Resilience, School Connectedness & Academic Achievement

1. Resilience, School Connectedness & Academic Achievement Bonnie Benard WestEd-Oakland bbenard@wested.org

2. Resilience Research Longitudinal developmental studies of how young people have transformed risk and adversity into healthy development and school and life success.

3. Over 40 Years of Resilience Research Tells Us That: …When the focus is on supporting youth, at least 70% of young people in the most challenging of life’s conditions not only survive but grow into thriving adults.

4. The Kauai Study: Emmy Werner & Ruth Smith High Risk High Risk High Risk Resilient Resilient 1955 BIRTH COHORT RISKS Poverty Parental Discord Parental Psychopathology Perinatal Stress AGE 18 HIGH RISK BEHAVIORS Delinquencies Mental Health Problems Pregnancies AGE 32 & 41 SUCCESS IN Relationships/Marriage Work Parenthood Vulnerable But Invincible (1982) Overcoming the Odds (1992) Journeys from Childhood to Mid-Life (2001)

5. Findings of Resilience Research • Risk ≠ Outcome • Behavior ≠ Capacity • Personal Strengths = Success • Environmental Supports & Opportunities = Life Success

6. Youth Development Process: Resilience in Action Environmental Inputs DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES in Families Schools Communities Youth Inputs THAT MEET DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS Youth Outputs PROMOTING POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES Societal Impacts POSITIVE PREVENTION & EDUCATION OUTCOMES THUS PRODUCING,

7. Environmental Inputs DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES in Families Schools Communities Youth/Human Development Process: Resilience in Action Environmental Inputs DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES in Families Schools Communities Youth Inputs THAT MEET DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS Youth Outputs PROMOTING POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES Societal Impacts THUS PRODUCING, POSITIVE PREVENTION & EDUCATION OUTCOMES

8. The Power of Schools “A school can create a coherent environment, a climate, more potent than any single influence—teachers, class, family, neighborhood, so potent that for at least six hours a day it can override almost everything else in the live of children.” -Ron Edmonds 1986

9. The BIG Research Question for Closing the Achievement Gap: “What are the key factors that promote academic success among students whose demographic characteristics and school circumstances place them at high risk of failure?” -Theresa AkeyMRDCJanuary 2006

10. Environmental Inputs DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES in Families Schools Communities Youth/Human Development Process: Resilience in Action Environmental Inputs DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES in Families Schools Communities Youth Inputs THAT MEET DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS Caring Relationships High Expectations Opportunities for Meaningful Participation & Contribution Youth Outputs PROMOTING POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES Societal Impacts THUS PRODUCING, POSITIVE PREVENTION & EDUCATION OUTCOMES

11. Protective Factors = Critical Developmental Supports & Opportunities Belief in youth resilience Respect Challenge & support Firm guidance Structure/rituals Strengths-focused Teaches personal resilience Reframing HIGH EXPECTATIONS “Being there” Loving support Showing interest in Getting to know Compassion Listening Patience Basic trust/safety CARING RELATIONSHIPS Safe places Inclusion Responsibility/voice & choice Child-initiated/youth-driven Experiential skill development Contribution Peer support MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION

12. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Listening to Students What students say about protective factors in their schools

13. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Evaluation Research • Adventure Learning • Arts-based Learning • Service Learning • Small Group/Cooperative Learning • Project-based Learning • Mentoring/Peer Helping • School-to-work Promote Healthy Development & Successful Learning

14. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Motivation to Learn • Personalization of school experience • High & clear standards • Meaningful and engaging pedagogy & curriculum • Professional learning communities for adults National Research Council Institute of MedicineNational Academy of Science, 2004

15. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Consortium on Chicago School Research Relational trust consists of… Caring Respect Competence Integrity Students Teachers Administrators Parents among Promotes academic achievement Schools with high trust levels are 3x more likely to report gains in reading & math scores. Schools in top quartile on standardized tests had higher levels of trust. • “This is about NOT forgetting the people.” • Anthony Bryk & Barbara Schneider 2002

16. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Project on High Performing Learning Communities • Small learning communities • Core academic program • High expectations for all students • Professional development • Fostering health and safety for all student and school community members • Engaging families in the education of their students • Creating strong school-community and school-work linkages “Reorganizing high schools into small developmentally supportive communities and providing a teacher-advisory for each student reduced dropout rates 40 to 50 percent or more” Robert Felner, 2002

17. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Literature on High Performing Learning Communities • A set of high expectations and a rigorous curriculum to support it. • A variety of instructional strategies that engage students and connect them to real-world applications. • Strong connections between students and staff. • Leadership and a school culture that is mission-driven and focused on helping all student learn. • A professional community of faculty and other staff that focuses on teaching and learning and building capacity to close the achievement gap. • Additional supports for students who need them. -Catherine Walcott, et alHigh School Reform: National & State Trends, WestEd 2005

18. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Meeting Five Critical Challenges of High School Reform: Lessons from Research on Three Reform Models* “The overall message of this synthesis is that structural changes to improve personalization and instructional improvement are the twin pillars of high school reform.” Janet Quint, MRDC May 2006 *Career Academies First Things First Talent Development

19. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Level of participation & intrinsic interest in school Positive feelings about one’s abilities to be successful academically School Context, Student Attitudes and Behavior, and Academic Achievement PerceivedAcademicCompetence Achievement in Reading & Math Student Engagement + = “The findings make clear supportive teachers and clear and high expectations about behavior are key to the development of both student engagement and perceived competence….The study also makes the case that student engagement is enhanced by learning activities that involve student to student interaction.” Teresa AkeyMRDC, Jan. 2006

20. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Moving From Risk To Resilience in all aspects of schooling • Relationships Between and Among Teachers, Students, Parents • Teacher Behavior and Attitudes • Physical Environment • Curriculum and Instruction • Grouping • Evaluation • Learning Motivation • Discipline Rhona Weinstein, adapted by Bonnie Benard

21. Developmental Supports & Opportunities Getting Results: Developing Safe and Healthy Kids Update 5, 2005 Student Health, Supportive Schools, and Academic Success “I believe that we can address the social, emotional, and health issues facing youths at the same time that we maintain our focus on academic success.” -Superintendent Jack O’Connell

22. A Simple Wisdom… At a time when the traditional structures of caring have deteriorated, schools must become places where teachers and students live together, talk with each other, take delight in each other’s company. My guess is that when schools focus on what really matters in life, the cognitive ends we now pursue so painfully and artificially will be achieved somewhat more naturally… It is obvious that children will work harder and do things -- even odd things like adding fractions -- for people they love and trust. Nel Noddings, 1998

23. Youth Development Process: Youth Inputs THAT MEET DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS Resilience in Action Environmental Inputs DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES in Families Schools Communities Youth Inputs THAT MEET DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS Youth Outputs PROMOTING POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES Safety Love & Belonging Respect Power Challenge Mastery Meaning Caring Relationships High Expectations Meaningful Participation Societal Impacts THUS PRODUCING, POSITIVE PREVENTION & EDUCATION OUTCOMES

24. Developmental Needs • At the core of youth development is the belief that human behavior is motivated by developmental needs.

25. Developmental Needs BigQuestion for Youth Development Practice: “How are we meeting our students’ needs?” • Safety • Love • Belonging • Respect • Mastery • Challenge • Power • Meaning

26. Developmental Needs • At the core of youth development is the belief that human behavior is motivated by developmental needs. • Developmental psychologists refer to these as “powerful protective adaptational systems” (Ann Masten). • Resilience is a developmental wisdom that takes the form of developmental needs.

27. Developmental Needs Brain Science finds… “Downshifted” Thinking “Self-Efficacious” Thinking When children feel threatened by their environments they often “downshift” their thinking to fight or flight stress responses & cannot access higher order thinking & learning. When children experience environments that engage their sense of “self-efficacy” (i.e. innate resilience) they activate their higher-order thinking & learning & creativity. -Renate & Geoffrey Caine Education on the Edge of Possibility (1997)

28. Youth Development Process: Youth Outputs PROMOTING POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES Resilience in Action Environmental Inputs DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES in Families Schools Communities Youth Inputs THAT MEET DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS Safety Love & Belonging Respect Power Challenge Mastery Meaning Individual Outputs PROMOTING POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES Caring Relationships High Expectations Meaningful Participation Societal Impacts THUS PRODUCING, POSITIVE PREVENTION & EDUCATION OUTCOMES Social Emotional Cognitive Moral-Spiritual

