1. Summary
The biggest challenge schools are facing when it’s time to implement SEL is lack of their teacher’s time resource. Our Teachers’ schedules are already very packed with their daily routine and unfortunately, although they know how important is SEL, adding an SEL program can be daunting for them.
In collaboration with SEL4MA, we asked two Massachussets public schools to trial Schoolbeat with their teachers during a 3-week structured pilot opportunity.
2. Procedure
Pre-pilot
A first meeting occurred with participating school administrators and participating teachers to understand their SEL needs and goals, review the pilot framework, and proceed with a Schoolbeat demo. Pre-pilot surveys were conducted with teachers to assess their previous experience with SEL, and with students to assess their SEL competencies.
Pilot
Considering the importance of being able to assess teachers’ capacity to implement Schoolbeat in their classroom in a non-controlled environment, each participant teacher was asked to commit minimum 30 minutes per week but beyond that they were free to use Schoolbeat at their own rhythm and frequency during a three week period. At the end of each week, the participating teachers had to participate in weekly progress surveys
Post pilot
The three weeks of pilot experience was followed by individual interviews and a post-pilot survey for teachers and students.
3. Findings
Before Schoolbeat
- Teachers were really busy. Other SEL programs did not fit easily into teachers’ schedules.
- The previous programs they used were complicated to implement, repetitive in their structure, not culturally relevant, and not adapted to teachers’ reality.
- SEL implementation can be daunting for teachers.
Schoolbeat
- Teachers were really busy. Other SEL programs did not fit easily into teachers’ schedules.
- The previous programs they used were complicated to implement, repetitive in their structure, not culturally relevant, and not adapted to teachers’ reality.
- SEL implementation can be daunting for teachers.
4. Testimonials
Watch this video to hear what teachers are saying
5. Pre and Post survey assessment results:
Duration (weeks)
3
Participating teachers
7
Participating students
167
Activities completed
897
Teacher surveys
Student surveys
6. Conclusion
Schoolbeat’s mission is to solve two important challenges schools have when it’s time to implement SEL: teacher buy-in and student engagement.
Empowering teachers with a ready-to-use digital tool accessible at school and at home, allowing them to easily implement Schoolbeat in their classroom, and engaging students with relatable real-world interactive videos is the perfect combination to increase opportunities for students to learn SEL skills and practice them in their everyday life.
With more than 700 schools and 200,000 student activities completed, Schoolbeat is indeed reinventing how SEL is taught in schools.
