Positive outcomes of student-led Schoolbeat SEL lessons after 60 days
Mike Mc Gowan, technology director at Sunnybrook School District 171 in Illinois, had been looking for a studentled, ready-to-use and engaging SEL program to replace their existing program when he stumbled upon Schoolbeat at the ISTE conference in 2021.
Schoolbeat came as an obvious choice for Mc Gowan as it was free of the friction points of other existing SEL programs, that is teacher-led lessons, non-engaging or non-relatable material for students, significant teacher training and preparation time. He says: “for a school or a district to have an easy solution that they can start using on day 1 with little to no training or prep, that just makes life so much easier for students and our teachers.
SUNNYBROOK SCHOOL DISTRICT 171 OVERVIEW
Cook County, IL. Second most populous county in the U.S.
954 students with very diverse backgrounds.
Kindergarten through 8th grade
2 campuses
70 educators
60 days using Schoolbeat
Outcomes and results in a nutshell after 60 days using Schoolbeat:
Being able to reduce their SEL lesson planning by more than 75%
An increase of more than 50% in student engagement during SEL lessons
A significant decrease in student conflict
of teachers reported significant improvement in general student behavior
40% of teachers started teaching SEL more than once a week (in comparison to 8% before Schoolbeat)
Student-led engagement
In looking to replace their existing SEL program, Sunnybrook’s admins and teachers desired a more studentcentered approach to emotional regulation and conflict resolution than the traditional prescriptive teacherled lessons. As SEL was taught primarily during daily routines and RTI (Response To Intervention) sessions, it was paramount that the content be as relatable and relevant as possible. With its bite-size, “choose your own adventure’’ interactive mini-movies, Schoolbeat appeared to boost student engagement in SEL lessons from its inception. “Schoolbeat is relatable for the students. When they’re watching the videos, they can actually see themselves in the situations.” says Amanda Alderfer, a 4th grade teacher.
After 60 days of use, 96% of teachers reported an increase in student engagement during the lessons. This is echoed by Leslie Martinez, a 3rd grade teacher at Nathan Hale Elementary who recalls her students actually referring to the Schoolbeat video situations when trying to resolve their own real-life conflicts with their classmates. She adds: “ As a teacher I feel like Schoolbeat provides the excitement that the kids need to learn, so it’s not as daunting to make time for SEL because we’re learning and having fun at the same time”. Decreases in student conflict occurrences and improvements in student behavior were also observed by a vast majority of teachers within the district.
What I like most about Schoolbeat is that it is relatable to my life. It’s just better when somebody that is a kid tells you how to resolve conflicts.
Scian, 4th grade student
A seamless adoption
The two main challenges for teaching SEL identified at Sunnybrook, aside from the lack of student engagement, were the limited expertise of the teachers and the increase in their daily workload. “One of the biggest concerns that we had was just adding extra work to our teachers on the loads that they already have.” says Lori Owens-Stranc, Assistant Superintendent of the district. Because no training or preparation time was necessary in implementing Schoolbeat, many teachers saw value in increasing the number of sessions per week they dedicated to SEL. Thus 38% of teachers reported going from 1 session per week to multiple sessions after having adopted the platform. 72% of teachers also reported an SEL training time reduced by over 50%.
This ease of use and seamless implementation resulted in teachers overwhelmingly integrating Schoolbeat to their weekly routines within the first couple of weeks. “It’s very easy to use, and there is no prep time on my end. The quiz helped me see if they understood the concepts or not.” says Amanda Alderfer. In 60 days, Sunnybrook’s district’s teachers, admins and students had collectively accumulated over 20 0000 activities and entries on the platform. Those included daily student mood checkins that allowed counselors, teachers and principals to identify trends in certain students or groups to act in a preventive fashion when needed.
of teachers reported an increase in student engagement after 60 days more than 20000 activity and entries
There is zero prep time. Teachers can just go in, print out questions, look at the videos and get started with the lessons.
- Lori Owens-Stranc, Assistant Superintendent
Conclusion
Overall, Schoolbeat’s implementation at Sunnybrook has significantly and positively impacted SEL teaching in quantity and quality within the district. With less stress factors related to preparation, training and expertise, teachers massively adopted the platform and felt confident enough to start allowing more time than they had before to deliver SEL in class.
Within the short 2 months time frame, positive outcomes were observed and quantified on engagement, school climate and interventions. “Schoolbeat has the chance to become the game changer in the SEL market. You’re looking at videos showing students being students and that’s critical. The key thing Schoolbeat offers compared to all other SEL programs we looked at is how student-centered and student-led the lessons are.” says Mc Gowan.
