Young students who struggle with mental health barriers often face difficult life circumstances that are entirely outside their control. Research over the past few decades has shown that students who master of critical social-emotional concepts that build resilience have the best chance of academic success. Social emotional learning (SEL) truly forms the foundation all students need to thrive in learning and in life.
Social-Emotional Learning skills make up the ways each individual interacts with the people around them, from empathy and self-confidence, to making healthy behavioral decisions and more. The need for SEL to start as early as possible is more apparent now than ever before. Most foundational SEL skills are formed in elementary grades. This makes elementary school the best possible time to use an evidence-based curriculum that includes social-emotional learning activities in every student’s education experience.
Building a comprehensive and effective SEL program for elementary students has traditionally required school districts to hire more counseling positions, or worse, to assign more work to existing staff. The research clearly shows schools gain valuable return on investments in evidence-based SEL and multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). The key is finding the right partner that can quickly and affordably increase a school’s capacity to provide support, especially to the elementary students who need it most.
EmpowerU offers social-emotional learning activities for elementary schools with customized Tier 1 and Tier 2 solutions. The Tier 1 curriculum is a plug-and-play program that requires minimal training and no daily prep for teachers. The EmpowerU platform guides the teacher makes it simple for the classroom teacher to deliver whole class lessons and daily calming activities in morning meeting.
For struggling students who could benefit from additional support, the Tier 2 solution uses the EmpowerU platform to deliver short daily lessons and 1:1 personalized coaching by EmpowerU’s highly-trained and licensed team. Using the platform, the school’s in-house counseling team has access to real-time updates and reports on each student’s goals, learning and progress.
With a strong SEL foundation in elementary school, the potential for a student’s positive personal growth in middle and high school — and beyond — rises significantly.
