Running head: PANDEMIC SEL

Pandemic Social Emotional Learning Curriculum and Connection

Katelin Lacoste

City University of Seattle

EGC 513

Capstone Paper

2021
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Abstract

Due to the 2020/2021 SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic, new problematic issues arose that Harbor Ridge

Middle School and its counselors had to address. The school district saw the increased

importance of Social Emotional Learning and prioritized almost an hour a day, four days a week

for that education. Teachers were not prepared to create a new curriculum due to a lack of time

and resources. Students also needed new opportunities to connect to other students and the

school staff because of social isolation and mental health concerns. Attendance and grades

dropped quickly. Specific students were identified through data who scored low in growth

mindset and grit. Attendance and grades data as well as Panorama survey data and parent survey

data identified the needs for this capstone project. Social Emotional Learning slides utilizing the

Second Step Program as well as student and teacher connection videos were created, small

groups were created for grit and growth mindset improvement, and attendance and grade checks

connections were done weekly. Improvement was shown through attendance and grades, the

Panorama survey showed a slight change in the spring, future monitoring of the Panorama

Survey is necessary to monitor improvement and change.

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Description of the School Community

Harbor Ridge Middle School (HRMS) is part of the Peninsula School District, it is

located in Gig Harbor, Washington. According to OSPI (2021), The demographics show that

there are 616 students enrolled, 50.2% female and 49.8% male. 76% white, 10.9% two or more

races, 9.4% Hispanic/Latino, 2.3% Asian, 1% Black/African American, and 0.5% American

Indian/Alaskan Native. 88.8% of students regularly attend school, 72.4% meet ELA standards,

56.9% meet math standards, and 74.4% meet science standards. 31.3% high math growth and

22.5% high ELA growth. 17% of the student population is considered low income. English

language learners (ELL) 1%, Mobile students 3.5%, Highly capable 12.5%, Homeless 1.4%,

Military parent 5.2%, Section 504 4.2%, students with disabilities 10.2%. 1.4% of students were

excluded in response to a behavioral violation. Many of the student discipline statistics were

suppressed or too low to identify specific student population disparities.

HRMS has 34 classroom teachers with an average of 15.3 years of teaching experience,

78.8% are female, 21.2% are male. There is a 12,675$ per-pupil expenditure. There are two

school counselors, Jayme Lenker is in her 7th year at HRMS, she is the mentor counselor who

oversaw and facilitated this capstone project.

Due to the 2020/2021 pandemic, students started the school year remotely and finished in

a hybrid model, because of these changes, enrollment and attendance were in constant flux

throughout the school year.

Peninsula School District’s (HRMS, 2021), comprehensive school counseling program

says that it intends to empower “students to develop mindsets and behaviors essential for success

in social/emotional, academic, and career domains through a range of preventative and

responsive, direct and indirect services”.

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Harbor Ridge Middle School will work collaboratively to achieve high standards of

learning for all by meeting the artistic, academic, physical, social, and emotional needs of

our school community within a safe, supportive, and hopeful environment (HRMS, 2021)

Harbor Ridge Middle School’s Mission Statement above, encompasses the heart and intention of

the school and its staff. The school staff works hard as a team to include everyone as a family.

From teachers to administration greeting students at the door and in the halls, doing

announcements on zoom, dropping into classes, and working with each other to find creative

ways to reach out to students especially during a difficult school year.

Problem Statement

Due to the 2020/2021 pandemic, the school year started with remote learning. The

Peninsula School District began the implementation of a Prime-Time class four days a week, 50

minutes a day, for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) for all students. The district also purchased

the Second Step SEL curriculum. There was no curriculum meant for remote learning in the SEL

Prime Time class, and teachers at HRMS had not previously taught SEL to students.

Data was collected at the beginning of the school year through the Panorama Survey, as

well as in the spring. This data showed that student to student connection and student to teacher

connection was very low. The Panorama survey (2020) showed that only 25% of HRMS students

felt connected to adults in the school, and only 13% of students felt connected to other students

at HRMS. Also, 20 male and 20 female students were identified who scored low on growth

mindset and grit.

Data was collected from a parent survey. A substantial number of parents asked for ways

students could connect with each other due to the new and isolated nature of remote learning

during the pandemic, and its effects on mental health.

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Attendance and grades quickly became an increasing concern as the year started, some

students were not attending class remotely at all, sometimes due to a lack of internet access.

