Several Minnesota districts already have an Ethnic Studies graduation requirement; countless more offer courses that meet the letter of the law. But now, these rich instructional offerings will be available to every Minnesota public school student.

The catch? Minnesota has no teacher license for Ethnic Studies—and so no way to recognize the expertise this work requires, or build a pipeline of teachers ready to do it. A working group of Minnesotans, on which EE served, looked at this gap and recommended the teacher licensing board establish a distinct Ethnic Studies license. The board listened.

On September 28, the Professional Educator Standards and Licensing Board (PELSB) opened a public comment period for rules to establish a new Ethnic Studies teacher license. 

EE has crafted talking points for those who wish to submit comments in support of the rules. Comments should be submitted via email to PELSB.rules@state.mn.us by 4:30pm on November 2, 2026.

How we got here

In 2023, the Minnesota legislature passed “Ethnic Studies for All,” a bill requiring schools to offer Ethnic Studies instruction to all kids. By the following winter, the state adopted new academic standards in social studies that included a strand for Ethnic Studies for the first time.

EE served as a core member of the Ethnic Studies Coalition, and advocated for both of these changes—because the students and educators we spoke to demanded them. In classrooms already engaged in Ethnic Studies, students felt more seen, celebrated, and understanding of their peers. They were honing critical thinking skills crucial both to social studies and to becoming lifelong learners.

Getting here took a lot of people. Alongside coalition partners, we testified before the legislature and an administrative law judge, hosted public events and workshop sessions, spoke to the media, and helped organize educators, students, and community members who understand the value of Ethnic Studies for all kids.

Where we go next

From here on, teachers will determine, school by school and class by class, whether “Ethnic Studies for All” becomes something real for students, or stays a line in statute.

They’re up for it—Minnesota teachers were building this work long before the law required it. Now what they need is policy that honors their expertise and grows the field of teachers who will carry it forward. A dedicated license is a key piece of that.

Submit comments via email to PELSB.rules@state.mn.us by 4:30pm on November 2, 2026.

The post MN promised “Ethnic Studies for All.” Now policy needs to help teachers deliver it. appeared first on Education Evolving.

Lawmakers did pass a limited “hold harmless” for compensatory revenue—school dollars to support economically disadvantaged students and close achievement gaps.

EE, alongside partners in the Push Forward MN Coalition, urged this stopgap remedy to protect students and families already at risk of losing SNAP and Medicaid benefits.
Beyond that, here’s how our priorities fared:

Protecting access to public education

On a party-line vote, the Senate passed language codifying in Minnesota all students’ Constitutional right to free public education in a safe learning environment and establishing additional student protections, part of a DFL-sponsored omnibus immigration enforcement bill. With no Republican support in either chamber, the bill was a non-starter in the tied House.

This was another shared priority with Push Forward MN partners.

Unlocking school innovation

Our bill to help schools access site-level flexibilities that are already on the books enjoyed unanimous bipartisan support in both chambers. As was the case for most bills this year, that still wasn’t enough—but there’s a clear path for passage in 2027. Our bill would provide site-level teams the flexibility to create student-centered learning designs, coupled with clear expectations for academic outcomes. The current law has strong intent but needs refinement to clarify district and site-level expectations. This statue can be a powerful vehicle for local voice and shared governance—enabling families, educators, and community partners to design the schools in their neighborhoods, while giving school districts a framework to foster strong, adaptive, and accountable schools.

Vision of a Learner

We brought a bill with Rep. Greene to establish a statewide “Vision of a Learner”—naming as explicit state priorities the deeper skills students need, like critical thinking, collaboration, and civic responsibility. We made important progress moving this conversation with legislative champions and stakeholders across the state.

Assessment relevance

Finally, we brought a bill with Rep. Mueller to make state assessments more growth-focused, timely, relevant, and useful. Prioritizing growth in the design of the MCA would provide clearer, fairer picture of student learning that shows progress as well as proficiency, reduce economic and racial biases inherent in proficiency scores, and serve as a critical “system check.” With progress made, our intent is to keep the fire lit and see the bill through in 2027.

