7 Mindsets, the leader in online social emotional learning (SEL) solutions, and New Mexico’s Public Education Department have partnered to make free SEL resources available through a new online state portal. Starting in early September, the portal will give students, parents, and educators no-cost access to 7 Mindset’s SEL courses and curriculums, leadership training, and teacher professional development.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has found that SEL positively impacts students’ school performance and decreases behavior problems and emotional distress.
Additionally, New Mexico’s education department reports that 26% of the state’s children live in poverty. Consequently, families of those students have fewer resources and supports for fostering their children’s development. Plus, severe stress and depression resulting from such hardships often interfere with effective parenting.
“Both the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest have heightened children’s need for community and for positive relationships with their peers, teachers, and families,” said 7 Mindsets President Lupita Knittel. “With all the stress and trauma of the past year and a half, as well as the need to reacclimate to physical classrooms, students are going to need the help of SEL in order to focus on learning.”
The resources within the 7 Mindsets portal includes a full pre-K-12 core curriculum, student-facing content, adult SEL, and parent resources, in both English and Spanish. In addition to pre-K-12 student and adult curriculum, the 7 Mindsets curriculum consists of professional development and coaching. The program is designed to help educators facilitate healthy relationships incorporating strategies for preventing bullying, building resilience, and creating empathy. Courses include lessons, videos, discussion prompts, activities, projects, and reflective journaling activities for students.
Unlike programs that focus only on skill-building, 7 Mindsets is based on a multi-year research effort into the world’s happiest and most successful people. What the research uncovered was that their happiness and success were not predicated on what individuals knew or where they came from, it was predicated on how they thought – their mindsets. The key seven mindsets identified were:
- Everything is Possible
- Passion First
- We are Connected
- 100% Accountable
- Attitude of Gratitude
- Live to Give
- The Time is Now
“We have a lot of work to do to expand our social emotional learning,” said New Mexico’s Secretary of Education Dr. Kurt Steinhaus. “That’s why these new resources and tools from 7 Mindsets will be so valuable. I encourage our educators to get on the web page, let’s learn these new tools, and let’s make better use of social emotional learning in our work with parents, students, and each other. I appreciate so much the work that has been done so far to make social emotional learning an integral part – and an important part – of everything our educators are doing during their work in schools.”
For more information go to https://7mindsets.com and follow 7 Mindsets on Twitter @7Mindsets.
The American Consortium for Equity in Education, publisher of the "Equity & Access" journal, celebrates and connects the educators, associations, community partners and industry leaders who are working to solve problems and create a more equitable environment for historically underserved pre K-12 students throughout the United States.
