Introduction

Our program helps students connect to others and build strong healthy relationships, gain self-confidence, and develop resilience. The Creating Caring Connections Program materials may be used for mentoring 1:1, working with small groups of students, or teaching to an entire classroom. Key features contributing to pro­gram flexibility include:

• The Learning Pathway Generator (LPG): This proprietary cloud-based tool is designed to easily locate books and games around a given subject or skill (empathy, self-control, decision-making, etc.), curiosity/ interest area, and at students’ reading levels.
• Instructional toolkits that guide the student and mentor, or classroom teacher, in learning success skills and relationship-building techniques.

Readers will leave this document with new ideas, and strategies to invigorate the learning environment.

Content

The Problem: Setting the Stage

The following is an account based on an actual student. The name has been changed to provide confidential­ity.

As Johnny returned to school for the first time in almost two years after COVID, he was going through a series of emotions that were hard for a second grader to navigate. There was a certain amount of anxiety, a combination of fear, coupled with the uncertainty of what to expect. As a result of all these emotions that were playing out, Johnny found his safe place to be, of all places, within the confines of the principal’s office. There he just sat and did not have to explain his actions or feel as though he had to defend himself.

While Johnny felt he had found his safe place, the teachers and school administrators were wrestling with how to incorporate Johnny into the structure of the school. Maybe Johnny needed to be in a different envi­ronment that could better meet his educational and learning needs? You see, Johnny had resorted to a com­bination of fighting, bullying, and confrontation with his school mates. He demonstrated no indication of any discernment of right and wrong, let alone any type of boundaries in terms of being around other children on a social or emotional level.

Johnny, like many children who lived through COVID, had become isolated from other children during a key time in the development of his social-emotional skills, and now does not know how to have a good rela­tionship with other children. Fortunately for Johnny he was able to enter our Creating Caring Connections program, specifically the one-to-one MentorSuccess® mentoring component, learned some key social skills, and after one year his behavior improved and he won a kindness award, and more importantly, he became a well-liked and active participant in his classroom. His whole approach to school and life changed.

Johnny is not alone in his quest to reconnect. Youth in our communities have experienced years of uncer­tainty, shifting environments, and stress within the family unit due to loss of family members and periods of social isolation from positive influences. While technology enabled some children to engage virtually, others were left behind or failed to engage. According to a recent CDC report, educators report that children are coming back to the classroom more disconnected than ever. Not only that, but the mental health and well­ness for their developing minds has also been impacted. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, compared to 2019, in 2022 the portion of mental health related emergency department visits among children ages 5-11 increased by 24%, and 31%for children ages 12-17. (CDC, 2023 cite).

While technology has improved people’s lives from the standpoint of being able to access information, it has also served to often isolate parents and teachers from connecting to children, and children are often lacking the social skills to effectively connect with other children and adults. So instead of reducing screen time as many recent studies have called for, the Pandemic did just the opposite. Pre-Pandemic children were already being seen as losing social skills and being unprepared for adulthood because of too much technology usage (Twenge, 2017). Post-Pandemic, children have not only suffered learning loss, but have missed out on key social development and life skills as well. Instead of connecting with others, we are developing a genera­tion of children who are more disconnected than ever.

The two-year break from school many children experienced also has impacted their test scores. Schools are grappling with Pandemic learning loss as test scores hit historic lows at all tested grade levels. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report stated that national math and reading scores declined most dramatically for 13-year-olds. Math scores are the lowest since 1990 while reading scores were the lowest since 2004. However, the news is even worse for the lower performing students whose scores in math dropped to 1978 levels and in reading to levels last seen in 1971. Scores were also lower for eighth and fourth graders in all categories assessed by the NAEP (NAEP 2023 study).

The implications if the situation isn’t addressed? A generation of young adults who cannot connect with each other or with anyone else. Dropout rates will increase even further, and a higher prevalence of mental health issues will impact families, the economy, and if it continues, these mental health issues will lead to a workforce that is unable to engage in meaningful work and productivity. (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2019).

Pathway to the Solution

To address this situation, the Creating Caring Connections program includes a learning component that is effective and meaningful for all involved. Utilizing a research based instructional strategy that is structured, customized, and focused on student success and improved mental wellness, the program helps students connect better to other students and helps them to build strong healthy relationships, gain self-confidence, and develop resilience. The program contains materials that may be used for mentoring 1-to-1, working with small groups of students, or taught to an entire classroom. Key features contributing to the program’s flexi­bility include:

• The Learning Pathway Generator (LPG): This proprietary cloud-based tool is designed to easily locate books and games around a given subject or skill (empathy, self-control, decision-making, etc.), curiosity/ interest area, and at the students reading level.
• An instructional toolkit that guides the student and mentor, or classroom teacher in learning success skills and relationship-building techniques.