Some students were attending classes via zoom but were not participating or doing course work.

Overall, a need for SEL curriculum meant for remote learning was established, including

the need to connect students to other students and staff, to help keep kids attending and

participating in school. SEL became a priority for the district, the school needed new supports

and tools in place to be able to help meet the students’ new needs due to the pandemic.

Literature Review

The Literature that best fit this capstone project, due to the pandemic and remote learning

circumstances, was the book Population Pandemic, along with research articles also representing

education and SEL, as well as youth mental health needs during the pandemic. This research

highlights the need for SEL, small groups, and overall connection with students.

Population Pandemic

Population Pandemic is a book that was suggested by the lead counselor of the Peninsula

school district for a book group for all Peninsula School Counselors during the 2020/2021 school

year. This book compares past pandemic populations to present and discusses what we can do to

shift the negative narrative we are currently exposed to, to a positive narrative we can utilize to

help this past year benefit our futures and the futures of the students we are supporting.

T. Elmore (2021) explains how we may not have built enough grit and resilience in the

emerging generation as past generations have had; this is where our focus needs to be. Former

generations developed a growth mindset, this is important because society tends to form a

collective narrative that helps to define the times. This can help to be established by providing
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kids with a limited amount of exposure, loving caregivers, calm leadership, and a higher calling,

also focusing on ambition and adaptability (Elmore, T. 2021).

T. Elmore (2021, p.68) said that “we must pivot as we lead this Pandemic Population to

make sure they experience growth, not stress, on the other side of the pandemic”. T. Elmore also

gave eight strategies to lead the current generation through the pandemic. Making a habit of

talking about the silver lining, breaking down the hardship into digestible bites in their minds,

identifying any cognitive distortions or conformation bias in their narratives, reminding them of

past personal success, helping them practice psychological distancing, telling stories of those

who turned disadvantages into advantages, expressing both high belief and high expectations,

and practicing affirming self-talk. For similar reasons, we focused our small groups on grit and

growth mindset for those students who showed a need to develop them more.

Developing Competencies

B. Lloyd-Jones (2020) wrote an article that represents the challenges teaching staff faced

during the pandemic including social-emotional competencies where they needed to maintain

relationships including student to student and student to teacher. One of the ways the article

articulates checking in with students to make a connection at the beginning of class, was to ask

questions such as, ‘how are you doing’ or ‘how has your week been going’, and ‘is there

anything I can do to help you, or to make this easier’.

B. Lloyd-Jones (2021) shares that three competencies emerged, coaching, caring, and

collaborating that differed from pre-pandemic teaching. Coaching, because teachers needed to

not only transfer information to students, but they needed to also walk students through each step

and guide how they could be successful. Caring is referred to as an “investment in people’s well-

being” (Lloyd-Jones, 2021). This article refers to mentoring, support, and natural communication
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opportunities as that care. Last, collaboration was emphasized for students needing support from

each other, through various virtual support systems. To enhance collaboration, social support

was focused on in the article where emotional, instrumental, and informational supports.

The outline of this research follows what we also found to be helpful during the

pandemic. Giving students the informational and instrumental supports they needed to feel cared

for and helped them to connect to other students and staff. Coaching, rather than just teaching

also played a large role in helping students to feel encouraged and part of a team and connected.

Social and Emotional Learning Research Review

V. Vega (2017) Stated that researchers generally agree on five key competencies of SEL,

Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible

Decision Making. These create a foundation for successful relationships and the tools to able to

respond well to life’s challenges. A meta-analysis of research over the last three decades shows

that SEL programs increase academic performance by 11%, compared to those who did not

participate in a SEL curriculum. They also reduced aggression and emotional distress, increased

helping behaviors in school, improved positive attitudes towards self and others, as well as many

other long-term benefits (V. Vera, 2017). Two of the outstanding points from this article showed

that “students who set high academic goals, have self-discipline, motivate themselves, manage

stress, and organize their approach to work learn more and get better grades” and “students who

use problem-solving skills to overcome obstacles and make responsible decisions about studying

and completing homework do better academically” (V.Vera, 2017). These points directly

correlate to the pandemic and the issues that directly relate to these two points, showing the

importance, more now than ever, of SEL in school to help combat the effects of social isolation.

Covid 19 Impacts
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The focus of Courtney, Watson, Battaglia, Mulsant, and Szatmari (2020), was on the

impact the pandemic has had on children’s mental health. It examined anxiety and depression

because children are more vulnerable to sustained stressors at developmentally sensitive times.

