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NOTE: Separate registration is required for each day.

The Newark Trust for Education is proud to present the third annual Safe and Supportive Learning Environments (SSLE) Summit: Covid-19 & Beyond! This year’s summit will focus on working together with students and families to create safe and supportive learning environments post pandemic. Over the course of four days (May 10th – 13th) participants will hear keynote remarks delivered by experts including Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D., Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Dena Simmons, Ed.D., Educator. Activist. Lifelong Learner and founder of LiberatED; David Adams, Board of Directors of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and  CEO of The Urban Assembly; and national expert on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) Dave Ellis, Executive Director for the Office of Resilience within New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families (DCF).

Over the past year families nationwide have grappled with the anxiety, trauma and uncertainty induced by Covid-19 and violence against people of color. Parents, caregivers and educators are wondering how to speak with young people about the current social climate, while trying to maintain their own mental health and wellness, and those of their families. There is a need, now more than ever, for a holistic approach to create learning environments in which students feel safe and supported, both in and out of school. During the 2021 SSLE Summit participants will explore an emerging framework for a 360° approach to creating such environments, which draw on the following five components:

• Cullturally Sustaining Practices
• Equitable Access
• Multigenerational Approaches
• Standards-based Approaches
• Systemic Supports
  

DAY #1 - Monday May 10, 2021 (10:0 am - 12:15pm)
SYSTEMIC SUPPORTS
Plenary Session (10:00 am - 11:30 am)
Families as Partners: Charting a Way Forward
This plenary session features the landscape paper developed by the Newark Trust for Education titled Families as partners in Newark’s evolving early childhood landscape. The paper discusses Newark’s rich, multi-sectoral, early childhood landscape, including Research and Advocacy, Maternal and Child Health, Positive Parenting and Stable Families, Quality, Affordable Childcare and Early Learning. It also offers guidelines for enhancing standards-based, multi-generational, culturally sustaining and strengths-based, scalable and sustainable, and systemically connected practices in the field. Findings from the landscape paper will be explored. (Moderator: Atiya Weiss, Burke Foundation; Panelists: Milagros Nores, National Institute for Early Education Research; Jasmin Young, University Hospital; Jasmine Spencer, South Ward Children’s Alliance; Samantha Lott-Velez, Newark Board of Education; Discussant: Diana Autin, SPAN Parent Advocacy Network)

Break (11:30 am - 11:45 am)

Keynote Address (11:45am to 12:15 pm)
Family Engagement for Student Success
Strengthening family-school partnerships has perhaps never been more critical than it is today. Join this webinar to hear from Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D., senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and author of “Partners in Education: A Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships” (2014). This keynote will address how to:

• Build authentic partnerships with families using Mapp’s Dual Capacity-Building Framework.
• Explore how COVID-19 has strengthened the role of families as co-creators of their children’s education.
• Gain actionable tools and strategies for your school or district to empower families as learning partners and drive equitable outcomes for students.
• Support educators in activating the power of collaboration between teachers, students, and families and in using family perception data for school improvement planning.

(Presented by Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D., Senior Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education).

DAY #2 - Tuesday May 11, 2021 (10:00 am - 12:30pm)
CULTURALLY SUSTAINING PRACTICES & MULTIGENERATIONAL APPROACHES
Keynote Address (10:00 am to 11:00 am)
From Surviving to Thriving: Creating Equitable Environments Through Emotional Intelligence and Culturally Relevant Practices
For communities to thrive individuals must feel safe to be who they inherently are; they must love themselves fully. To create this dynamic, our leadership, instruction, and assessment must foster psychological and emotional safety through emotional intelligence, culturally responsivity, and anti-racist practices. During this interactive session, participants explore the intersections between culturally relevant practices and emotional intelligence in the creation of equitable and welcoming communities, where everyone can learn in the comfort of their uniqueness. (Presented by Dena Simmons, Ed.D., Educator. Activist. Lifelong Learner, LiberatED an antiracist approach to social and emotional learning and healing.)

NTE SEL Awards (11:00 am to 11:15 am)
The Newark Trust for Education’s first ever SEL Awards are designed to recognize educators, students and families committed to implementing SEL practices during the many challenges faced in these un-precedented times. Awardees highlighted during this segment are individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to keeping SEL at the forefront of their practices, studies, and interactions in the virtual learning environment. (Presented by A’Dorian Murray-Thomas, Newark Board of Education)

Break (11:15 am - 11:30 am)

Breakout Sessions (11:30 am to 12:30 pm)
Day 2 - Session #1
Student-first SEL: Developing a Culturally Responsive Approach to Social Emotional Learning
SEL can be a powerful tool for deepening one's connection to their own culture and for building bridges between communities. For this to occur, SEL initiatives and practices must be developed in a responsible and inclusive manner. This session will deepen participant’s understanding of culturally responsive SEL and its key principles, for application to individual practices and communities. (Facilitators Brandon Frame, Joshua Bobrow, and Fabiola Quinones, Urban Assembly)
NOTE: This session requires separate registration. Click here to register.

