Two years ago, Stanton Middle School in Wilmington, Delaware, was underperforming academically compared with state and national averages. Now, thanks to the school's evidence-based efforts to boost students' social and emotional growth so they can focus on learning, Stanton students are outperforming those averages in both reading and math.
Stanton's impressive progress has earned it APA's 2014 Golden Psi Award, a $1,000 prize that recognizes schools that do an exceptional job of using psychological science to help students grow and learn. Among the many ways the school stands out is with mental health screening and its emphasis on improving students' social competence and behavior.
"The thing that they do very well, which is often missing from social-emotional support in schools, is they practice accepted behaviors," such as impulse control and conflict management, says Tammy Hughes, PhD, chair of APA's Golden Psi Committee.
Stanton teachers, counselors and administrators work as hard on correcting students' behavioral mistakes as they do on correcting math or spelling errors. A conflict between two students isn't an automatic trip to the principal's office, but rather an opportunity to teach problem solving, Hughes says.
"It's not about just stopping the fight, but about saying … how do we come to a compromise, and let's practice that," she says.
Stanton's teachers meet regularly with the school's student support team, which includes school psychologist Teri Lawler, to review students' academic and behavioral progress and identify students who might need more mentoring, tutoring or counseling. Teachers are also regularly trained in classroom management as well as in the challenges students may face at home, such as the chronic stress that comes with poverty and a lack of resources, says Lawler.
"Based on their experiences, many of our kids may be functioning years below their chronological ages, and so it's important that there's a level of understanding for the complexity of behavior and behavior change," Lawler says. "We work to help teachers and staff understand that as much as we are teaching academics, we are also teaching behavior."
The Golden Psi Award, now in its second year, is presented to a school located in the same region as APA's Annual Convention.
— Jamie Chamberlin
