April-2020-Advisor_2

ADVOCATING

8 CEA ADVISOR APRIL 2020

More than 50 Connecticut teachers, together with CEA leaders and staff, provided compelling testimony in support of strengthening a bill that would integrate social-emotional learning (SEL) into teachers’ professional development. In a public hearing in March that stretched into the evening, dozens of teachers submitted written and oral testimony before the legislature’s Education Committee concerning House Bill 5378, An Act Concerning the Integration of Social-Emotional Learning in Programs of Professional Development for Educators in Connecticut. While educators support a bill that provides for SEL, they believe HB 5378 does not go far enough to address the severity of the social- emotional crisis in their classrooms. They asked legislators to include additional provisions that would lead to meaningful change. “The limited provisions of HB 5378 may be well intentioned, but they are woefully inadequate,” said CEA Executive Director Donald Williams, noting that most teachers and administrators are aware of SEL needs and priorities, and that simply requiring that SEL be incorporated into a school’s goals and professional development has already been achieved at many schools. “The real challenge is to provide real resources to address the needs of students,” said Williams. “New, empty mandates are no substitute for the staff and dollars that many schools lack to appropriately address social-emotional learning and trauma-informed instruction. There is a deficit of school social workers, counselors, and psychologists. There are few dollars to provide the sustained, quality services needed for student mental health and well-being. There is not enough infrastructure for the necessary outreach to families and inclusion of families in solutions for students.” “While I recognize that HB 5378 is an acknowledgement that districts need to integrate social emotional learning into their curriculum, that is all it is—an acknowledgement,” said Manchester school social worker and CEA Vice President Tom Nicholas.

Teachers urge legislators to take action

ratios for counselors, social workers, and school psychologists meet national standards • reducing class sizes and testing • limiting special education caseloads • revising the Common Core State Standards for grades K-2 • requiring districts to have plans in place to ensure an appropriate, timely, and student-centered response to disruptive students and a process for teachers to advocate for resources for students impacted by trauma Making the case for strengthening the bill were teachers from every corner of the state who shared their personal stories of dysregulated students in their classrooms, the underlying causes of student dysregulation—ranging from trauma at home to intense academic pressure on our youngest learners— and the effect that the unaddressed problem is having on students in crisis, their classmates, and their teachers. Too much, too soon Common Core Standards have made kindergarten the new first grade, according to retired teacher Ann Grosjean, who provided testimony that younger children with birthdays after September 1 are often not developmentally mature enough to successfully do the work. “This leads to social and emotional misbehavior in the classroom,” she noted. “The increase in rigor has stretched our littlest learners so thin that they are now anxious, stressed- out students who struggle to work through problems themselves,” Marlborough kindergarten teacher Amy Farrior said in written testimony submitted to legislators. “It breaks my heart to watch my students struggle, cry, throw their pencils, and crumple their papers because what I am teaching them is not developmentally appropriate. I had a student in tears as he was working through a math problem. He looked up at me and said, ‘I am not smart enough for kindergarten.’ It absolutely crushed me.” “We need to let children be children and enjoy their childhood,” said Kate Field, CEA’s Teacher Development Specialist and a former public school teacher and school administrator testifying before legislators. Trauma on the rise Field added, “One quarter of our nation’s adolescents have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Thirty percent of children experience problems so severe that they require regular counseling, and that number

Many teachers turned out to testify on the importance of strengthening a bill about social-emotional learning. Among them were Stacey Paley, Windsor; Carrie Cassady, Torrington; Kristen Record, Stratford; Lisa Thomas, Windsor; Kristen Lecco, Granby; Natalie Ferreri, Granby; and Lynne DeVito, Windsor.

Relations Director Ray Rossomando, pointing to landmark legislation recently passed in Oregon that addresses not only the crisis of student trauma but also the perennial underfunding of schools. “We can do

“The real challenge is to provide real resources to address the needs of students. New, empty mandates are no substitute for the staff and dollars that many schools lack to appropriately address social-emotional learning and trauma-informed instruction.” CEA Executive Director Donald Williams

this,” Rossomando said. “We need to do this. Our students can’t wait.” “Doing nothing is unacceptable,” stressed CEA President Jeff Leake. “It is past time to address the violence in our classrooms, the loss of learning, and the trauma affecting our students and teachers. While professional development in social- emotional learning is part of the solution, it is only one piece.” Leake urged legislators to incorporate CEA’s Safe and Compassionate Learning Environment Initiatives into HB 5378. Those initiatives include • raising the kindergarten start age • establishing universal preschool • ensuring that staff-to-student

“There are no teeth, no mandates, no funding, no proven path forward for successfully implementing strategies in this bill to address the needs of dysregulated students in our schools. The old adage ‘You get what you pay for’ comes to mind.” “What is truly necessary is a comprehensive approach to addressing student trauma and promoting social-emotional learning,” said CEA Government Windsor teacher Lisa Thomas, a 35- year veteran teacher, told legislators she had never seen the level of trauma and anger in so many students as she has experienced in the past three years.