New MCPS Social Emotional Learning Curriculum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who implemented this? Seriously, who made this decision to pilot this? Also, were any of the school-based teachers or admin or counselors who are being forced to sit through 3 days of this training consulted? I'm a school counselor in another district and I'd be PISSED if this was how my employer wanted me to spend 3 full days of my time. It's not SEL and if the whole point is to make everyone a leader and give everyone a voice, how about asking the students and teachers and counselors what they think of this program. I'd be less cynical if they didn't call it a SEL curriculum, because that it is not.

I also want to know if this curriculum has shown proven results.

Has this curriculum been implemented in other school districts with excellent results? Or is MCPS just throwing money at something that will have little beneficial effect for its students?

Here is the CASEL program guide page, with a section on evidence of effectiveness: https://pg.casel.org/leader-in-me/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's great that the county is now supporting those parents who have been clamoring for mental health support for their children over the past 1.5 years.

It's been a huge topic around here this past year so glad the can accommodate the parents who feel their kids need this.

[Anonymous]

Ah I was wondering what this was all about- it was mentioned in our virtual kindergarten orientation.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, this looks terrible. Why didn't they pick a real SEL curriculum? How soon can we get them to change it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great that the county is now supporting those parents who have been clamoring for mental health support for their children over the past 1.5 years.

It's been a huge topic around here this past year so glad the can accommodate the parents who feel their kids need this.

except ... it's not actually mental health support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who implemented this? Seriously, who made this decision to pilot this? Also, were any of the school-based teachers or admin or counselors who are being forced to sit through 3 days of this training consulted? I'm a school counselor in another district and I'd be PISSED if this was how my employer wanted me to spend 3 full days of my time. It's not SEL and if the whole point is to make everyone a leader and give everyone a voice, how about asking the students and teachers and counselors what they think of this program. I'd be less cynical if they didn't call it a SEL curriculum, because that it is not.

I also want to know if this curriculum has shown proven results.

Has this curriculum been implemented in other school districts with excellent results? Or is MCPS just throwing money at something that will have little beneficial effect for its students?

Here is the CASEL program guide page, with a section on evidence of effectiveness: https://pg.casel.org/leader-in-me/

LOL! A quasi-experimental study from an unpublished manuscript. Sounds legit. Nice job MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have to do this SEL training, but oh boy I just did the Restorative Justice one. Some gems here. We should not impose “dominant white culture” concepts such as a rigid time schedule, hard work, competition, delayed gratification, and the scientific method. We should please reflect and enter into this form all the times we have harmed students in the manner of the “first harm,” when Europeans colonized America. We should be sure to tell students that the tests we are giving them don’t really measure what they know because their race has different ways of knowing.

I used to be a liberal. I just don’t know anymore.

I really need to know more about this. What about the Asian culture being all about competition and hard work? (As a proud Tiger Mom, I don’t think of the White culture as being as intense about academic competition.)

Do teachers of all races have to take this training? Or are AA teachers and Latinx teachers exempt?

All MCPS teachers are required to take this asynchronous six hour training. I’m part way through and am enjoying reading and learning about things though a different lens. Unfortunately some of my peers on this thread apparently don’t see the value in this based on their comments.

+1

Seems the PP came in with an agenda and left with zero takeaways from a look at hundreds of varied resources.

[Anonymous]

Per leaderinme website:

"Leader in Me is now a CASEL SELect Program for Preschool and Elementary"

I wonder how much money did Franklin Covey pay CASEL to become the SELECT program?

I wonder if CASEL has other SELECT programs available?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great that the county is now supporting those parents who have been clamoring for mental health support for their children over the past 1.5 years.

It's been a huge topic around here this past year so glad the can accommodate the parents who feel their kids need this.

except ... it's not actually mental health support.

They state that it is. Just because you don't like this doesn't make it not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per leaderinme website:

"Leader in Me is now a CASEL SELect Program for Preschool and Elementary"

I wonder how much money did Franklin Covey pay CASEL to become the SELECT program?

I wonder if CASEL has other SELECT programs available?

Yes, there are dozens of them. You can see them here:

https://pg.casel.org/review-programs/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have to do this SEL training, but oh boy I just did the Restorative Justice one. Some gems here. We should not impose “dominant white culture” concepts such as a rigid time schedule, hard work, competition, delayed gratification, and the scientific method. We should please reflect and enter into this form all the times we have harmed students in the manner of the “first harm,” when Europeans colonized America. We should be sure to tell students that the tests we are giving them don’t really measure what they know because their race has different ways of knowing.

I used to be a liberal. I just don’t know anymore.

I just created a new thread on this training. If you’re a white teacher, you’re racist.

It does not say that.

If you think you read that, you either are hallucinating or have horrible reading comprehension skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just created a new thread on this training. If you’re a white teacher, you’re racist.

It does not say that.

If you think you read that, you either are hallucinating or have horrible reading comprehension skills.

Fits better with the culture war mentality, though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have any of your schools announced that they are going to be in the first cohort of schools to implement the newly adopted SEL curriculum? My sister is a teacher at one of these schools and I have some concerns that it’s the Covey’s Leader in Me program. She said none of the training really talked about SEL and it felt like an infomercial. This blog is a little telling too - https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/problems-with-leader-in-me/

Who is picking these programs? This isn’t what our students need in 2021. They need true SEL - not some religious propaganda.

That blog is from 2014z

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any of your schools announced that they are going to be in the first cohort of schools to implement the newly adopted SEL curriculum? My sister is a teacher at one of these schools and I have some concerns that it’s the Covey’s Leader in Me program. She said none of the training really talked about SEL and it felt like an infomercial. This blog is a little telling too - https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/problems-with-leader-in-me/

Who is picking these programs? This isn’t what our students need in 2021. They need true SEL - not some religious propaganda.

That blog is from 2014z

And the videos played during our training were from the 90's so not much has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great that the county is now supporting those parents who have been clamoring for mental health support for their children over the past 1.5 years.

It's been a huge topic around here this past year so glad the can accommodate the parents who feel their kids need this.

except ... it's not actually mental health support.

They state that it is. Just because you don't like this doesn't make it not true.

You can call anything SEL. Sure, learning to be a leader is SEL. But this was chosen pre-pandemic, and now kids' mental health needs are different. Spend the money on mental health supports. They need to learn coping skills right now, and they need adults with the right training to support their mental health needs.