Starr's "Social Emotional" isn't a Curriculum, it's a Mindset

This comment that we received sums up Superintendent Starr's response perfectly:

AnonymousJune 4, 2013 at 10:32 AM

So no longer 'social emotional LEARNING' [insert multiple @mcpssuper tweets here calling it 'SEL'], but "competency development, not a curriculum" [timestamp 0:52] because development is different from learning, as in professional development (PD) which is training, not learning b/c there are PD courses part of a PD curriculum - or not. AND -not OR- social emotional [fill in the blank] is a 'mindset', an attitude that come from within, and not learned; "you can't force it" [timestamp 1:13], but you can force other types of development, er,learning, er training -except when it's not? Is that different from social emotional tricks which are presumably learned, as in "a trick in your repertoire, not a curriculum" [timestamp 1:42]? Are those tricks learned from individual courses part of PD curriculum/not curriculum, or are the tricks a mindset. I get so confused...

Notes from Starr's Road Show

Here is the Forum Brief from Superintendent Starr's February 4, 2013, presentation to the American Youth Policy Forum:

Joshua P. Starr, PhD, Superintendent of Schools, Montgomery County Public Schools, oversees the 17th largest school district in the United States. With nearly 150,000 students, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is growing by 2,500 students per year. The student population is 33 percent white, 26 percent Latino, 22 percent African American, 14 percent Asian, and 4 percent multi-ethnic. Thirteen percent of MCPS students are English language learners, and 33 percent receive free or reduced price lunch. 

Starr suggested educators are faced with two gaps in their ability to use research evidence. First, the ineptitude gap: We know a lot, he argued, but we cannot apply it. As a superintendent he considers it his job to bring what is known together with strategies for applying it. Second, the credibility gap: Even with hard evidence, in certain areas it is hard to convince people about some things. 

His systemic implementation strategy involves taking what we know works and 
applying it, understanding the associated political and communication issues.
Starr discussed a number of MCPS initiatives and practices closely aligned with research, such as the district's long-standing support for wraparound services, early childhood education, clear focus on close attention to data, comprehensive professional development systems, and regular on-going assessments. He then posed the question, "How do we take all the work we've done, which is very research-based, and recognize that now we have a different challenge ahead of 
us?" The MCPS core purpose of educating children remains the same, but the mission changes because we are preparing our children for a different world.

Children, he argued, need not only to continue to have very strong academic backgrounds, but also to have 21st century skills 
(creative thinking, problem-solving) and socio-emotional competence (how to fail, how to reflect, how to work well with others). How do you take an organization and suggest the architecture that took the district one place is not what is needed to go to a new place? 

In order for change to be possible, asserted Starr, it is very important to focus on the culture of the organization. Our focus must be on relationships, he argued, and the more we understand the research about organizational change and human change, the better off we will be. 

Video #2: Starr "it's not an initiative"

Question #2 from November 26, 2012, MCPS Special Education Advisory Committee meeting with Superintendent Starr:

Answer includes Superintendent Starr's explanation of his social, emotional learning agenda, it's not an initiative, it's not in a binder, it's not a curriculum that teachers are going to get, state test score is not end all, be all goal, increasing collective awareness, has to be embedded...