The post Progress, if not passage, on student-centered policy ideas appeared first on Education Evolving.

But nearly all education bills have stalled out in the House of Representatives. Why? A 67-67 tie in the chamber means no one’s priorities stand a chance without bipartisan cooperation. Even non-controversial bills are getting caught in an increasingly political stalemate these final weeks of the legislative session.

One glimmer of hope? The parties came together to unanimously nix a $250 million special education funding cut. We’ll need more where that came from to get anything done before the hard May 18 deadline.

What’s happening with our priorities?

We entered the year with four specific top priorities—as well as a broader policy platform of issues we watch, weigh in on, and support.

Protecting Access to Public Education—Education Protection Bill (HF3409/SF3803)

This bill protects K-12 public education access for all students regardless of immigration status—building on and strengthening protections in a landmark 1982 federal court ruling. The tragedy and trauma of the last couple of months here in Minnesota have underscored the critical need for these protections.

In the Senate, the one-seat DFL majority advanced it to Judiciary and Public Safety and finally to the Senate floor where it is likely to pass.

In the House, the bill halted on a party-line vote in a tied Education Policy committee.

We continue to work on this alongside our partners in the Push Forward Coalition to see this priority through.

Unlocking School-Level Innovation—Site-Governed Schools (HF4176/SF4453)

This bill clarifies and fixes up an existing law, so schools can access needed flexibilities already on the books—enabling the kind of site-level innovation for equity that we know produces outcomes.

It earned rare unanimous, bipartisan support when it was heard in both chambers, with bipartisan authors to boot.

The Senate version was folded into the education policy omnibus and advanced to the floor, while the House version seems to be one of those non-controversial bills receiving no oxygen in the tensely divided chamber. 

Vision of a Learner (bill dropping soon)

We are championing a bill that would establish a statewide model “Vision of a Learner,” naming as explicit state priorities the deeper skills Minnesota students need, including critical thinking, collaboration, and civic responsibility.

The bill is drafted, with several House champions onboard. We have no illusions about passage this session. We’re treating this year like the Vikings might—it’s a “building year.” We’re working to bring Senate champions and additional partners to get this done in 2027.

Assessment Relevancy (HF4984)

Our latest bill dropped last week, legislation based on our prior recommendations. This bill would make state assessments more student-centered—growth-focused, timely, relevant, and useful for educators and families. This is another priority on which we are shaping the conversation and laying groundwork for future policy change.

Notably, Governor Walz’s budget included a charge to develop a working group on assessment relevance, consistent with our recommendations.

Other items we’re watching this session

In addition to bills we’ve led on, EE has actively watched, weighed in on, supported partners, and showed up as a voice for students, educators, and communities on bills related to:

• Compensatory Revenue Reform. We’re helping to coordinate the Push Forward Coalition action committee focused on this issue, alongside other partner organizations.
• READ Act Pre-Service Preparation (HF3421/SF4011). We testified in support of pre-service preparation providing literacy field experience, which aligns with our work around student-centeredness and teacher retention.
• Career Pathways Legislation, which aligns with our Vision of a Learner framework above.
• Civic and Climate Learning Seals (HF2372/SF2565), consistent with our Badging recommendations.
• K-3 Suspension Limits, where we stood in support of the position Solutions Not Suspensions, of which we are a member.

What’s next?

EE will end the session with meaningful action across all our top priorities and beyond. Anything more depends on whether bipartisan compromise can be struck in the House. We will stay in the hunt, shaping the conversation for more equitable, student-centered learning and laying groundwork for future policy change.

The post Where our priorities stand in another tensely divided MN legislative session appeared first on Education Evolving.

