Have you seen back to school articles like this one? Buffalo News provides parents a cheat sheet on the lingo that they will hear at their local school since they are beholden to the latest fads.
They define STEM.
STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, an initiative to ready students for high-tech fields, particularly in light of the global economy. It led to STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, which recognizes the importance of the arts in learning. And then another acronym popped up: STREAM: In Buffalo Catholic Diocese schools, the “R” in STREAM stands for religion: Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts and Math. For others, the “R” stands for reading: Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts and Math, to mark the continued importance of language arts in learning.
What’s missing is “C” as in civics or “H” as it humanities or even “L” as in languages. This is what happens when you push workforce development instead of classical education.
Buffalo’s local schools have “community schools” which provides “wrap-around services.” This is a popular trend shown in a poll I wrote about last week.
Community schools: Designated schools open after hours and on weekends to provide a wide range of services and programming to students and their families, including enrichment classes, training, health care, meals and more.
Funded by the state to help poor districts, they have quickly become a centerpiece in efforts by Buffalo Public Schools to assist its neediest students. Buffalo last year had 13 schools designated as community schools and brought in more than 22,000 visitors. It hopes to double that number this year with an additional two schools.
Here’s an excerpt highlighting social-emotional learning:
Social emotional learning: The way people acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to manage their emotions, set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible decisions, according to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning. The goal is to increase social skills, improve behavior and academic performance by developing five core skills.
Mindfulness: An important part of social emotional learning, it is being aware of yourself and your surroundings, what others think and how they perceive things, and is a practice that can be taught. Being aware leads to self-regulation of behavior and increases attention and emotional regulation. It helps children learn to think before acting.
We’ve published some articles about social-emotional learning, and it is something we will monitor going forward.
Read the rest of the article. What’s similar and what’s different with your local school district?