Materials from our mentoring component can also be used to create what we call the Caring Classroom. This element of the program consists of a series of lessons to help assist and equip students with tools to devel­op their social-emotional skills and self-awareness. Common behaviors that are taught include bullying pre­vention, teaching students/children to become aware of their emotions and their surroundings, dealing with anxiety, proper assertiveness, attentive listening, and developing empathy, among many others.

The lessons in this component assist children not only in life success skills, but also teach them protective shield skills that help them to be aware, and make wise, thoughtful decisions. The skills are based on the 50-year longitudinal research first conducted by Emmie Werner (Werner, 1989) which identified factors that helped children survive and thrive even in the most difficult environments. These included perseverance, goal setting, self-control, optimism, and self-confidence, all with the help of a caring champion.

Creating Caring Connections: Four Elements

There are four elements to this program that really work together to set it apart. The first is the extensive use of stories to teach concepts. Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience reveal that our brains are hard wired to respond to stories. Story is what enabled us to imagine what might happen in the future, and so be prepared for it (Gazinga, 2008). In research conducted with hunter and gatherer groups, it was found that story could be said to form the embers of society. During the day stories were told about practical economic matters, but at night around the campfire over 80% of the stories were mostly about cultural issues, social skills, and involved humor and creativity. Such story telling built unity and informed all members of the band who they were in the world (Wiessner, 2014). Some claim that story is the grease and glue of society. It is easy to forget, sitting around in our private homes and easy chairs with all our entertainment at our fingertips, that for 99.9 % of our genetic history, going back hundreds of thousands of years, storytelling was a communal activity around a fire. It served to bind society by reinforcing common values and a common culture. Other studies on the Kalahari bushmen have determined that 81% of the conversation is storytelling, firing the imagination and passing on information that creates bonds among the listeners (Gallo, 2016). 

Recognizing the critical importance of storytelling the program has reviewed well over a thousand children’s books and selected 278 that are consistent in reading level but more importantly contain skills that are conveyed in an entertaining and engaging way. They also cover various curiosity/interest areas, such as sports, gardening, animals, etc. These are included in our proprietary Learning Pathway Generator (LPG), along with hints for mentors on how to engage the children on the skill with open-ended, creative, and critical thinking questions. Over sixty carefully selected games are also included. We want learning to be fun!

The second element that is essential in the Creating Caring Connection program approach is the emphasis on finding what the child is curious about and then integrating that into all the lesson plans. According to behavioral economist George Lowenstein, curiosity occurs when we feel a gap. A gap between what we know and what we really want to know. This knowledge gap causes mental pain, or an itch, and we feel a need to close it (Lowenstein, 1994). A key implication of this theory is that we need to open gaps before we close them. Our program does this by using a carefully constructed curiosity/interest inventory the students fill out in the first two mentoring sessions to help them explore what possible knowledge gaps they might have. The goal is to nurture children’s curiosity and creative gifts in an era of conformity and test obsession. One way is to stimulate a child’s curiosity by discovering what they have a passion about and then helping them fill that gap. As the great poet William B. Yeats once said, “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” When a mentor helps a child find and fill that curiosity gap a fire is ignited. Learning is fun! It also helps enhance the student/mentor relationship as they enjoy learning together. 

The third element that is essential to the effectiveness of this program is the turbo charging of connections between mentors and students. By using the best children’s literature and the curiosity/interest inventory, we can select materials that will ignite the fire. The mentors are trained in asking open-ended, critical thinking and creative thinking questions about books that are of great interest to the student. The mentors are also trained in proper praising techniques. The mentoring moment is carefully managed to enhance the learning connection.

When a person makes such a strong social connection, the pleasure inducing hormone oxytocin and the neurotransmitter serotonin are released into the bloodstream. This immediately reduces anxiety and improves concentration and focus. Each social connection also bolsters our cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune systems. The more positive connections made over time, the better we function (Achor, 2010).

A fourth element that is essential to the success of the program is an emphasis on helping children develop a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. The growth mindset concept believes that your basic qualities can be cultivated and grown through your efforts to develop yourself (Dweck, 2006). Our mentors challenge students to have a passion to stretch themselves to learn new things. We emphasis perseverance—the sticking with things even when it is not going well. The mentors are taught to praise effort sincerely and specifically. Children thrive when they have such champions, just as we saw in the Werner study of protective shield factors cited earlier.

From extensive research and practice over the last four years the program has demonstrated it can help build strong bonds—a super charged connection. As the program continues to develop the Learning Pathway Generator, we will continue to see students experience these aha, most reachable, most teachable moments when the curiosity gap is closed, and the relationship grows with a caring ‘champion’ mentor.

