When The SEED School of Washington, D.C., first opened its doors in 1998, founders Eric Adler and Rajiv Vinnakota had one goal in mind—to provide a quality education to low-income students so that they could earn a college degree. Over 20 years later, we’ve developed a comprehensive program model to help all SEED students (and graduates) succeed. The SEED program model includes three elements that are critical to helping students and graduates get to and through college: college preparatory academics, college knowledge and advising, and social and emotional learning.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an important part of our program model because SEED students come from varying backgrounds, and some students have experienced life situations that have adversely impacted their academic performance and personal growth. We believe that incorporating SEL into our daily curriculum is key to teaching our students to interpret, transform, and combat their experiences.
SEL programming at SEED is informed by the work of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Formed in 1994, CASEL set out to establish a high-quality, evidence-based SEL curriculum as an essential part of preschool through high school education. Over the years, CASEL has produced several guides and tool kits to teach educators how to implement effective social and emotional learning programs. A 2013 report called The Missing Piece, which presents the findings of a nationwide survey of teachers, found that CASEL’s award-winning research has strong support among teachers, who indicated that they want quality SEL programs for their students and believe that SEL is critical to their students’ education.
Piloting SEL at SEED DC
With the help of Stacey Pearl, assistant head of school at SEED DC, we recently piloted a CASEL program called Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice is the process of rehabilitating students who demonstrate consistent behavioral concerns through reconciliation with victims of such behavior and the community at large. At SEED DC, students and staff are using both restorative and proactive circles to get to the root of conflict, rather than simply punishing those involved. Within these circles, students learn to discuss their issues, listen to different perspectives, and come to peaceful agreements. In certain instances, multiple circles are required to provide long-term solutions to deeper issues.
“Children need more than a nurturing environment to thrive in all aspects of life. Social and emotional instruction is both explicit and implicit. It has to be taught, modeled, practiced, and supported in order for students to effectively learn each skill,” Ms. Pearl said.
In the future, SEED looks forward to introducing additional CASEL programs across the SEED network and into our student life curriculum. It will be tailored to meet our students’ personal needs and provide them with the skills to socially and emotionally thrive.