29. Developmental Outcomes Healthy Development of the Whole Child Physical Cognitive Emotional Moral/Spiritual Social

30. Developmental Outcomes Healthy Development of the Whole Child If stakeholders believe schools are responsible for developing the whole child, what needs to change? If decisions about programs started with “What works for the child?” how would resources - time, space, and human - be arrayed to ensure each child’s success? What would happen if community resources were arrayed in support of children reaching their potential as young adults? If students were truly at the center of the system, what could be achieved? Gene CarterASCD Commission on the Whole Child, 2006

31. Developmental Outcomes Personal Resilience Strengths: What Resilience Looks Like • EMOTIONAL • Autonomy • - Positive Identity - Self-efficacy • Initiative • Mastery • Self-awareness • Resistance • SOCIAL • Social Competence • Responsiveness • Flexibility • Cross-cultural competence • Empathy/caring • Communication skills • Sense of humor • MORAL/SPIRITUAL • Sense of Purpose & Future • A special interest/hobby • Goal directedness • Imagination • Achievement motivation • Educational aspiration • Persistence • Optimism • Faith • Sense of Meaning • COGNITIVE • Problem-solving • - Planning • Seeing alternatives • Critical thinking • Resourcefulness Bonnie Benard Resiliency: What We Have Learned, 2004

32. Youth Development Process: Resilience in Action Environmental Inputs DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES in Families Schools Communities Societal Impacts THUS PRODUCING, POSITIVE PREVENTION & EDUCATION OUTCOMES Societal Impacts THUS PRODUCING, POSITIVE PREVENTION & EDUCATION OUTCOMES Youth Inputs THAT MEET DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS Safety Love & Belonging Respect Power Challenge Mastery Meaning Youth Outputs PROMOTING POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES Social Emotional Cognitive Moral-Spiritual Caring Relationships High Expectations Meaningful Participation Societal Impacts THUS PRODUCING, POSITIVE PREVENTION & EDUCATION OUTCOMES

33. Prevention & Education Outcomes Protecting Adolescents from Harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health Parent/family connectedness and perceived school connectedness were protective against every health risk behavior measure

34. Prevention & Education Outcomes School Connectedness Constructs • Likes school • Student voice • Peer relations • Safety • Teacher Support • Academic engagement • Belonging • Discipline/fairness • Extracurricular activities “Whether examining academic performance or involvement with a range of health behaviors, young people who feel connected to school, that they belong, and that teacher are supportive and treat them fairly, do better.” Heather Libby, Journal of School Health, Sept. 2004

35. Caring Relationships High Expectations Opportunities for Participation Implications for Ed. Policy & Practice High quality professional development Measurable Goals & Benchmarks It’s HOW we do what we do… Parent & Community Involvement Support for teachersadministrators & staff High quality External TA Proven methods & strategies ETC. Protective factors must be at the heart of a comprehensive school reform program if it is to truly promote healthy development and school & life success.

36. Implications for Ed. Policy & Practice It starts with Educators’ Beliefs Youth’s Academic and Life Success YouthNeeds Protective Factors Adults’ BELIEF in Youth Resilience

37. Implications for Ed. Policy & Practice Leadership Belief Key to Systems Change “…Hope,optimism, and self-belief among teachers are the vital wellsprings of successful learning and positive educational change… It is individuals who must hope, but it is institutions that create the climate and conditions which make people feel more hopeful or less so.” Michael Fullan, 1998

38. CR CR CR OP CR Staff Learning Community OP CR OP HE OP HE OP HE HE Implications for Ed. Policy & Practice Resilience in action… …begins with a Professional Learning Community Staff Needs Safety Love/Belonging Respect Power Mastery Meaning Staff Resilience Empathy Humor Problem Solving Self-Efficacy Purpose/Hope Shared Vision Belief In Human Resilience

39. Conclusion “We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that….Whether or not we will ever effectively teach the children of the poor is probably far more a matter of politics than of social science.” -Ron Edmonds 1986