Results

Three program sites participated in data collection and 31 complete records were analyzed (complete re- cords = both pre & post student surveys were collected). For each student enrolled in the MentorSuccess® program, their teacher was asked to complete a behavioral assessment survey upon registration, and then again at the end of the year. Teachers completed this short survey by using a Google Form. Teachers were asked to rate student behaviors on a 5-point Likert scale for each of the following prosocial skills.

As of June 2023, MentorSuccess® has provided 1to1 mentoring to over 320 kindergarten – 5th grade students throughout SW Washington and the greater Portland, Oregon metro area. Through our Caring Classroom program, over 220 children this year have also received classroom instruction on positive social skills and student experiences such as Empathy, Problem Solving, and Emotional Regulation, which some educators refer to as Self-Control.

Over the 2022-2023 academic year, data collected from a Pre/Post Behavioral Assessment survey sent to teachers with students enrolled in the MentorSuccess® program indicated that 65% of students mentored showed marked behavioral improvements in the classroom within 1 school year.

Data from Pre/Post Behaviorial Assessment Surveys

The Creating Caring Connections program uses a pre and post behavioral assessment to measure and track student progress over the year. This assessment asks teachers to rate on a 5-point scale each of the follow- ing observable characteristics in the classroom.

1. This student is EMOTIONALLY REGULATED (instead of easily distressed with undesired situations or occurrences) [Emotionally Regulated]
2. This student is FLEXIBLE (instead of easily distressed with unexpected occurrences or things out of their control) [Flexible]
3. This student is SELF-CONFIDENT (instead of quick to doubt themselves) [Self-Confident]
4. This student is KIND (instead of using a rude tone, facial expression or body language) [Kind]
5. This student FOLLOWS SOCIAL CUES (instead of continuing a behavior after repeated cues that peers do not like it or continues behavior(s) that are out of the norm) [Follows social cues]
6. This student FOLLOWS ADULT DIRECTIONS (WITH REMINDERS) (instead of blatant non-compliance that is not due to a shortened ability to focus) [Follows adult directions]
7. This student SHOWS HUMILITY (instead of bragging or wanting to be known/seen by others as the “best” at things) [Shows humility]
8. This student COOPERATES WITH PEERS (instead of not being willing to resolve conflict quickly, or work collaboratively with peers) [Cooperates with peers]
9. This student UNDERSTANDS EMPATHY and knows why it matters (instead of not caring about or under- standing why someone would feel that way) [Understands empathy]
10. This student is CORRIGIBLE (definition: capable of being corrected, rectified, or reformed) (instead of not responsive to redirection or correction) [Corrigible]
11. This student PERSEVERES even when upset (instead of feeling defeated and giving up quickly as soon as they’re emotionally impacted) [Perseveres when upset]
12. This student LISTENS WITHOUT INTERRUPTING (instead of consistently blurting out when teacher is teaching/talking) [Listens without interrupting]
13. This student is WILLING TO BRAINSTORM WAYS TO SOLVE A PROBLEM (instead of easily giving up be- fore brainstorming ideas on how to solve the problem at hand) [Brainstorms ways to solve a problem]
14. This student attempts to have SELF-CONTROL that is appropriate for their age/grade [Attempts to have self-control]

The themes showing consistent improvement across all program sites were Listening without Interrupting, Self-Confidence, and Following Social Cues.

In addition to the Behavioral Assessment survey, an End-of-Year Program Evaluation was administered to Parents/Family, Teachers, Mentors, and Students. Feedback indicated:

• 100% of teachers would recommend MentorSuccess® to other
• 100% of parents would recommend MentorSuccess® to other parents/family
• 100% of mentors would recommend MentorSuccess® to other
• 100% of students would recommend MentorSuccess® to other
• 100% of parents would consider re-enrolling their child in MentorSuccess® next year (given that the stu- dent was continuing at that school).

“My students look forward to meeting with their mentors, and they have consistently shown growth so- cially and emotionally when they have participated in this program. “Thanks for all you do! “ – Kindergarten Teacher

“ I am very thankful for the last two years my son has been mentored by {mentor}. His confidence has grown as he practices social and organizational skills and was invited to be creative in mentoring. He is able to let go of negative emotions better when he makes a mistake. He is always looking forward to his Thursday lunch with {mentor}.” – Parent

“MentorSuccess had really helped my student increase her confidence. She has also been able to regulate her emotions when something made her anxious. Thank you!” – 5th Grade Teacher

“I have been working with one student for over a year now, and finally she felt confident enough to read aloud a challenging piece from a book. SO rewarding. I truly believe the week in and week out of showing up has helped build a positive relationship with these students.” – Mentor

“I’ve learned that everybody needs a friend.” – 3rd Grade Student.