging skills, adults might become quickly frustrated or struggle to maintain a growth mindset, as they might for other types of learning challenges. Because of this, students may be punished or excluded, rather than supported, when they struggle with a skill or mindset about school. Biases may further exacerbate the consequences of this for students from minoritized cultures who may express emotions, communicate and interact with peers outside of dominant norms. Students may be asked to demonstrate skills like emotional regulation or social awareness in situations that are not emotionally safe for them, and/or where they do not have a strong sense of belonging.

Time and Space for Skill Building

Leaders and staff may agree on a narrow set of skills and mindsets to support, but they may be overly aspirational, not appropriately rigorous, or focused on fixed traits rather than malleable skills (e.g., grit). Alternatively, there may be varying perspectives across staff, leaders, caregivers and students about what skills matter and the role of schools in supporting skill development. In some instances, some students may receive supports for skills like self-advocacy. However, this is not consistent.

Intentional learning experiences guide students to learn and practice skills in some varied contexts across their school day, including during academic and non-academic times. Responsibility may fall more heavily on some adults than others. Sometimes, students have input in shaping this time and are generally asked to draw from their strengths and knowledge as they participate. They are invited to share strategies, learn from one another’s experiences, and problem-solve together.

Integrated Strategies and Supports

Most students have strategies for skills like stress and conflict management, but they are inconsistent across contexts and receive varied support from adults. For example, students might be able to manage their relationships with peers with independence in their homeroom class because of ongoing practice but might struggle in other environments where they have not been supported in applying these skills.

Most of the time, the supports that adults provide are flexible to each student’s needs, strengths and experiences. At times, students might not have the independence they need to grow, make mistakes and learn OR they might not have enough support.

Modeling and Metacognition

Sometimes, adults are models of holistic skills and mindsets such as stress management, organizational skills and strong collaboration. Modeling might build off what adults know about students, (e.g., when thinking aloud about emotion regulation, adults may share a metaphor based on students’ interests). However, modeling may predominantly reflect a singular worldview about how to do things like manage emotions or interact with others. Adults recognize that an important way for students to learn is by observing and interacting with others.

Students are often able to describe their thinking, how they are using skills and where they might need support but may still struggle to do so across contexts. Sometimes, adults give feedback that helps students apply experiences and see growth in their skill development.

Adult Reflection and Capacity Building

There is some time and space allocated for adult reflection on their own use of holistic skills. When students have lagging skills, they often receive support but may also face punitive consequences or adults may rely on others, such as caregivers, to provide the support. There may be some understanding of cultural differences, but not yet much active reflection on how biases and beliefs about students inform what skills and approaches are valued at school.