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Date: 9/20/2023
LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow Public Schools Director of Student and Family Support Nilda Irizarry gave a presentation on the “RULER approach” to social-emotional learning at the School Committee’s Sept. 12 meeting.
Irizarry said a balance of emotion and cognition is a “prime” environment for learning. She said that social and emotional support programs have been linked to decreased distress, more positive attitudes in students about themselves and others, fewer discipline problems, an increased sense of safety and support, better relationships with teachers and stronger feelings of belonging and inclusiveness. Social-emotional support programs enhance coping skills, resiliency and students’ ability to identify their emotions, while leading to lower instances of bullying and aggression, she added.
The five key components of RULER are recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing and regulating emotions. The program contains “anchor norms” that help guide students through the work. These include a schoolwide charter, which lays out community norms and requires students and educators to sign it; a mood meter to check in; meta moments, in which students can pause to help regulate their emotions; and a blueprint, which uses restorative practices to help students break down what happened in an incident and how everyone felt.
Lessons can help students direct their emotions with tools, such as debating, persuasive writing for when they are angry, creative writing and brainstorming when excited and high-energy, problem solving, empathy work and editing other students when sad and journaling or building consensus when happy.
“The program focuses on training adults before they go on to train the students. Disregulated adults can’t regulate students,” Irizarry said, adding that both educators and families have a role to play in students learning to regulate their emotions.
Until now, Irizarry said there has been social and emotional support work at individual schools, but it has not been aligned and “compounded” across the district. She also said there is a flexibility in RULER that allows the program to be adapted to existing routines and structures in the schools.
Irizarry made the case that Longmeadow could benefit from this program by citing results of the 2022 middle school and high school student survey that showed 57% of middle school students and 70% of high school students reported academics as their major source of stress. According to that survey, stress related health problems were an issue for 71% of middle school students and 83% of high school students. Another data point shows that more than a quarter of Longmeadow Public School students in middle and high school reported not being confident and having little confidence in their ability to cope with stress.
Examination of social-emotional curriculums began in 2021. The team working on selecting a curriculum also considered Way Finder and Second Step, the latter of which is already in use and would be supplemented by RULER.
Irizarry said RULER aligns with the district’s improvement plan, which emphasizes using a multi-tiered system of support. This includes the expansion of instructional coaching supports for academic and social-emotional expertise, a self-assessment to identify gaps in the existing tiered system of supports and recommendations to ensure policies, practices and annual budget support the multi-tiered system of support. These priorities are reflected at the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
If RULER were adopted, teams would be chosen and trained on how to use and implement RULER. These teams would then teach the administration and teachers, who would use it with students.
Because Longmeadow High School has social-emotional learning lessons embedded into wellness department and connect block, Irizarry recommended beginning by rolling out RULER for grades K-8. As students move up to high school, they would bring RULER skills, terminology and understanding with them. A comprehensive district wide implementation would take place in the 2024-25 school year.
The School Committee will consider the curriculum and vote on it at a future meeting. For parents curious about the curriculum, a physical binder for each of the the elementary and middle school versions of the program are open to view at the district office. Information will also be available at school open houses.