Education Week - March 16, 2022 - 8

Educators See Gaps in Kids' Emotional Growth
Due to Pandemic
By Evie Blad
Superintendent Bo Griffin realized
the effects the pandemic had on students
in his district this fall, when
teachers led anxious 2nd graders to
eat in a lunchroom with hundreds of
their peers. Many children appeared
overwhelmed at the task of lining
up, making conversation, and eating
among hundreds of their peers after
months of relative isolation at home.
Between initial school closures
and the choice by some families in
the Millington, Tenn., school system
to continue remote learning in the
2020-21 school year, some of the
young students had very little experience
with the routines of in-person
education.
" Some of our 2nd second graders
this year had never been in a school
building, " Griffin said. " That's scary. "
The challenges of returning from
remote learning combined with responding
to the stress of adults during
a national crisis have led some
children to struggle with their emotions
and with social routines, school
and district administrators told Education
Week. In some cases, that
leads students to withdraw, they said.
In others, it may lead them to act out
or seek attention.
In a national survey of educators
administered by the EdWeek Research
Center in January, 39 percent
of respondents said that " compared
to prior to the pandemic in 2019, the
social skills and emotional maturity
levels " of their current students are
" much less advanced. " Forty-one percent
said their students' were " somewhat
less advanced " in those areas,
and 16 percent said they were " about
the same " as their pre-pandemic
peers.
The data come as states and school
districts continue to design and adapt
recovery plans, many of which place
a heavy emphasis on helping students
with mental health, emotional
stability, and regaining a sense of
normalcy. But they face hurdles:
schools have struggled to attract and
retain staff in all areas, including
counselors and social workers; the
evolving nature of the pandemic has
stressed employees, too; and children
respond to the stress of adults
around them.
Administrators who spoke to Education
Week said they expect their
heightened concerns about students'
social-emotional well-being will continue
into future school years.
" I want to be hopeful, but having
been in education for 30 years, I realize
that there are key points in time
in life when if you miss that opportuSome
have absorbed heated arguments
about masks or politics. Some
have witnessed family conflicts related
to all of the above.
Salt spoke with a 3rd-grade boy last
week to ask him why he had repeatedly
said hurtful things to a classmate.
" He said, 'I have just been getting so
angry,' but he could not identify why, "
she said. " He said to me 'Do we have
a class I can go to here to find out why
I'm angry?' "
The district, which typically focuses
more of its mental health resources in
Those surveyed by EdWeek
say students struggle with
social skills and emotions
amid stress they've endured
in the last few years
Compared to prior to the pandemic in 2019, the social skills and emotional maturity
levels of my current students are:
Much less advanced
Somewhat less advanced
About the same
Somewhat more advanced
Much more advanced
N/A dont know
4%
1%
4%
SOURCE: EdWeek Research Center
Identifying underlying issues
Griffin, the Tennessee superintennity,
you are going to be behind, " said
Anne Hickey, an elementary school
principal in Highland, Ill. " It's going
to take a while to catch up. "
Noticing changes in student
behavior
Educators say it has taken some
time to recognize all of students'
emerging struggles, especially those
related to skills and routines that
teachers and staff typically take for
granted.
Catharina Genove, principal of
the Montessori Public School of Arlington,
Va., noticed her elementary
students had difficulty with focus and
attention after they returned to the inperson
classroom.
The Montessori method emphasizes
student learning through different
self-directed activities. Given
that freedom, some young students
have had a hard time staying on task
or navigating their emotions when a
peer is using materials or toys they
may be interested in.
Children " learn so much those first
years about how to take turns, and
about how to talk to your friend, how
to say 'I don't like that,' " in the earliest
years of schooling, Genove said.
So teachers have had to make a more
deliberate effort to stop and recognize
things they need to reinforce.
Genove said she's encouraged
teachers to pace themselves, allowing
children to internalize concepts
they may have missed and allowing
students' emotional resolve to grow
alongside their academic learning.
" Let's just take a deep breath, "
Genove recalled telling her staff.
" You're not going to catch up with a
year and a half of academics in the
next three months, and we are not
going to get far if we don't observe
those other needs. "
To help teachers, the school's
"
Some of our 2nd second graders this year had never been in a school building. That's scary.
BO GRIFFIN, Superintendent of Millington Municipal Schools, Millington, Tenn.
8 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 16, 2022 | www.edweek.org
guidance counselor leads students
through social-emotional learning
lessons about subjects like how to
ask for help and how to set boundaries
during play time. The school has
brought in guest speakers to talk to
families about issues like child development,
Genove said.
" We are reestablishing those classroom
communities that we have taken
for granted for so long, " she said.
Helping students identify their
emotions
Students' lagging skills aren't driven
solely by extended periods of remote
learning, said Janene Salt, an elementary
school principal in the Ogden,
Utah, district, which prioritized a quick
return to in-person learning after initial
closures at the end of the 2019-20
school year.
Some children have seen their
parents sick or dealing with job loss.
dent, said his district has also worked
to identify underlying practical issues
that may be causing emotional instability
for students.
The district used federal COVID relief
funds to bring a counselor and social
worker to every building to " help
take care of issues that have long been a
challenge for schools. " That may mean
connecting a family with a local food
pantry, outfitting a student with glasses
donated by the Lions Club, allowing
a student to wash their clothes in the
school resource room, or spending time
talking to a teen about his fears created
by his parents' job loss, Griffin said.
Teachers have also worked to develop
more-informal relationship
strategies with students, like making
extra efforts to learn small facts
about every child-something as
simple as a love of Pokemon-that
can help them build a connection in
vulnerable moments.
" The biggest thing is just to listen
and to find out what the real problem
is, " Griffin said. " If you have a
positive, trusting relationship, that is
where we have an opportunity to really
educate our children. "
16%
39%
41%
higher-poverty schools, has increased
them in all buildings, Salt said. A counselor
works with individual students on
a program called Zones of Regulation,
which teaches them how to identify
and respond to their emotions using
color-coded materials. That counselor
sees about seven students for an hour a
day, and she has a waiting list, Salt said.
The school also trains older students
to mentor their younger peers,
greeting them in the morning and seeing
them off in the afternoons. And a
trained cohort of students known as
the Hope Squad can help their classmates
find a trusting adult if they have
more significant problems.
" I think the biggest question in front
of me is, 'Are we going to continue
to see this [need] grow?' " she said.
" Is one counselor in an elementary
school going to be enough? "
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