“Depression and anxiety are among the most common mental health disorders in children and

youth, with significant functional impairment and an associated risk of suicide” (Courtney et al.,

2020). Courtney et al., (2020) found that the pandemic impacted activities that provide structure

for students, their family interactions, an increase in domestic violence, and a decrease in mental

health services. These impacts have a negative effect on student mental health, increasing

depression and anxiety. At this time, increasing the need for students to see adults work together,

modeling behaviors to build resilience, joining scheduled activities, and being in tune to

children’s mental health, is needed to help mitigate the negative effects (Courtney et al., 2020).

This research outlines the need for schools to teach SEL curriculum and implement small

groups for students to provide a social support, to model behavior, create positive interactions,

and provide the structure that was lost during the pandemic.

Youth Mental Health

Power, Hughes, Cotter, and Cannon (2020), describe the importance of the use of

prevention in youth mental health and service development, especially now due to the

disproportionate effects the pandemic has had on youth. Power et al., (2020) stated that youth are

more at risk for negative psychosocial effects from the pandemic due to disrupted transitions,

therefore early innovative treatment for mental health is necessary. Further, youth have negative

physical health effects due to the pandemic like being more sedentary, having worse sleep, and a

poorer diet, these also lead to a decrease in mental health.

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This research increases the need for SEL and connection in school, along with the need to

collect data to monitor mental health.

The school’s team of administrators, counselors, and district stakeholders researched the

resources available that would help meet the SEL needs of students during the pandemic. It was

decided that Second Step would be the best fit to implement SEL curriculum during the Prime-

Time classes. The Panorama Survey was chosen to monitor SEL for the school and help build

school goals by monitoring the data it provided.

SMART Goal and ASCA Closing the Gap Action Plan

The SMART goal identified in the fall was, by April 2020 Harbor Ridge Middle School

students will feel more connected to staff, increasing their Panorama scores from 25% to 30%,

students will feel more connected to other students from 13% to 15%.

The ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors (2021) we chose to focus on were, M1. Belief in

development of whole self, including a healthy balance of mental, social/emotional, and physical

well-being. B-SS 2. Create positive and supportive relationships with other students. B-SS 3.

Create relationships with adults that support success (ASCA, 2021).

Second Step (2021) is “A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every

child through social-emotional learning”. Second Step (2021) for Middle Schools includes units

such as mindsets and goals, bullying and harassment, thoughts, emotions, and decisions,

managing relationships and social conflicts. It contains relatable scenarios for students,

differentiation between grade levels, and interactive activities keeping students engaged and

learning. It is based in research on adolescent development and social psychology. It contains a

year’s worth of weekly classes with over 200 advisory activities, additional resources, and lesson
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plans. There is a focus on growth mindset and social connectedness, directly relating to issues

the Panorama data showed needed improvement during the 2020/2021 school year at HRMS.

The Panorama Survey (2021) is “a survey instrument that elevates student voice on

school climate, teaching and learning, relationships, and belonging”. Researchers from Panorama

Education worked with Harvard Graduate School Researchers to create a valid and reliable

survey tool to measure student perceptions of teaching and learning. The Survey is taken in the

fall and spring every year. HRMS began utilizing this survey in the fall of 2019 but missed the

spring of 2020 due to the onset of the pandemic and remote learning, the 2020/2021 school year

is the first year HRMS has utilized the data from the survey. Within the survey results you can

look at individual student responses, groups of students based on gender, age, ethnicity, school,

district, and more. The data collected from the survey was utilized throughout the school year

and will continue to be utilized and compared each year.

The interventions created for student services were to create the Prime-Time SEL

curriculum including the Second Step Program. A slide deck was created for each Prime-Time

class. Jayme Lenker created a slide deck for Habits of Mind. I created a slide deck for Second

Step lessons, including YouTube videos that were related to the Second Step lesson. I developed

questions that also related to the Second Step unit that students and teachers would answer on a

selfie video for each unit to help improve student connection. I adjusted the Second Step

activities and discussion questions to fit with remote learning to help students engage in small

groups and class discussion. I created slide decks for units one through three. When I finished

my internship, the new intern took over unit four, even though students were back in school for

the hybrid model. The other two days of the week had assemblies or were utilized for teaching
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students things like how to send a proper email, chat in class, submit google documents, upload

assignments, things needed to succeed in remote learning, and games for social connection.

