HARVARD'S MAKING CARING COMMON & CARING SCHOOLS NETWORK

Making Caring Common (MCC) helps educators, parents, and communities raise children who are caring, responsible to their communities, and committed to justice.

According to our recent national survey of more than 10,000 students nationwide, a large majority of youth appear to value achievement and happiness over concern for others. At the root of this problem may be the messages that parents are unintentionally sending. When we asked students to rank what's more important to their parents: achievement, happiness, or caring for others, more than half chose achievement. 

See what students said about the importance of caring, happiness and achievement in our new infographic 

In caring school communities, students can grow academically, build healthy relationships, and develop key social and emotional skills such as empathy and gratitude. Caring schools can help reduce bias, combat sexual harassment, and minimize bullying and other problem behaviors.

Schools in the Caring Schools Network (CSN) work with the Making Caring Common team to use data and light-lift strategies to improve school culture and climate and to build key skills in students over the course of an academic year.

Our team includes experts in child development, empathy, SEL program implementation, research, and quantitative analysis. Thousands of teachers have used and evaluated our strategies and our team has supported hundreds of schools in administering school-wide surveys. 

Connect Be Well and SLCUSD joined the Caring Schools Network this summer (2018) and have committed to continuing to build on three initiatives:

• Build a caring and inclusive community via data
• Implement an evidence based social-emotional learning or character educational program
• Engage students regularly in meaningful, low-burden, and fun activities in the school and classroom that promote empathy and build community

Connect Be Well and SLCUSD will continue to implement the Triad of Support (Letters to Parents, REACH club, and the Connect Be Well website) to offer high touch and high impact programs that began at one high school (2016) and are now reaching all school sites and all school families.