With the start of the new school year, our students and teachers are returning to campus feeling relieved that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, but with deep concerns about the lingering effects of a year of virtual learning and chronic absenteeism. Many students struggled with the online learning format and even after schools reopened, nearly 30% of California public school students were chronically absent, meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year (Tadayon, 2023). As a result, there are now more students than usual that are struggling to perform at grade level. The educators we work with are passionate about achieving the best learning outcomes for all their students, and are grappling with how they can best help their students reach their full potential. Educators are finding it tempting to become increasingly rigorous and rigid in teaching in order to make up for learning loss. However, their own classroom experience in addition to a growing body of research shows that there is a strong correlation between social emotional well-being and academic performance - students who feel safe in their classrooms and have a positive relationship with their teacher are more likely to show increased learning.
Acknowledge Alliance therapists and resilience consultants are ready to support our students and educators with these evolving challenges, and are preparing to meet the increased demand for mental health support services. Our Resilience Consultation Program (RCP) will continue to facilitate social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons that focus on building student and classroom resilience skills through Project Resilience. These SEL lessons are essential to closing the achievement gap since evidence shows that SEL not only improves achievement by an average of 11%, but also increases positive social behaviors like kindness, sharing, and empathy. These social behaviors help improve student attitudes toward school, and reduce depression and stress among students (Durlak et al., 2011). The RCP team will also continue their critical work supporting our educators’ capacity, because if teachers feel socially and emotionally cared for, they will be better equipped to attend to student social and emotional needs.
Our Collaborative Counseling Program (CCP) therapists are eager to jump right back into providing on-site counseling to some of our schools’ most at-risk students. Our partner schools are anxiously awaiting these sessions to begin, with many of them already forced to create waiting lists for counseling sessions before the first day of school. This already significant demand only includes returning students (most of whom may not have had any services over the summer); new student referrals will be added on as the school year progresses. Our team is ready to serve this amazing and resilient community with Acknowledge Alliance’s approach of healing through the power of judgment-free, long term therapeutic relationships. Year after year, we have seen that when students get the mental health support they need, they are able to begin healing and can refocus attention on their academic pursuits. As one CCP high school student shared about their counseling experience last year,
“I am more confident when I talk to others… I learned to manage anxiety at school and I was able to graduate. I could talk to my therapist about stressful and difficult things that happened at home [that I] could not tell others. I am grateful for my therapist.”
With the many challenges our students and teachers are facing, Acknowledge Alliance is ready to provide the support needed to have a successful and fulfilling school year.
References:
Durlak, J.A., Weissberg, R.P., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., & Schellinger, K.B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82, pp.405-432.
Tadayon, Ali. (2023, April 17). California districts see more chronic absenteeism than before pandemic. EdSource. Retrieved from https://edsource.org/2023/california-districts-still-see-more-chronic-absenteeism-than-before-pandemic/688787