A Complete and Well-Rounded Education

NAESP believes that children are the focal point of education, and that schools must holistically address the physical and mental health, safety, social, emotional, and educational needs that are components of every child’s success.

Postpandemic recovery efforts have amplified appreciation for the role schools play in supporting students in overlooked, “nonacademic” ways, such as providing nutritious daily meals, safe and nurturing environments, and afterschool programs.

“It is extremely important to have a physically and emotionally safe environment in schools,” says Sheneta Smith, principal of Howell Graves Preschool in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “If kids feel like they’re loved and they’re needed and they know that they’re safe, academics go up. Because they want to be there, and they want to learn.”

This issue of Principal magazine explores strategies used to support the whole child, starting with an article from David Griffith, NAESP’s associate executive director of policy and advocacy. In “Build Supports for the Whole Child” (page 16), he calls for a mindset shift. “We need champions who are willing to lead by example, share their insights and lessons learned, and provide a vision of what’s possible to educators, policymakers, and the public,” he writes.

Griffith goes on to identify core concepts of whole child education that include:

• A full-time school nurse, universal access to school meals, and a safe learning environment;
• Leaders who champion physical education, art, and music as core subjects essential to cognitive and social-emotional development; and
• Allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways beyond assessments.

You’ll also read the latest on high-impact tutoring, community resource mapping, and strategies to strengthen engagement with families of English learners. We hope this issue helps you craft an approach that meets the needs of the students you serve.

Kaylen Tucker, Ph.D. is Editor-in-Chief of Principal magazine.