FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2011

CONTACT:
Laura McClure
212-870-3318 x 36

NEW STUDY SHOWS NYC PROGRAM IMPROVES KIDS' BEHAVIOR, INCREASES THEIR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE,
AND BOOSTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF AT-RISK STUDENTS

'It's the missing piece of schooling,' says Brooklyn principal

Roberta Davenport, principal of PS 307 in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, says her school is undergoing "a slow transformation-starting with the tone and the climate." The lunchroom and hallways are calmer, and the quality of interaction between teachers and students has improved. Meanwhile, student suspensions have dropped.

Martina Meijer, a second-grade teacher at the school, says her students are making significant academic gains. Their vocabulary is improving, and so is their "ability to respond to literature and to connect literature to their lives. Academically I've seen them progress-but also as humans." Meijer credits the new curriculum she and other PS 307 teachers are using that "helps kids learn about themselves and their emotions, connecting that with literature, and making meaningful writing out of it." Meijer says, "That's what I want as a teacher."

The key to the school's progress, both educators say, is a program called The 4Rs (Reading, Writing, Respect & Resolution). "It's the missing piece in schooling," says Davenport.

The 4Rs, developed over a 10-year period by the NYC-based nonprofit Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility (in collaboration with the NYC public schools), integrates a curriculum that fosters students' social and emotional learning into the language arts for grades preK to 8. Thirty NYC public schools - and seven more in Ohio - are currently implementing the program. In its 29-year history, Morningside Center has worked in over 700 NYC public schools and is a leader in the growing national field of social and emotional learning.

The journal Child Development has just released a new study that provides scientific evidence that The 4Rs has a powerful effect on children. The rigorous 3-year study, conducted by researchers from NYU, Fordham, and Harvard, found that compared to children in control schools, kids in schools implementing the 4Rs were less aggressive, less likely to ascribe hostile motives to others, and had greater social competency. Children judged by their teachers to be at greatest behavioral risk showed marked improvements in attendance, academic skills, and standardized test scores. The study also found that The 4Rs improved classroom quality in ways that are correlated with improved academic achievement. Yet for all its proven value, the program's cost is very modest-about $150 per child per year.

The 4Rs study adds to a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of programs to foster students' social and emotional learning (SEL). An article published in the January-February 2011 issue of Child Development reports on a meta-analysis of 213 school-based SEL programs. It found that compared to controls, SEL participants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance that reflected an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement.

The 4Rs is unusual among such programs in that it integrates SEL into the academic curriculum. Through The 4Rs, students have a least one class a week in which they engage in reading, writing, discussion, and skills practice aimed at fostering caring, responsible behavior. Students develop skills to help them better understand and manage feelings, relate well to others, make good decisions, deal well with conflict and other life challenges, and take responsibility for improving their classroom and school community-all strengths essential to success in life. The program fosters a positive school culture that discourages behaviors like bullying.

But at a moment when budget cuts endanger teachers' jobs and even whole schools, can we really afford programs to improve kids' social and emotional intelligence?

"We can't afford not to teach kids these skills," says Morningside Center executive director Tom Roderick. "Social and emotional intelligence is key to kids' success in life. Besides, kids can't learn and teachers can't teach when the classroom and school climate are chaotic, when bullying and teasing are commonplace. Programs like The 4Rs give both adults and kids the skills they need to create a climate of respect. And we do that while strengthening the academic curriculum."

"We talk about having high expectations as it relates to reading, writing and arithmetic," says Davenport. "But we also need to have high expectations for children's social and emotional learning - and to believe that children can build the skill set that will enable them to make successful and right choices for their lives."

She adds: "Once we figure this out, and integrate this into the regular school day, once we give it just as much credence and value as we do to everything else we do instructionally, I think the difference is going to be amazing. We're saving children."

Please contact us for more information, to see The 4Rs at work in a school, interview principals, teachers, and students-or speak with 4Rs researchers.

CONTACT:

Laura McClure, Communcations Coordinator
Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility
lmcclure@morningsidecenter.org
212-870-3318 x36