The tragedy hit close to home: My kids’ preschool is blocks away and I drove past Annunciation School minutes before the shooting, then heard waves of sirens go by. Two young lives are lost and many others in my neighborhood are physically injured, countless more psychologically scarred.

And yet this sudden proximity to tragedy is an illusion. All of us—all of our children—live with this risk every day. Since Columbine, nearly 400,000 students have been impacted by gun violence at their school. Our country sees magnitudes more school shootings than other industrialized nations.

Along with so many others: We grieve. We are angry. We demand change.

Now, we must direct these feelings into the question: How? As Minnesota prepares for a special legislative session in response to this attack, we must ask: How do we build a future where this doesn’t happen?

That future, experts understand, requires evidence-based solutions and a multi-pronged approach—action on common sense gun laws, on mental health, on designing safe and nurturing schools. No action, no change.

As I hugged my kid goodbye this morning and saw him disappear into his classroom for his first day of American K-12 education, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of what I was doing. I was entrusting him to a system that I deeply believe in—but which I know is not safe.

Policy cannot heal wounds or bring back the children we lost. But we must ask how policy can make the next act of violence less likely. Demand serious answers. And then take action.

The post A message from Education Evolving’s Executive Director on the Annunciation tragedy appeared first on Education Evolving.

But some literacy instruction experts worry Minnesota may fall short of the Act’s objectives if we fail to hold students to high expectations and engage them in materials they find relevant and meaningful.

We spoke to leaders at the Network for the Development for Children of African Descent (NdCAD)—whose longstanding literary instruction programs buck the state’s slipping scores—to hear what lessons they would share. But first:

What’s in the READ Act?

Passed in 2023, the READ Act requires schools to provide “evidence-based reading instruction” focused on foundational reading skills. That means instruction that emphasizes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—core components of what’s called “the science of reading.”

These components are backed by decades of cognitive science and represent the most effective way to ensure students learn to read words accurately and fluently.

The Act requires districts to:

• Provide specific training and ensure reading interventions are made by trained teachers.
• Administer reading screeners to all students grades K-3.
• Develop and adopt formal plans for how they’ll have all students reading at or above grade level.

The law addresses some crucial gaps—and sets a high bar for schools to clear. But there’s a risk of reducing literacy to technical proficiency if relevance and meaning get left out of the equation.

Lessons from an integrated, culture-centered approach

[NdCAD’s programs] include all the core components of the science of reading—but through a culture-centered, or integrated, approach.

Since 1997, experts at NdCAD have honed literacy instruction programs that include all the core components of the science of reading—but through a culture-centered, or integrated, approach.

Now, “culture-centered” does not mean “the science of reading with a cultural flavoring.” Nor is NdCAD’s integrated approach an alternative to the science of reading—but a powerful extension that makes it stick. NdCAD founder and executive director Gevonee Ford explains.

“[Our approach] is integrated into a larger endgame [which] is, ‘I understand why reading is important. It’s important because it helps me succeed in school. But it also helps me understand who I am. And who my family is. And who my community is. And my responsibility and place in the world.’”

2025 NdCAD Summer Training Institute
August 18-19

Broaden how you think about education, reading instruction, and strategies to ensure all children succeed in school and life. For parents, teachers, early childhood providers, school administrators, and more.

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The Sankofa Reading Program at NdCAD serves K-8 students in afterschool and summertime settings. Sankofa students make critical connections between reading and cultural identity development through culturally-specific texts, individual learning plans, and complementary “Parent Power” literacy workshops for parents and caregivers.

The program aligns with state standards and assessments, but as its tagline goes: We don’t teach the reading, we teach the reader.

Ford expands on it: “We teach the reader to master the thinking parts of reading, and the skills so that they can read and make meaning with any text.”

Sam Ramos, a longtime training and program coordinator, talks about making meaning by drawing identity connections, so that we and our ancestors become living texts.

“Our stories are things that our children need to hear. From the small minutiae to the story of how we got here.”