Day 2 - Session #2
Multigenerational Home Visiting Programs: Innovative Approaches that Center Culturally Sustaining Practices to Support Family Engagement
Multigenerational approaches that support culturally sustaining practices and family engagement can be used in many arenas, including human services, education, workforce development, and health, to address a myriad of issues, such as poverty, literacy, school readiness and family economic stability. Home visiting programs exemplify this innovative approach. Participants of home visiting programs that utilize multigenerational approaches, build social and human capital through participation in rich community networks that enable them to make connections and exchange resources with families, friends, neighbors, and local organizations. This panel will discuss such approaches as mechanisms to address the holistic and culturally diverse needs of the entire family.
(Moderator: Kalimah Wilson, Newark Trust for Education; Panelists: Tesha Bright, YCS/Nurse Family Partnership; Jillian Faulks-Majuta, VNA Health Group; Illy Valdez, Family Connections NJ; Lissette Morales, ParentChild+ Newark/ Newark Trust for Education; Brille Kenner, Partnership MCH Healthy Families of Essex)

DAY #3 - Wednesday May 12, 2021 (10:00 am - 12:30 pm
STANDARDS-BASED APPROACHES
Keynote Address (10:00 am to 10:30 am)
All Learning is Social and Emotional: Reimagining the Purpose of Education in the Age of COVID
Society is changing, and our education system needs to change with it. The recent pandemic makes it clear that students must graduate from our schools college, career and community ready. Social emotional skills will be the foundation of this work. Whether it's civic engagement, flexible problem solving, or learning how to learn, social emotional skills are the key to empowering the next generation to move our society forward. Social emotional skills not only help facilitate learning, but inform the kind of learners that our education system needs to produce - those who sit on juries, cohere diverse views, and build community. This keynote will discuss the future of education and the role of social emotional learning in moving towards it.
(Presented by David Adams, CASEL Board of Directors, The Urban Assembly)

NTE SEL Awards (10:30 am to 10:45 am)
The Newark Trust for Education’s first ever SEL Awards are designed to recognize educators, students and families committed to implementing SEL practices during the many challenges faced in these un-precedented times. Awardees highlighted during this segment are individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to keeping SEL at the forefront of their practices, studies, and interactions in the virtual learning environment. (Presented by Superintendent Kaleena Berryman, Abbott Leadership Institute)

Break (10:45 am - 11:00 am)

Breakout Sessions (11:00 am to 12:30 pm)
Day 3 - Session #1
The Path Towards Building Systemic SEL
This interactive discussion will explore how schools, districts and state governments can move towards creating sustainable SEL systems to support high quality education. Findings from NTE’s work supporting local schools in their SEL development will be highlighted, school practitioners will share their personal experiences, and experts and policy makers will reflect on what systems need to be in place to advance educational equity through SEL. (Moderator: Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D., Rutgers University Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab; Panelists: Amy Panitch, Franklin Elementary School; Theresa Finkelstein, Franklin Elementary School; Talida State and Chelsea Grant, Nurturing Environments Institute; Kelly Allen, New Jersey Department of Education Office of Student Support Services; Senator M. Teresa Ruiz(D), New Jersey)

Day 3 - Session #2
An Overview of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Supporting the Power of Relationships and the Growth of the Human
This session will provide an overview of the field of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and the range of services and supports provided by the Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health. We will begin with an overview of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children, followed by principles of infant and early childhood mental health and the power of relationships in forming brain development and all human capacities.
(Panelists: Gerard Costa, Ph.D., IMHM-E ®Clinical and Lindsay J. Pearson, Ed.M., IMHM-E®Policy, Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health, Montclair State University)

Day 3 - Session #3
Arts Education and Healing-Centered Practices to Build Resilience
As we think about the future of education in a post-pandemic world, we must acknowledge and address the impact of trauma caused or exacerbated by COVID-19 in both students and adults. Since 2018, Arts Ed Newark has partnered with artists, school leaders, community health providers, and philanthropy to develop and implement arts based, healing-centered training to provide the adults in schools with the tools to address trauma and build resiliency in their students. Learn about and experience elements of this scalable and replicable model that is building skills and changing hearts and minds in Newark, NJ and beyond.
(Facilitators: Lauren Meehan, ArtsEd Newark; Chiho Okuizumi Feindler, Save the Music Foundation (STM); Panelists: Sheikia “Purple Haze” Norris, NJPAC's Hip Hop Arts & Culture Education Program; Alysia Souder, The Institute of Music for Children; Lara Gonzalez, Independent Dance Teaching Artist; Kelly Heinze, Newark Board of Education Art Educator; Olivia Betzen, Peshine Avenue Elementary School Music Educator)
NOTE: This session requires separate registration. Click here to register.

DAY #4 - Thursday May 13, 2021 (11:00 am - 12:00 pm)
EQUITABLE ACCESS
Keynote Address (11:00 am to 11:30 am)
The Office of Resilience within the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, was created, designed, and purposed for Community. One of the most fundamental priorities for this Office is to provide access to education on trauma and resilience and create opportunities for dialogue across a broad spectrum of populations within the community. The intention is to engage the community in a common understanding of how “experience impacts well-being.” The goal is to empower communities by providing a space for the community to reflect, engage and bloom through creative-sharing and fruitful discourse. Participants will hear from Dave Ellis, inaugural Executive Director of the Office of Resilience.
(Presented by Dave Ellis, Office of Resilience, New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families)

NTE SEL Awards (11:30 am to 11:45 am)
The Newark Trust for Education’s first ever SEL Awards are designed to recognize educators, students and families committed to implementing SEL practices during the many challenges faced in these un-precedented times. Awardees highlighted during this segment are individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to keeping SEL at the forefront of their practices, studies, and interactions in the virtual learning environment. (Presented by Superintendent Roger León, Newark Board of Education)

Closing Remarks (11:45 am - 12:00 pm)
(Presented by Superintendent Roger León, Newark Board of Education)