Learning Series
1. Social Emotional Learning in Early Adolescence
The Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in Early Adolescence learning package describes three ways educators and youth-serving professionals can promote young adolescent SEL:
1. Prioritize Adolescent Developmental Needs: Early adolescence is a unique developmental period and it is important that students’ interactions and environments are well-designed to meet their needs.
2. Cultivate Youth and Adult Skills: Youth and adults can work to develop and practice skills that promote well-being and strengthen relationships.
3. Build A Learning Community: Strong social and emotional skills do not occur in a vacuum. Educators can build trusting relationships and supportive environments that encourage students to use these skills to be caring, kind, and respectful to others.
The package is led by:
Dr. Shereen El Mallah, University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development
Dr. Sara Rimm-Kaufman, University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development
Dr. Winsome Waite, The Opportunity Institute
Introductory Guide
The Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in Early Adolescence learning package describes three ways educators and youth-serving professionals can promote young adolescent SEL. We begin by describing the role that each of these plays in adolescent SEL (and the research findings that underscore their importance).
Prioritize Adolescent Developmental Needs
Early adolescence is a unique developmental period and it is important that students’ interactions and environments are well-designed to meet their needs.
Cultivate Youth and Adult Skills
Youth and adults can work to develop and practice skills that promote well-being and strengthen relationships.
Build A Learning Community
Strong social and emotional skills do not occur in a vacuum. Educators can build trusting relationships and supportive environments that encourage students to use these skills to be caring, kind, and respectful to others.
Knowledge Check
In this video, we play a simple game that includes questions to continue our learning.
Social Emotional Learning in Early Adolescence Guides
Facilitation Guide
The Facilitation Guide summarizes the content presented in the video series and provides reflection questions for consideration.
Resource Guide
The Resource Guide includes supporting resources for each of the videos, including a brief description.
2. Middle Schoolers and Belonging
The Middle Schoolers and Belonging learning package describes how we can meet the needs of young adolescents with authentic and connected learning.
We hope you’ll learn more about why school belonging is important. And we hope you’ll come away with some practical ideas for connecting middle schoolers meaningfully to you, to each other, and to the world around them, in both in-person and remote settings.
The package is led by:
Dr. Penny Bishop, Professor of Middle Level Education, University of Vermont
Dr. Ingrid Grant, Chief of School Leadership, Henrico County Public Schools
Middle Schoolers and Belonging Resources
Facilitation Guide
The Facilitation Guide summarizes the content presented in the video series and provides reflection questions for consideration.
Resource Guide
The Resource Guide includes supporting resources, including a brief description.
3. School Climate and Culture in the Middle Grades
The School Climate and Culture in the Middle Grades learning package starts by helping us to understand the definition and dimensions of school culture in the middle grades, including how school climate is associated with student achievement and experiences.
The package is led by Dr. Christy Byrd, Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University College of Education.
School Climate and Culture in Middle Grades Resources
Facilitation Guide
The facilitation guide starts by helping us to understand the definition and dimensions of school culture in the middle grades.
Resource Guide
The Middle Schoolers and Belonging Resource Guide provides a set of resources to accompany the videos
The Remaking Middle School initiative is an emerging partnership working to build and steward a new collective effort for young adolescent learning and development. Founding partners include the University of Virginia Youth-Nex Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), the Altria Group, and the New York Life Foundation. We are seeking to ignite conversation, action, and a movement to re-envision and remake the middle school experience in a way that recognizes the strengths of young adolescents and ensures all students thrive and grow from their experiences in the middle grades.