Sankofa translates to “go back and get it.” That spirit of connection to the past and belonging permeates not just NdCAD’s literacy programs, but their office and tutoring space. “Welcome home,” every person is greeted upon entry.

Centering students aspirations, not skill gaps

A core tenet of NdCAD’s approach involves reframing how we think about student strengths and aspirations, particularly when building individual learning plans.

Sankofa tutors analyze robust pre-assessment data looking for student strengths. They don’t start with the skill gaps.

“Now you build an individual learning plan for you. What are you trying to learn from that child about the strength that they bring?” describes Ford.

“What are you intending to learn from the child about what turns that switch on? Because that’s what you need in order to introduce them to the skill areas that are not as strong.”

Transformative outcomes for students and families

Family members of Sankofa students are strongly encouraged to participate in Parent Power. Staff talked about a Parent Power graduate’s a-ha moment in a conversation about building identity connections.

100% of Sankofa students increase their reading skills and 65% finish the program meeting or exceeding grade level reading.

“Now I understand how in nine weeks my child went from ‘I can’t read and I don’t want to,’ to now I can’t stop them from reading and wanting to show off all the different phonograms they know.’”

NdCAD has the receipts: 100% of Sankofa students increase their reading skills and 65% finish the program meeting or exceeding grade level reading.

And it’s not just the kids. An evaluation by Ramsey County found that Parent Power was instrumental to improving families’ stability, well-being, and self-determination.

Ramos draws parallels between his young daughters and the scholars he has seen grow during his 15 years at NdCAD.

“They’re looking for the answers to those questions of why, especially at that age range of six through eight. Everything is why. ‘Why this? Why that? Why do I have to brush my teeth? Why do I have to do this?’ The why is so important,” Ramos explains. “But without the answers, they’re going to think it’s just another thing to do.”

“Understanding the importance of what [reading proficiency] means to them as individuals, as family members, as community members, as a people is why we see the gains that we see in our programs.”

Pushing expectations beyond the baseline

The READ Act compels schools to use culturally responsive instructional materials, though the provision seems likely to yield more cultural flavoring as opposed to the integrated approach proven successful by NdCAD.

While NdCAD uses highly culturally responsive materials, too, Ford believes teachers must be culturally responsive by recognizing who children are and where they come from. But he pushes them further.

“How does that translate into how you think about your instruction, how you think about what you hope to learn from the children and, most importantly, what you hope to learn about yourself from the delivery of your instruction?”

The READ Act sets new expectations; educators must determine how they will help students meet them. But Ford and Ramos urge us to aim higher than baseline standards and expectations. This comes back to reframing how we think about student strengths and aspirations.

“If we raise the standard and intrinsically motivate, they will meet the higher standard,” Ford says of students, before turning the spotlight back to the adults. “If we lower the standard, they will meet that as well.”

As schools implement the READ Act, we must teach kids to decode words. And, they must also learn how to decode the world in which they live. We adults must believe they can.

The post Building on the READ Act: Teaching readers, not just reading appeared first on Education Evolving.

Below are a few of the top policy priorities we’re working on right now.

Student-Centered Learning Designs

OUR ASK: Enable, encourage, and equip educators to shift learning from one-size-fits-all, to personalized, learner-driven, and culturally affirming.

• Ethnic Studies & Academic Standards: Teach a more honest & inclusive shared story.
  Support schools and districts as they prepare to implement high quality ethnic studies learning experiences starting in 2026—so that students are better able to see themselves and their peers reflected in what they learn.

• Personalized, Competency-Based Education: Prioritize outcomes & growth, not ticking boxes.
  Develop a model state “Portrait of a Graduateˮ that centers future-ready knowledge and skills like collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. This would assert the stateʼs support for such skills, and provide a grounding framework that could be adapted at the local level.

Educator Talent Pathways

OUR ASK: Advance policies, programs, and pathways that recruit, prepare, and retain innovative and talented educators who reflect the communities they serve.

