Oakland Community Unit School District 5 recently issued the following announcement.
The nationwide push toward greater school accountability and common standards has generated a chorus of calls for raising the level of academic rigor in U.S. schools.
More recently, though, has come the realization that academics alone may not be enough: Students have to want to come to school, work hard, and graduate on time. And they have to feel capable of achieving their academic goals. The trick for educators is to figure out how to make that happen.
Children and adolescents arrive at today’s public schools with a wide range of special needs. Some students struggle with depression and anxiety, while others face the difficult task of living with parents who are not financially or emotionally stable. Children may be plagued by schoolyard bullies or may be upset by their parents' divorce or remarriage.
Certainly, most young people need a solid foundation of the ABCs to "make it" in the big, cruel world in which we live. Yet, as anyone who has navigated the road to a successful career knows, there's more to success than just facts and figures. A growing body of research demonstrates that other competencies, namely, psychological, emotional, and social skills, may be equally important to children's future prospects in school and jobs
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs suggests that before individuals meet their full potential, they need to satisfy a series of needs.
Here at Oakland CUSD #5, we try to identify students that may be entering our classroom without their Physiological needs met. Is this student getting all of their basic physical needs met? These basic needs include food, water, sleep, oxygen, and warmth. If not, then our staff takes steps to help these needs be met. This may include school staff working directly with the students and their family. It may also include our staff helping families connect with resources in the community that can help to meet the physiological needs.
If a student has these needs met, the next stage is Safety. How safe and secure does this student feel in their home? What about in our school, and specifically in our classrooms? Again, our staff is very active in helping our students feel safe both at school and outside of school. By law, all school employees are mandated reporters with DCFS. If a staff member is told or witnesses evidence that a child may be in harm, that staff member is required to call the DCFS Hotline. Oakland CUSD #5 staff works collaboratively with the Oakland Police Department, Coles & Douglas County Sheriff's Department, and the Illinois State Police to assure that our students are safe at all times. The district has upgraded facilities in the past few years to help our students feel safe at school. These upgrades include security cameras, requiring all visitors to be allowed access to our school building, and most recently the possibility of a school resource officer.
Do all students have a feeling of Love & Belonging in our classrooms? Does each student feel that they belong to a group? Do they have strong relationships with their peers? We have worked very hard here at Oakland CUSD #5 on building relationships between our students and staff. We feel it is important that every student in our district has at least one adult, if not more, that they feel safe going to and confiding with in a time of need. We have offered programs and educational opportunities which hopefully help our student understand the importance of being empathetic, understanding, and tolerant of others. We understand that when dealing with children and young adults, this isn't always the case. However, anytime we can reduce the number of undesirable actions our students benefit.
The next stage is Esteem. Do all students feel good about themselves? Are we giving powerful verbal feedback to support their self-esteem? Do they believe that their peers think positively about them? This too relates to our staff building positive relationships with our students. When a strong trusting relationship exist between staff member and student, open and honest communications can occur. A teacher can explain to the student how or why what they are doing ins wrong; be it in an academic lesson or in personal behavior while still being sympathetic to the students self-esteem.
Maslow's final stage is Self-Actualization. In theory, if students have all of the previous stages met, they can achieve and create at their full potential. This is where the challenge lies; doing all we can as a school district in conjunction with families and the community as a whole to assure that our students have the opportunity to achieve at their full potential.
If you ever have any concerns about your child or any of our children here at Oakland CUSD #5, please reach out to a staff member. We are all in this together. By working together, hopefully we can meet the needs of all our students in order for them to reach their full potential and experience success in school and beyond.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Oakland Community Unit School District 5
Alerts Sign-up