ASCA Closing the Gap Action Plan

During fall term we started groups for each grade level separating girls and boys, inviting

anyone who wanted to attend, to help with student connection. Winter term students were

identified who scored the lowest in grit and growth mindset on the Panorama Survey. Small

groups were created to target those students. Jayme and I utilized the Big Life Journal in the

groups, working through a chapter each week. The Big Life Journal helps students set goals and

learn more about themselves as well as growing grit and growth mindset. We took supplies for

the groups to student’s homes. Fun groups were created as well, taught by school staff for

anyone to attend, such as ornament making, or dog biscuit baking, and marshmallow launching.

Attendance and grade checks were done weekly to help track improvement and identify

students who needed more help as well as making parent connections. Phone calls were made, or

an email would be sent. Some parents were unaware that their students were not attending or

participating in class or did not know what to do to help their student. We taught them how to go

online and check attendance and grades, as well as suggesting things like emailing teachers, and

checking Schoology to see if assignments were missing. In person Wednesdays were created by

Jayme to help students who did not have access to internet or who had other circumstances that

brought them in the school such as low grades and attendance, we supervised those in person

days. Weekly Student Success Team (SST) meetings were conducted by the administration and

the school counselors and Interns to monitor these goals. We created a google document for

teachers to submit Students of Concern (SOC) forms, to facilitate tracking.

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Data collection consisted of the Panorama Survey results in the fall and spring, as well as

Attendance and Grades checks weekly and at the end of each term.

Discussion and Analysis of Action Plan Implementation and Results

Students at Harbor Ridge Middle School took the follow up Panorama Survey in April

2021. Unfortunately, the section of questions used for the original SMART goal were only for

the back-to-school survey in the fall, so we will not see the follow up results until fall of 2021.

The most similar sections of the survey that I could find were student teacher relationships that

decreased from 73% t0 72%, and a sense of belonging increased from 45% to 46%. With so

many variables changing during the school year due to the ever-changing pandemic regulations,

it will be interesting and perhaps more accurate to wait to compare the results next fall.

There were many variables that would affect the overall effectiveness of the interventions

we had in place. We did not know how many teachers actually regularly used the Prime-Time

curriculum slides that we created. We created a survey for teachers to give feedback about the

Prime-Time slides, but not all the Prime-Time teachers responded to the survey. When the hybrid

model of learning started spring term, Prime Time was cut to 40 minutes, two days a week.

When contacting parents for attendance and grades checks, some parents did not answer

or have voicemail set up or respond to emails. Over time, we learned who responded to email or

who responded to a phone call. We kept notes about who we talked to and what the response

was. Most of the reoccurring attendance issues were the same students throughout the year. For

Jayme’s half of the alphabet, 300 students, the attendance list started out 60 plus a week in the

fall and dropped to the 10s in the spring. Every week the attendance calls became fewer due to

better WIFI, better understanding of the schedule, staffings, interventions, in person

Wednesdays, and contact with parents. Grades were checked with the attendance calls, to help
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keep parents informed of how missing classes was affecting student grades. We also checked

grades two weeks before each term ended. I noticed many of the advanced classes, especially

math had a high number of failing students, so I reached out to teachers to help extend further

support to students. Many teachers were willing to have students work on the most important

assignments and gave grades based more on participation and effort. Overall, the attendance and

grade checks were very time consuming, but made it so relationships were built with families

and students, and we saw a lot of improvement because of it.

In person Wednesdays were created by Jayme Lenker to bring students of concern and

students with WIFI issues into the building for extra support. Students were able to get help from

teachers and staff. This was also a good transition for some students to come in the school a little

before the hybrid model rolled out. The students who came in person regularly showed

improvement in their attendance and grades. In the beginning, there were about five students in

the building on Wednesdays, by the end of winter term there were up to 45 students in the

building, which took the support of all the staff in the building on those days. This intervention

was very time consuming as well but was also very successful.

The small groups we created based on the low results of grit and growth mindset from the

Panorama Survey started out with good attendance, although not all students invited joined,

keeping students coming to groups became the challenge. We sent out weekly reminders on

Schoology, as well as putting reminders in the morning announcements. Facilitating groups via

zoom may have been the reason for the low attendance, students already had to spend so much

time online. We asked at the end of every group what activities the students wanted to do in the

next group. The Big Life Journal’s lessons directly correlated with the Prime Time Second Step

Lessons and created good discussion within the groups. Using the Big Life Journal for in person
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groups would be even more beneficial so that the students could do the activities and socialize

together, to help student connection. There was no time available for in person groups once

spring term began, due to the hybrid model. Jayme Lenker and the new intern had plans to create

other group opportunities on zoom, having hybrid A and B days and remote groups separately.