• Teacher Licensure: Clear barriers to licensure for talented, diverse teachers.
  Preserve and improve the new cohort-based licensure pathway for heritage language teachers (created in 2023). The pathway removes systemic barriers and recognizes the expertise and lived experience for immensely talented educators. Expand the cohort-based pathway to other fields.

• Teacher Preparation: Build innovative & accessible on-ramps to teaching.
  Fund and clear barriers for innovative preparation models like Apprenticeships, Grow Your Own programs, Teacher Residencies, and Microcredential-based programs. Preserve and support Alternative Teacher Preparation (per § 122A.2451).

Outcomes That Matter

OUR ASK: Push schools, districts, and states to define, measure, and be accountable for broader forms of student academic, social, emotional, and civic success.

• Better State Assessments: Provide more timely, actionable data on deeper student learning.
  Make the MN Comprehensive Assessments a more equitable and relevant tool. Score it on a “vertical scaleˮ and measure granular, off-grade growth to value the learning of all students, involve youth in test development and prioritize cultural relevance of content, and accelerate the user-friendliness and release timelines of results. Pilot a “Badging Systemˮ that covers deeper, applied skills—and helps students gain access to college credit and employment post-graduation.

• Broader, Richer Data: Capture a more holistic picture of student experiences & development.
  Improve the MN Student Survey—a key tool for elevating the voices of youth and a source of data on factors like school culture, student engagement, safety, mental health, and social-emotional growth. Make it shorter, focused on topics that matter to youth and educators, given more frequently, more quickly available, and easily digestible.

Autonomy & Shared Power

OUR ASK: Move decisions closer to students and support educators sharing power with their teams, students, families, and communities.

• Autonomy Inside Large Districts: Enable school communities to be drivers of change.
  Help school districts shift power to school communities. Create frameworks for autonomous schools where power is shared among students, families, and educators (for example, by building on § 123B.045).

• Equity, Innovation, and Quality in Chartering: Preserving an important space for educator and community led schools.
  We support a high quality, charter sector thatʼs rooted in communities, centered on students, and driven by teachers—and works in partnership with the district sector.

The post Our 2025 policy priorities appeared first on Education Evolving.

The 2023 legislative session gaveled in this week. In the coming months legislators will decide the fate of the state’s two-year budget—and its eye-popping $17.6B budget surplus.

While education funding priorities rank high for DFL governor Tim Walz and others in his party, the policy wins we seek for Minnesota students don’t require tugging at purse strings. Many involve rethinking and redesigning outdated rules and programs, or implementing existing education policy.

Below are EE’s policy priorities for 2023—at the legislature and beyond:

Student-centered learning designs

MN must shift learning from one-size-fits all to personalized, learner-driven, and culturally affirming, by:

• Greenlighting social studies standards that teach a more honest, inclusive shared story so students find relevance in learning that reflects them.
• Prioritizing outcomes and growth—not ticking boxes—through competency-based learning legislation that already enjoyed support from the governor last session.

Educator talent pathways

MN must recruit and retain innovative educators who reflect the communities they serve, by:

• Clearing barriers to licensure for talented, diverse teachers. This includes working with heritage language and ethnic studies teachers facing licensure hurdles on their way to classrooms that need them.
• Building accessible on-ramps to teaching, through alternative prep programs and other innovative preparation models.

Outcomes that matter

MN must define and measure broader forms of student success—and be accountable to them—by:

Out this winter: Our recommendations to improve the Minnesota Student Survey.

• Rethinking state assessments to provide timely, actionable data on deeper student learning.
• Collecting broader, richer data that captures a holistic picture of student experiences and development.

The post EE’s 2023 policy priorities appeared first on Education Evolving.

Minnesota’s legislative session ended Monday without a deal for students.

Last minute proposals raised hope agreement could be found—in particular, on curtailing the special education cross-subsidy and bolstering literacy instruction. But time ran out.

