Together We Can Make Education Whole

Positive relationships enable young people to manage stress, ignite their motivation, and fuel the connections that support the development of the complex skills necessary for learning success and engagement. Strong relationships simultaneously promote well-being, positive identity development, and students’ belief in their own abilities.

Supportive school environments seek to address the distinctive strengths, needs, and interests of students as they engage in learning. By promoting a sense of belonging and physical, emotional, and identity safety, safe environments buffer students from stress and adversity and provide consistency, so they can take risks and explore new experiences.

Students’ beliefs and attitudes have a powerful effect on their learning and achievement. Motivation can be nurtured by skillful instruction that provides meaningful and challenging work, within and across disciplines, that builds on students’ culture, prior knowledge, and experience, and that helps students discover what they can do.

Research confirms that social, emotional, and cognitive skills, along with mindsets that support growth, belonging, and purpose, are critical for success in school and beyond. For students to become engaged, effective learners, educators must embed these skills into academically rigorous curricula and empower students to practice them with growing independence.

All children experience challenges that need to be addressed to propel their development and well-being. Schools with supports and protective factors intentionally woven into the fabric of the community can nurture well-being and enable agency resilience, and academic recovery for all students.