Student Well-Being Video

Social-Emotional Skills Are the Foundation of Learning at Washington, D.C.'s High School for Young Men of Color

October 17, 2017 2:24

The principal at Ron Brown College Preparatory High School, Dr. Benjamin Williams, talks about the challenges facing his students- all of them African-American young men and many of them from low-income families. His school focuses on developing students’ social-emotional skills, which he believes is the foundation of learning. A robust “CARE” team--most of them black men--includes a psychologist, a social worker and counselors. It’s a far bigger team than exists in most schools, but Principal Williams believes the poverty, violence and trauma that many Ron Brown students experience requires professional help with a manageable ratio of staff to students. It’s the CARE team’s job to keep students on-track--emotionally and academically. The CARE team begins each morning in a schoolwide circle, navigating conversations that include neighborhood violence and police shootings, protest and poverty. Many schools do one or two of these things, but few do them all – and with the conviction of Ron Brown’s staff. For the past year, Education Week’s Kavitha Cardoza and NPR’s Cory Turner visited Ron Brown weekly -- and some weeks, daily -- to witness the birth of this new school and to see how its staff tackles some of the toughest challenges. We spent hundreds of hours there, from the earliest days to the last bell.

Video

Reading & Literacy Video Teachers, Try This: Teach Reading Through Hopscotch
For students at all reading levels, these hopscotch mats create a fun and supportive daily reading practice.
Student Well-Being Video Where These Urban Students Get To Learn About (and in) the Outdoors
This urban school district gives students the opportunity to learn in and about the outdoors at their district-owned farm.
4:17
Baltimore City School students find worms in the soil while exploring the woods and looking for decomposers during a scavenger hunt at Great Kids Farm and Forest Camp on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, in Catonsville, MD.
Baltimore City School students find worms in the soil while exploring the woods and looking for decomposers during a scavenger hunt at Great Kids Farm and Forest Camp on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, in Catonsville, MD.<br/>
Sam Mallon/Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Video College Board Official: We Don’t Dictate How AP Courses Are Taught
College Board offers insight on its course expectations, and methods for improving student diversity within those classes.
Students listen during an advanced placement history class at Crossroads FLEX school in Cary, N.C. on May 21, 2019.
Students listen during an advanced placement history class at Crossroads FLEX school in Cary, N.C. on May 21, 2019.
Gerry Broome/AP
Teaching Video VIDEOS: Tips for New Teachers From State Teachers of the Year
State teachers of the year offer tips for new teachers on a range of topics.
AMERICANED SUTTON 049
Allison Shelley for All4Ed