A special session is possible. More likely, a new legislature will decide the fate of education items tabled this year. (In addition to record retirements, every seat—House, Senate, governor—is up for election in the fall.)

Here’s what we hope to see back in play next session.

Promoting positive identity, relevance with ethnic studies

The House education omnibus bill would have established ethnic studies graduation requirements, alongside existing social studies subjects like economics and geography.

Ethnic studies enable all students to better understand the rich cultures, heritages, and histories of our people told from multiple and diverse perspectives.

Not just another mandate, schools would enjoy flexibility in how to satisfy the requirement. And the emphasis on ethnic studies would clear barriers for students otherwise disengaged—those who struggle to find relevance in their learning precisely because they aren’t reflected in it.

Applying Covid-era lessons for student-centered learning designs

The governor’s education bill came out strong for competency-based education. Another bill, adding flexibility around seat time, would have similarly encouraged development of more innovative, personalized learning programs.

As we’ve written before, these proposals capitalize on pandemic-era lessons for what we can do in education when we discard outdated learning models, in favor of flexible innovations we know serve students better.

A greater focus on measuring outcomes that matter

A few bills this session sought to improve how we define and measure student and school success. We’re interested in how we can improve state assessments to be more useful for educators and students. And the conversation should include other measures of student success worth scrutinizing—like data collection systems on rigorous coursework, improved student state surveys, and even more innovative approaches like performance assessments.

Meeting students’ foundational needs so they can learn

The House and Senate education committees passed an identical provision for free menstrual products for students. Even so, it got left on the cutting floor. Let’s pick it back up.

And since the start of the pandemic, federal dollars have guaranteed all students free school meals. Proposals this year would have made free meals permanent in Minnesota. Students perform better when their foundational needs are met—and we have the capacity to meet those needs. Next session, we hope legislators have the will.

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Two months into Minnesota’s legislative session we have a clearer picture of the education policy landscape. The omnibus education bill has taken shape as has legislation representing Governor Walz’s education priorities.

Today, we look at two pieces of legislation we’re supporting—and why.

Moving away from seat time

Schools must provide 1,020 hours of instruction for high school students each year (less for younger students). Our mental models of “what school should look like”, as we’ve written before, are unfortunately steeped in the outdated concept of seat time.

New bipartisan legislation (HF 2726/SF 3744) would expand what counts as hours of instruction for high schoolers beyond that traditional measure. If adopted, Minnesota would codify innovative learning opportunities—such as supervised internships, blended, digital, project-based, work-based, and service learning—as legitimate components of a quality education.

The bill text authorizes districts to determine their own educational process, provided it is:

“designed to support students to be prepared to succeed and lead by having the knowledge and skills to learn, engage civically, and lead meaningful lives through implementation of evidence-based practices, quality instruction, and personalized learning supports.”

Throughout the pandemic, teachers have adapted instruction to be accessible for all students. They’ve found new and creative ways to track student progress with seat time out the window. We cannot limit such innovation to only our crisis response. Looks like lawmakers agree.

This legislation opens a personalized pathway to academic success for all students. One that is flexible, engaging, and relevant to their lives—on which they can advance anytime, anywhere.

Toward a focus on outcomes

The governor’s education finance bill (HF 4300/SF 4113) comes out strong for personalized, competency-based education. This learning approach focuses on outcomes—mapping to the pace of students’ mastery of knowledge and skills—instead of moving lockstep through time-based lessons and grades.

Competency-based education gives students equitable opportunity to attain and showcase learning where traditional approaches fall short. And it can be a lifeline for those facing disruption, hardship, or who struggle with traditional school.

EE has long advocated that Minnesota authorize and support schools and districts looking to develop competency-based learning pathways. This legislation makes that a reality.

Specifically, it permits schools to:

“adopt a locally developed competency-based education plan to allow students to satisfactorily complete both required academic standards … and advance to higher levels of learning by demonstrating mastery of required state standards, regardless of the time, place, or pace of learning.”

