By: Jeff Heyck-Williams
At Two Rivers, we often say that social learning is just as important as academic learning. This isn’t just talk. We believe that time spent teaching our students about how they can effectively interact and the personal skills needed to persevere and thrive in their work is just as important as the time we spend teaching them academic content. In the world of high stakes academic testing and accountability, focusing on social learning can seem counterintuitive. After all, you only have so much time to cover all of the things that kids need to know. However, we have seen over and over again that an investment in a child’s social skills has payoffs far wider than a single test score. Students who have developed habits of perseverance, commitment, responsibility, and productive collaboration are more successful in and outside of the classroom.