FACT SHEET:
Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility

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Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility educates young people for hopeful and intelligent engagement with their world. We do this by developing evidence-based programs to foster social and emotional learning (SEL) and working with scores of schools each year to support them in implementing these programs.

Social and emotional learning is the process by which we develop our capacity to understand and manage feelings, relate well to others, deal well with conflict and other life challenges, make good decisions, and take responsibility for improving our communities-from the classroom to the world.

In schools using best practices for fostering social and emotional learning:

• Teachers teach weekly classroom lessons in an SEL curriculum to develop students' skills in such areas as handling anger, listening, assertiveness, cooperation, negotiation, mediation, building community, celebrating differences, and countering bias.
  
• The school adopts an approach to discipline that fosters students' social and emotional development, and an atmosphere of respect among adults, between adults and children and between children. This includes strong action to eliminate bullying.
  
• Students have opportunities to become leaders and help develop a positive peer culture. We train and coach students in grades 3-12 to be peer mediators, and even younger children to be peace helpers in their classroom, with the teacher's support.
  
• The school continually hones its curriculum, its policies, and its practices to ensure respect for all.
  
• The school is a learning organization based on inquiry, collaborative problem-solving, and collegiality.
  
• The school engages parents in activities aimed at developing their social and emotional skills.

In 2009-2010, we:

• provided professional development (training and coaching) for 1,284 teachers
  
• helped 11,960 children (preK-12) learn social & emotional skills through our sustained, classroom-based programs
  
• trained and coached over 700 young peer mediators and peace helpers
  
• provided workshops for teachers in 275 schools and sustained classroom-based programs for teachers in an additional 45 schools

Major scientific studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of our programs. A three-year, federally funded study by researchers at New York University, Fordham University, and Harvard University found that children in nine 4Rs schools did better socially, emotionally, and academically than their peers in nine non-4Rs schools.

CURRENT PROGRAMS

1. Intensive Classroom Instruction Programs

We provide professional development to support teachers in consistently teaching our social & emotional learning (SEL) curricula. Our classroom instruction programs include the following:

• The 4Rs (Reading, Writing, Respect & Resolution) develops the academic, social & emotional skills of students from pre-K through middle school by integrating SEL into a core academic area (language arts).
  
• Resolving Conflict Creatively (RCCP) develops the academic, social & emotional skills of students grades K-12.
  
• Pathways to Respect is our research-based program for eliminating bullying in middle schools. It addresses the problem on three levels: school-wide, classroom, and individual. The curriculum component of Pathways to Respect is 4Rs for Middle School.

2. Student Leadership Programs

We provide school-based training and support for students (K -12) in becoming leaders in their schools and communities. We also provide technical assistance to help schools set up effective student leadership programs. During FY09, we provided training and coaching for some 707 young leaders in 20 schools. Our programs include:

• Peer Mediation. Selected young people, grades 3-12, (usually 25-30 students per school) learn basic SEL skills and master a step-by-step mediation process. They then serve their schools by mediating disputes among their peers.
  
• Peace Helpers. Students from grades K-2 work with their teachers to establish classroom Peace Corners and help their classmates address problems and conflicts.
  
• Diversity Panels. Panels made up of students representing various forms of diversity make classroom presentations to trigger discussion of how the school can ensure respect for all.
  

3. After-School Programs

• PAZ (Peace from A to Z) After-School Program @ P.S. 24 serves 270 children in Sunset Park, Brooklyn with a program of conflict resolution instruction, cooperative sports, arts, community service, and homework help. PAZ @ P.S. 24 operates from 3-6 every school day afternoon as well as all day during 20 school holidays and for six weeks during the summer.
  
• Supplemental Educational Services (SES) Program @ P.S. 24 provides after-school tutoring services for about 400 students at P.S. 24. The program integrates SEL and is aligned with PAZ and with P.S. 24's progressive approach to education.
  
• PAZ @ P.S. 214 serves 135 middle school students in the Bronx with a rich program of conflict resolution, health and nutrition workshops, and an outdoors program (PAZ in the Woods). PAZ @ P.S. 214 operates from 3-5 Monday through Thursday, and all day on school holidays.

4. Model Schools

We are now partnering with seven schools to support them, over time, in implementing a comprehensive school-wide SEL model that we first developed at P.S. 24. The model includes regular instruction for students in The 4Rs; an approach to discipline that is aligned with SEL; student leadership programs, and, in two schools, our PAZ after-school program. We are now piloting a new guide for these model schools called Educating Heart and Mind: A Roadmap & Toolkit for School Transformation based on SEL.

5. Stand-alone Workshops

Our staff developers provide engaging, interactive stand-alone SEL workshops for school staff, including teachers, guidance counselors, and school aides. During FY10, we provided workshops for some 700 school staff from 275 NYC public schools, who influence some tens of thousands of NYC public school students. Most of our stand-alone workshops in FY10 were conducted through Respect for All, our collaboration with the NYC Department of Education to address bullying, especially of lesbian and gay young people. Through these two-day awareness and skill-building workshops, we are reaching teachers and guidance counselors from schools throughout NYC. In addition, we provided 200 new teachers with a day of workshops through our first annual Courageous Schools SEL conference in May 2010.

6. Collaboration with Researchers

Morningside Center collaborates with researchers to evaluate the impact of our programs and contribute knowledge to the field. Current research collaborations include The 4Rs Research Project and the CLASS/My Teaching Partner Project.

7. Websites

In 2010, with help from the Taproot Foundation, we are developing our website MorningsideCenter.Org into an engaging center for teachers and other SEL practitioners. The new website will integrate our website of teacher resources TeachableMoment.Org, which offers educators timely, inquiry-oriented classroom lessons on issues of the day. In FY2010, our websites drew a total of 621,000 visitors and 5 million hits.