The bill also proposes $6.65 million for planning grant dollars to encourage schools and districts to pursue a competency-based approach.

EE supports legislation that eliminates rigid expectations set around outdated learning models, in favor of flexible innovations we know serve students better.

What’s next?

In the coming weeks we’ll share more about other legislation we’re following, including a bill supporting ethnic studies in Minnesota.

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The post MN education bills de-emphasize seat time, put focus on outcomes appeared first on Education Evolving.

Gatewood Elementary (Hopkins Public Schools) is in the spotlight. This MLK Day photo of kindergarteners embracing went viral after their principal, Dr. George Nolan, tweeted it. And local news outlets are taking turns featuring the suburban Minnesota school’s new outdoor immersion program.

The stories warm the heart. (Though images of outdoor winter learning may provoke a vicarious chill.) But we see more than human interest pieces. We see the fruits of the educator team’s labor—and evidence of the trust placed in them—to serve their evolving student population.

Similar to many Minnesota suburbs, Gatewood’s student demographics have changed over the last few years. School leaders knew that to better serve their students they needed to change their approach to learning.

That’s where outdoor immersion comes in.

Stoking curiosity by heading outside

The kindergarten teachers had been moving bits and pieces of class outside for years. They started with designated “Forest Fridays”. It was a chance for kids to literally get their hands dirty with learning. With Covid, it was safer and easier to social distance on their large, nature-filled campus. Even kindergarten distance learners took part in special outdoor learning days.

“Anything I thought I could do outside I would,” shared Katie Schmidt, one of Gatewood’s kindergarten teachers. Finally, Schmidt asked Dr. Nolan straight out, “Can I just teach outside next year?” He said yes without hesitation.

(Students aren’t outside all day—far from it. But as much learning as can safely and effectively take place outdoors does.)

Schmidt once helped adopt a rigorous kindergarten curriculum for Gatewood. It offered little flexibility, they found, while failing to help students meet academic standards.

Schmidt said the curriculum now is more inquiry-based, “moving toward kids being active, letting them talk more than the adults, caring about their interests. Taking the academic pressure off while still achieving the standards.”

Gatewood is scheduled to become a full outdoor immersion school by fall 2023. A team of teachers at the school are currently designing that expansion.

Outdoor immersion, they’re finding, stokes curiosity—helping students learn how to learn, build confidence, and develop social skills.

These skills are crucial two years into a pandemic.

The SEL team in Gatewood’s green room, named for the Zones of Regulation (red being angry, yellow being agitated and upset, green being calm and steady). Photo by Bruce Silcox.

Meeting foundational needs by looking inward

“Younger students are experiencing their first normal year, and it’s not even that normal,” said Christopher King, longtime counselor at the school.

King shared how Gatewood was doubling down on social-emotional learning. The SEL team now has two full-time counselors (unheard of for an elementary school their size), three restorative culture specialists, and a few paraprofessionals rounding them out.

The team size enables many touchpoints for students: “Cocoa with the Counselors”, lunch groups with games, a staffed green (a sensory space to help students regulate back to a calm state where they can learn) open to all who need the space. And they’re able to integrate more with other staff—restorative culture specialists co-teach social-emotional curriculum with classroom teachers.

“It’s not just the number of people but the talent they have,” shared King, crediting colleagues he admires for all their team is able to do for kids. These themes of peer trust, collaboration, and shared leadership are present across Gatewood.

Katie Schimdt wishes more teachers and staff could enjoy the same autonomy to try new ways of serving students. “There’s so much teacher burnout. People are so stressed. My team—we’re not stressed. We’re rejuvenated.”

With funding from the Leon Lowenstein Foundation, Education Evolving is partnering with Gatewood this and next school year. We’ll share more as they continue their student-centered journey.

The post At Gatewood Elementary, serving students means looking inward (and heading outside) appeared first on Education Evolving.