Overall, the Panorama Survey data showed some improvement from fall to spring, but

the real improvements came from students attending classes more and increasing participation,

coming into the building for extra support on in person Wednesdays, and having SEL curriculum

every week. I would hope for more data tracking in the future to make sure time and energy is

spent in the right places. The Second Step curriculum could and should be utilized by teachers

now that they have experience teaching SEL and Second Step. This would free up time for other

areas of concern for the school counselors.

Reflection on Internship Experience and Professional Growth Goals

What an interesting and groundbreaking year to have an internship as a school counselor.

I am proud of the interventions we were able to implement as a team at Harbor Ridge Middle

School. The administration and school counselor Jayme Lenker worked together as a team along

with staff members and stakeholders to develop and adjust interventions as the needs arose

throughout the year. This capstone project started out as a simple project that grew as the needs

of the school did.

Looking back at this capstone, I would make changes, but would keep all interventions

implemented. I would like to keep track of more data from the interventions, at the end of each

group taking a quick survey to monitor effectiveness and need, and a survey at the end of each

primetime class that I taught. Logging all attendance and grades checks on a spread sheet to

better keep track of change. It would have been beneficial to follow up with students after
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attendance and grades checks were done with their parents, to connect more to them, and better

understand what they felt would help. It would be beneficial to do a survey to find out what

students would have thought would improve student to student and student to staff connections

as a whole school, not just in groups and in class. I know for a year that was as chaotic and

unpredictable as this was, spending the majority of the time creating and implementing

interventions was the right way to spend our time, following the data we had.

Professional Growth Goals

Following the School Counselor PGP Self-Assessment form I found the program

implementation was an area of strength in developing, leading, and delivering a data-driven

school counseling program, the program measures were proficient but could use a little work

utilizing more follow up data. More time needs to be spent on career readiness, facilitating

groups to identify programs, and facilitating life/career development across the curriculum would

be an area that needs growth. I would have liked to have found more ways to work on individual

and group counseling during remote learning, although we would need more resources available

to have the time and manpower to implement more groups. An area of strength was in

advocating for the ELL students. We removed barriers, created interventions, and removed

opportunity gaps. This year I think what needed the most work would be leading others to create

an environment of reflective practice, because of staff who needed to do more work around these

benchmarks, and we could do more to help guide them to that practice.

The professional growth standards and goals are an important piece to conclude this

capstone. They help to clearly show the areas needing improvement, the areas that could have

been more successful had they been addressed earlier and help to identify areas that can be

worked on to make the programs more successful and well-rounded through state benchmarks.
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References

ASCA (2021). Mindsets and behaviors. Retrieved from:

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/7428a787-a452-4abb-afec-d78ec77870cd/Mindsets-

Behaviors.pdf

Courtney, D., Watson, P., Battaglia, M., Mulsant, B. H., & Szatmari, P. (2020). COVID-19 impacts on

child and youth anxiety and depression: challenges and opportunities. The Canadian Journal of

Psychiatry, 65(10), 688–691. https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743720935646

Elmore, T. (2021). Population pandemic: eight strategies to help Generation Z rediscover hope after

coronavirus. Poet Gardener publishing in association with Growing Leaders, Inc.

Harbor Ridge Middle School (2021). Retrieved from: https://hrm.psd401.net/

Lloyd-Jones, B. (2021). Developing competencies for emotional, instrumental, and informational

student support during the COVID-19 pandemic: a human relations/human resource

development approach. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 23(1), 41-

54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422320973287

OSPI (2021). Retrieved from: https://washingtonstatereportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/

Panorama Survey (2021). Retrieved from: https://www.panoramaed.com/panorama-student-survey

Second Step (2021). Retrieved from: https://www.secondstep.org/

Power, E., Hughes, S., Cotter, D., & Cannon, M. (2020). Youth mental health in the time of COVID-

19. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 37(4), 301-305. doi:10.1017/ipm.2020.84

Vega, V. (June 14, 2017). Social and emotional learning research review. Retrieved from:

https://www.edutopia.org/sel-research-learning-outcomes